Ramses :: Ancient Egypt Egyptian History

Ramses Ramses the Great ruled as the greatest pharaoh of all times. Also known as Ramses II, he was born in 1304 B.C., and was given the name the Justice of Ray is Powerful. He had the knowledge of the kingdom, and became the focus of the court at an early age. Ramses and his father spent most of their time together. As a young crown prince, Ramses II was appointed a co-ruler by his aging father, Seti I, and fully inherited the throne at age 24 when his father died. Even before he became Pharaoh, the young prince was known as a courageous warrior. At 22, he was sent to quell a minor revolt in Nubia. He brought along two little sons, and they took part in a chariot charge, according to a scene depicted in a carved relief on the walls of the Beit El-Wali Temple south of Aswan. After his ascent to the throne, the kingdom prospered and the young Pharaoh poured his energies and national treasures into building temples and monuments honoring his father, Egypt's gods and himself. In Nubia he constructed six temples, two of which were carved out of a Cliffside at Abu Simbel, with their four colossal statues of the king, are the most magnificent and the best known. Engineers designed the temple so every year on February 22 and October 22 the earliest sunrays shine on the back wall of the innermost chamber and lights up the pharaoh's statue, and fitting, he sits with the three gods of the sun. In all of his monuments he had his name cartouche and texts engraved so deep that no successor would be able to remove it. When Ramses became pharaoh, he had as many women as his heart desired and they were his greatest supporters. Ramses II built a king-size family with a 'considerable harem of wives and concubines'. He had 5 or 6 main wives and is known to have had more than 100 children with all of his wives. His favorite wife was the beautiful Nefertari, his chief queen and mother of his first-born son and other children. Ancient statues and inscriptions suggest she often appeared at her husband's side on state occasions and during religious ceremonies early in his reign. Ramses spent most of his 67-year reign reviving the empire and fighting the Hittites of Asia Minor. Ramses the Great, known for his fighting, went into battle with about 2,000 men in 1275 B.

Marginalization of Women During the Cold War Essay -- gender roles, Co

At the height of the Cold War in 1959, Vice President Richard M. Nixon visited the Soviet Union to discuss political ideology with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. In what was labeled the â€Å"kitchen debate,† Nixon presented Khrushchev with an American â€Å"model home† that highlighted the merits of capitalism to a global audience. But as the politicians entered the Americanized kitchen, Nixon took a step further. Instead of keeping the focus on economic systems, the Vice President turned the discourse to the two nations’ construction of gender roles. While looking at an American dishwasher, Nixon said, â€Å"This is our newest model†¦In America, we like to make life easier for women†¦ I think that this attitude towards women is universal. What we want to do, is make life more easy for our housewives† (teachingamericanhistory.org). While the accessibility of consumer products that reduced labor for homemakers was an achievement of American capitalism, Nixon’s comments promoted a new American vision of the family. The traditional family in Cold War culture, which featured men as breadwinners and women as homemakers, was now an important component of the American Dream. By referring to women as â€Å"housewives,† Nixon effectively reinforced the pervasive sentiment that women could not only be homemakers in a financially prosperous capitalist society, but that it was also expected of them. As these expectations became fully engrained into the mainstream, gender roles became increasingly rigid, which discouraged many women from considering professional careers, let alone pursue them. As the Cold War era prompted Americans to find refuge in the traditional family, women were expected to operate within the framework of the home and in resul... ...represented an escape from the uncertainty of the future. But with the rise of a new traditional family in America, complete with strict and separate gender roles, women were denied opportunities in the workplace and forced to embrace the task of homemaker. While Nixon argued in the â€Å"kitchen debate† that American strength rested on each member’s ability to rise and fall, the marginalization of woman in Cold War culture masterfully highlights the distance between political idealism and reality. Works Cited Books May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound. Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. Movies The Home Economics Story. Online Resources â€Å"The Kitchen Debate.† Articles Stevenson, Adlai E. â€Å"A Purpose for Modern Woman.† Chambers, Whittaker. â€Å"Witness.†

Love from a Romantic Perspective in the Poems Essay

â€Å"Romantic† – this word holds many different connotations and brings to mind a collection of different images. It can be â€Å"fanciful, impractical, unrealistic†; it can be â€Å"ardent, passionate, fervent†; and it can be â€Å"imaginary, fictitious, or fabulous†. According to the dictionary, â€Å"romantic† is an adjective characterized by a preoccupation with love, or by the idealizing of love or one’s beloved. In the three poems I have chosen – â€Å"Let me not to the marriage of true minds† by William Shakespeare, â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci† by John Keats and â€Å"Piano† by D.H. Lawrence, the poets use a variety of linguistic and literary devices, as well as explore different themes and imagery, to present love from a â€Å"romantic† perspective. The â€Å"romance† portrayed in the three poems may be distinct to each other, but is without a doubt something that idealizes love, that elevates the subject of love onto a pedestal. The poems â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?† by William Shakespeare, â€Å"First Love† by John Clare and â€Å"Remember† by Christina Rossetti also depict love in a romantic light. I will examine exactly how the poets do it – how the poets ingeniously present love from a romantic perspective in their poems. Firstly, â€Å"Let me not to the marriage of true minds† – also known as Sonnet 116 – is one of the most famous in William Shakespeare’s collection of sonnets. It demonstrates the glory and invincibility of love, and is a poem addressed to a mysterious â€Å"Fair Youth†. The sonnet proposes the idea that true love will always persevere, regardless of any obstacles or troubles that may come. Shakespeare employs various literary and linguistic devices to present love from a romantic perspective and portray it in a divine light. Shakespeare uses metaphors and imagery to idealize love, presenting the subject romantically. The lines â€Å"It is an ever-fixed mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken† and â€Å"the star to every wandering bark† portray love as a permanent guide, something unwavering and definite that will always be there. The idea that love is a guiding star has been used in countless poems by many different poets, but Shakespeare puts a unique emphasis on this imagery. The main metaphor of the sonnet is that love is like the North Star, which never changes position in the night sky – it has been a stable point used for navigation for centuries, and by using such a comparison, Shakespeare portrays love as the star that shepherds people through life. The â€Å"tempests† that trouble the seas are a metaphor for the obstacles that relationships may have to face, and the â€Å"wandering bark† personifies the lost ship, as if it has a purpose and is looking for something. â€Å"Wandering bark† is also a metaphor for a lover being led, by love, out of the boisterous sea of life. Through the use of nautical imagery, Shakespeare presents love from a romantic perspective by creating a vivid scene of a ship lost in the turbulence of a stormy sea, with a serene, unmoving star as a guide above. The poet also explores the themes of time, age and death to glorify love, hence presenting it romantically. Elizabethan readers of Shakespeare’s sonnets are familiar with the Grim Reaper, the icon of European culture in the medieval period when many died every day due to the Black Plague. The Grim Reaper is a horrifying character who bears a scythe, skeletal and macabre. However, in Sonnet 116, Shakespeare expresses that the Grim Reaper can actually be defeated by love – again depicting the intrepidity of it. â€Å"Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks / Within his bending sickle’s compass come:† personifies love and time, claiming that Love will not succumb to Time. â€Å"Sickle’s compass come† uses the plosive sound of â€Å"k† to mimic the harsh sounds of a death rattle – it is onomatopoeic. In the lines â€Å"Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, / But bears it out even to the edge of doom.†, the â€Å"his† refers to Time, and Shakespeare is emphasizing the prowess of love by showing that Time has no effect or control over it. This lifts â€Å"love† onto a pedestal and portrays it in a romantic light. Similarly, Shakespeare also employs the themes of time and eternity to glorify love in another one of his most famous poems – Sonnet 18, â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?†. In this sonnet, the speaker compares a â€Å"beloved† to a summer’s day, and says that the beloved’s eternal summer will never fade, that the beloved would be kept alive forever by the poem. Once again, Shakespeare personifies death, this time as the one who oversees a â€Å"shade† – Shakespeare writes that the beloved will conquer all and will not be swept into this sickly light of Death. Thirdly, Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter and rhythm also elevates the subject of love and presents it from a romantic perspective. The sonnet manages to have a consistent rhythm, yet seem conversational; it is able to be formal and planned, but casual and spontaneous at the same time. This is achieved through Shakespeare’s ingenious use of rhythm and pacing. The iambic pentameter becomes very obvious after the third line, â€Å"Which alters when it alteration finds†, thus creating a consistent pacing. However, the poet uses dramatic exclamations to break up the rhythm, making the speaker seem more human than a machine – an example would be, â€Å"O no! It is an ever fixed mark†. The metaphors and imagery used all weave a sophisticated sonnet, but the actual language is very simple, making the sonnet easy to read and the claims well-illustrated. The closing two lines, â€Å"If this be error and upon me proved, / I never writ, nor no man ever loved.†, is a rhyming couplet that is full of impact. The couplet again immortalizes love and praises it with glory, an epitome of presenting love from a romantic perspective. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 is one of the most famous poems that immortalizes love. I think it definitely successfully presents love from a romantic perspective, using a variety of devices. Even after dissecting the poem and analyzing each of the aspects respectively, I am still overwhelmed by the general sense of romance that comes through, instead of being focused on the mechanics and functions of words and phrases. I feel that the â€Å"romantic† sense in Sonnet 116 is that of an idealization of love, and Shakespeare crafts it beautifully. The second poem I will investigate is â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci†, a ballad written by John Keats in 1819. It is a poem that also presents love from a romantic perspective, though in a different way. In this poem, the â€Å"romance† that is portrayed is passionate and fictitious – something akin to a magical myth. The title of the ballad translates to â€Å"The Beautiful Lady Without Pity†. John Keats had taken inspiration and the title from the early fifteenth century French poem by Alain Chartier, though the narratives of the two poems are different. John Keats chose this phrase to use as the title of his ballad to highlight the storyline of a seductive woman who tempts a man of honour from the real world and abandons him with unfulfilled dreams, drained of life. The theme of dangerous and unrequited love is explored in the poem. John Keats is well known for being one of the most prominent poets of the Romantic era, and â€Å"La Belle Same Sans Merc i† is one of his most famous poems. John Keats plays with floral imagery to present love from a romantic perspective. Flowers are beautiful and delicate things that are often given as gifts and expressions of love and romance – and by using flowers as symbols for different meanings in the poem, Keats portrays love in a romantic light. In line 9, the speaker says to the knight, â€Å"I see a lily on thy brow† – lilies are pale white and are often associated with death in the Western culture, and this is a metaphor expressing that the knight looks sickly and deathly pale. Another obvious use of floral imagery to romanticize love is seen in lines 11-12, â€Å"And on thy cheeks a fading rose / Fast withereth too.† Roses are often associated with love in the Western culture, and the knight’s rose â€Å"fading and withering† holds connotations of the ending of a romantic relationship. However, the rose, like the lily, is also describing the knight’s complexion – the colour is fading from his cheeks. In these two lines, Keats cleverly employs the rose as a symbol for both the knight’s pale face and waning love. Lastly, in lines 17-18, the knight makes a garland and bracelets out of flowers for the faery’s child. Flowers hold connotations of beauty, love and life, and the knight adorns the woman with them – Keats uses the flowers as a symbol to show the intensity of the knight’s love for her. Another image that is repeatedly explored in the poem is â€Å"paleness†, and this paints love in a romantic sense as it highlights the melancholic and dramatically destructive aspects of love. In the beginning of the poem, in line 2, the paleness is already established by the speaker – â€Å"Alone and palely loitering†. This line has the alliteration of the consonance â€Å"l†, and this creates a musical sound that emphasizes the phrase, especially drawing the readers’ attention to the rarity of using â€Å"pale† as an adverb – â€Å"palely†. An internal rhyme is also created, as â€Å"palely† rhymes with â€Å"ail thee† from line 1 – again, this highlights the phrase and enhances the â€Å"paleness† of the knight, underlining the romantic melancholy of the knight. In the lines 37-38, the word â€Å"pale† is used three times in just two lines. When the knight is describing his dream, he speaks of â€Å"pale kings† and â€Å"pale warriors†, who were all â€Å"death pale† – the images painted in the readers’ minds are drained of colour and life, and the â€Å"paleness† is now explicitly associated with death. Lastly, in the lines 37-40, â€Å"pale† is repeated to accentuate the similarities between the word and the words â€Å"all†, â€Å"belle†, and â€Å"thrall†. The consonance creates a connection between all the words when they are read aloud, and makes the readers think whether the â€Å"belle dame† could’ve been the cause of the â€Å"paleness† of â€Å"all† the knights, warriors and princes she had in â€Å"thrall†. This clever manipulation of â€Å"paleness† reinforces the sense of a â€Å"story† in the ballad and enriches the romance within, presenting love from a romantic perspective. In addition, John Keats utilizes the â€Å"lyrical† sense of the ballad format to elevate the romance in the poem. â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci† has the typical features of a ballad, and when read aloud, it is similar to a folk song. The words have a continuous, uniform rhythm that sets an underlying beat, and the literary devices employed – such as alliteration and rhymes – create a harmonious sound. The ballad also has a â€Å"circular structure† – it begins and ends similarly, with â€Å"The sedge has wither’d from the lake, / And no birds sing.† as the ending of the first stanza, and â€Å"Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake, / And no bird sing.† for the last stanza. This seems to make â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci† appear more like a song than just a plain poem. Because of this musical sense that is added to the poem, John Keats puts the subject of his poem – love – onto a pedest al and portrays it romantically, akin to a love song. Lastly, the imagery of dew and water is used to intensify the danger of women in the poem, and this in turn portrays love in a fatal sense, rivetingly romantic. Women were often associated with water in medieval romances, and John Keats used this tradition in his medieval folk ballad. This symbolic tradition is a metaphor for men who become weakened after contact with dangerous women. A reference to water is already used in the beginning of the poem – in line 3, the speaker identifies death and â€Å"wither’d† with water – â€Å"The sedge has wither’d from the lake†. A lake does not flow like a river or a spring; it is stagnant and void of life. This already creates an ominous mood that hangs over the rest of the poem, and emphasizes the catastrophe that love has done to the knight. In line 10, the unnamed speaker says that the knight’s face has â€Å"anguish moist and fever dew† – the knight is sweating from a fever. This again demonstrates that the knight is physically ill from love, and also makes the reader wonder where he caught the fever. The readers seem to find the answer later on, when â€Å"dew† is repeated – the faery’s child fed the knight â€Å"manna dew† in line 26. â€Å"Manna† is heavenly food – but it was not originally food that is eaten as â€Å"dew†. John Keats wrote that the manna was in liquid state to add to the continuous metaphors used throughout the whole ballad. John Keats seems to hint that women are gentle and soft like water, but when men came into contact with them, they could suddenly become rash and vicious. Women are dangerous and unpredictable like water. This metaphor makes love seem thrillingly romantic; exhilarating – it delineates love in a romantic light. Another poem that echoes this idea of men becoming weakened by women and love is â€Å"First Love† by John Clare. This poem is about the poet’s first and seemingly unrequited love. John Clare uses the imagery of â€Å"deathly paleness† to show the destruction of love, too – he writes, â€Å"My face turned pale as deathly pale†. Clare also explores the aspect of becoming physically ill from dangerous love, just like Keats’s portrayal of love in â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci†. Clare writes, â€Å"And blood burnt round my heart†, claiming that he was in physical pain – similarly, John Keats writes that the knight has an actual fever from his deleterious love. When I was comparing the poems, â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci† and â€Å"First Love†, I was surprised and very intrigued by the similarities between them. Both poems seem to draw out the most fatal features of love, describing it as something that would drain men of life. I am engaged by the way they depict the thrilling qualities of love with corresponding images, and it is fascinating to see that the poets have chosen to portray love in a romantically dangerous light after analyzing the idealized â€Å"true love† in Shakespeare’s sonnets. The third poem I am going to analyze is â€Å"Piano† by D.H Lawrence. The love portrayed here is not that of a romantic relationship between a man and a woman, but that of a relationship between Lawrence and his mother. The poet begins the poem with an enchanting evening, where music brings back memories of his beloved mother – he then borrows the idyllic atmosphere of the evening to describe his reminiscence, hence presenting love from a romantic perspective. Even though the poem does not depict a relationship of â€Å"romance†, it does render love in a nostalgic and sentimental sense. â€Å"Piano† is a poem where the single speaker is listening to a woman sing to him, and the music brings him back to dwell in the memories of his childhood. The speaker remembers fondly of the times when his mother sang to him whilst playing the piano. In the end of the poem, the memory of the past overwhelms the present. As a man, the speaker should be more enraptured by the passionate singing of the woman, but his memory conquers his manhood as he loses control of his emotions. The speaker remembers his mother’s singing with tears on his face – he becomes a child again. The first line of the poem already creates an overall romantic atmosphere. â€Å"Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me†. The word â€Å"softly† casts a gentle and tender tone to the following lines. The diction of the word â€Å"dusk† holds connotations of a peaceful warmth, an enigmatic and mysterious twilight, painting an image of a soothing glow in the minds of the readers. This first line sets the mood of the poem and creates a romantic background for the remaining lines of the poem to be based upon. The use of romantic atmosphere is also demonstrated in the description of the climax of the singer rising to a crescendo – â€Å"So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour / With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour†. The language is powerful and passionate. The memories of the speaker’s childhood also create a warm and secure ambience that forms a lingering feeling of romance. In the final line, â€Å"Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.†, the diction of â€Å"flood† and â€Å"weep† craft a romantically melancholic atmosphere. Likewise, in the poem â€Å"Remember† by Christina Rossetti, an atmosphere of romantic melancholy is also explored to present love from a romantic perspective. The poem depicts a somber aspect of love by featuring the theme of death, and glorifies love by making it seem beyond death’s darkness. D.H. Lawrence also uses sibilance and assonance to portray love in a romantic perspective. The repetition of the â€Å"s† sounds in the opening line intensifies the feelings of romance as well as intimacy. Furthermore, assonance is used in the first two lines of the last stanza – â€Å"So now†¦clamour†¦glamour†¦Ã¢â‚¬  – the long â€Å"o† sounds depict the musical climax of the singer’s performance in a romantic sense. Sibilance is again used in the line â€Å"smiles as she sings†, and the repeated â€Å"i† sounds in the line create the facial effects of a smile when read aloud. This intensifies the romantic feeling of the poem as it emphasizes the speaker’s mother smiling and singing, and brings to mind images of affection and tenderness. Tone and language are also employed to present love in a romantic perspective. The language used can be called conversational, and is definitely very intimate. It is that of a narrative, as if the speaker is telling a very personal story. By starting the poem with â€Å"Softly†, the poet creates a romantic longing for the past, as the word has a semantic field of tender fondness. The warmth in the tone when the speaker is describing the childhood scenes also creates romantically nostalgic images in the minds of readers. In the fourth line of the first stanza, â€Å"And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings†, the repetition of the plosive â€Å"p† highlights the rhythm of the piano, as well as the intimacy between the son and the mother. Additionally, other techniques that are used to present love from a romantic perspective include repetition and metaphors. â€Å"Piano† is repeated in each stanza, making the image consistent through the whole poem – the piano then becomes a romantic symbol for the speaker’s love for his mother. The word â€Å"tinkling† in the second stanza can be seen as a repetition of the â€Å"tingling† in the first stanza, and this use of onomatopoeia creates a pleasant sound when read aloud, adding to the sentimental mood of the poem. â€Å"Weeps† is used in both the second stanza and the last stanza, and the repetition accentuates the speaker’s need and longing for his mother that seems romantically sad. In the poem, the poet also uses â€Å"vista† as a metaphor for â€Å"memory† – a vista is a beautiful view seen through a long and narrow opening, and this creates a bewitching image in the readers’ minds of scenes fr om a childhood spread out across a landscape. Similarly, the poet also writes, â€Å"the flood of remembrance† – in the diction of â€Å"flood†, the writer creates an image of an unstoppable overwhelming of emotions, and it is this uncontainable quality that adds to the romantic nostalgia. Metonymy is also used – â€Å"feet† represent the speaker’s mother. The scenes created in the readers’ minds seem to feature a faceless mother, focusing on the â€Å"child sitting under the piano†¦pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings†. The mother’s face is not described – the only feature of the mother that the readers envision is her feet and her smile. This adds a romantic quality to the poem as it puts the world in a small child’s perspective, and gives a somewhat enigmatic aura to the mother and also expresses the fractured, dreamlike qualities of a memory. The â€Å"small, poised feet† of the mother portray her in a gentle and delicate light, and intensifies the overall romantic perspective of motherly love in the poem. In conclusion, the three poems – â€Å"Let me not to the marriage of true minds†, â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci† and â€Å"Piano† – all display a variety of different techniques to present love from a romantic perspective. All three poets use literary and linguistic devices such as metaphors, sibilance, assonance and more. The three poems accent love with romance, whether it is a conventional man-woman relationship or mother-son relationship. The term â€Å"romantic† is explored by each of the poets: William Shakespeare immortalizes true love and makes it seem perfect and omnipotent; John Keats adds a vital, riveting quality to love and D.H. Lawrence examines the subject through a lens of nostalgia. After analyzing these three poems, I realized that the human experience of love has moved poets, throughout the centuries, to express the nature of love romantically. Love is depicted as fanciful, dreamy, impractical; invincible, passionate, immortal. Poets have a desire to eternalize the subject of their poems – whether it is their beloved, or love itself. It is as William Shakespeare writes in Sonnet 18, â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?† – â€Å"So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.† I agree with Shakespeare – as long as there are people alive to read poems, the nature of love that William Shakespeare, John Keats and D.H. Lawrence tried to present from a romantic perspective will live on forever.

Government Merit Systems

Elimination of Merit Systems For many reasons, merit based civil service systems have come under assault and yet at the same time have been hailed. Merit systems do however attempt and achieve many important objectives including ensuring that an effective workforce is attracted and maintained by providing protections against arbitrary termination and by attempting to avert politically influenced hiring and promotions. Notwithstanding, the way merit systems go about attracting a workforce and the varied protections against termination are the cause of antipathy. Many would agree that a better civil service system is needed. This better civil service system should reward good service and punish bad or mediocre service with dismissal or no promotion. Equally important, this new system has to have a process to hire quality employees quickly. However, this better system needs to have all the mechanisms that are in the current merit systems to protect against corruption. This paper argues in favor of eliminating both merit system protections and merit in hiring and promotions, while at the same time evaluating the various arguments against merit systems. In public administration literature, it is argued that in order for the bureaucracy to be both efficient and effective, it has to be staffed by tenured bureaucrats who feel relatively secure in their positions and receive adequate compensation. The bureaucracy attains its power from the experience of its workforce. Indeed, the bureaucracy is made up of â€Å"seasoned and knowledgeable ‘old hands'† who have molded relations with organizations and government itself (Kaufman 2001, 8-42). Therefore, if returning to a spoils system results in arbitrary terminations the bureaucracy would be robbed of the most experienced administrators who bestow effectiveness within an agency. An important point regarding the removal of protections against arbitrary terminations is made by Charles T. Goodsell who argues that removing protections causes an â€Å"Am I Next? † mindset to occur where employees agonize over the threat of termination and which in itself can result in diminished effectiveness (1998, 653-660). In a related way to the â€Å"Am I Next? † syndrome is a breakdown of the â€Å"politics administration dichotomy† where administrators fearing termination would only perform those duties to please the administration (Durant 1998, 643-653). Accordingly, a break down in the â€Å"politics administration dichotomy† would seem to some to signal an increase in corruption and overall unethical behavior. Corruption is one of the big factors for the creation and continuance of a merit system. Those opposed to removing merit factors cite the abuses that occurred in the nineteenth century prior to the Pendleton Act. Also, tenured civil servants are necessary to assure that political appointees obey the law† (Maranto 1998, 623-643). Speaking about this was a Washington journalist, who argued that it was tenured civil servants of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation who blew the whistle during the Watergate scandal and for this purpose tenured civil servant are needed to serve alongside appointees (Maranto 1998, 623-643). However, Robert Maranto who is a proponent of a alternative systems, points out several occurrences where tenured civil servants and political appointees worked together, such as in the Department of Housing and Urban Development scandals during the Regan administration. Specifically, Maranto argues that when any organization, private or public is under investigation â€Å"it reacts by closing ranks to outsiders and shunning suspected whistle-blowers† (1998, 623-643). Using this rationale, it could appear that having no tenure protections is the same as having tenure protections with regard to whistle-blowing. Maranto furthers the argument of corruption stating that â€Å"regular rotation of some political officials as ‘in-and-outers' helps uncover scandals because incoming appointees are not tied to existing corrupt practices, can claim credit for ending them, are not as protective of organization reputation, and have sufficient political pull outside the organization to weather attacks of those within† (1998, 623-643). Indeed, as pointed out by Maranto, the scandals of Andrew Jackson's administration had actually begun under the previous administration and were uncovered by Jackson appointees. Another argument offered by Murray was that to cite the difficulties presidents Clinton, Bush (1st), Regan and Carter had in filling executive branch positions that required presidential appointments. His argument is that if an administration is unable to fill important political positions than it is doubtful an administration â€Å"will put much urgency in finding a nominee for positions currently filled by career bureaucrats† (1998, 70-677). His argument was meant to conclude that if there is a weak administration many positions will go unfilled and result in diminished effectiveness. Nonetheless, his argument against a spoils system citing a weak presidency is apt in arguing that there will not be a massive partisan termination following elections. Moreover, there have been several Supreme Court rul ings which prohibit hiring, promotion, termination and even the awarding of contracts based on politics. Eisenhart distinguishes between five categories of public sector employees: 1)full-time permanent employees protected by some form of civil service system; 2) at-will employees who can be fired at anytime for any reason so long as the reason is not illegal; 3) contractual employees; 4) temporary employees; and 5) independent contractors (Eisenhart 1998, 58-69). These five categories of employees within the public sector are covered by Supreme Court rulings. In 1976, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in Elrod v. Bums (427 U. S. 347) that it was unconstitutional for the newly elected Democratic Sheriff of Cook County to dismiss all employees who were hired under the previous Republican administration whose positions were not in policymaking areas where political loyalty would be required. Another ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court was in 1990, Rutan v. The Republican Party of Illinois (497 U. S. 62). The U. S. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the Republican governor of Illinois to require applicants for hire, promotion, transfer and recall from layoff to obtain recognition from the Republican Party of Illinois prior to service. In 1996, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Rutan decision applied to temporary employees as well. For several reasons it is unlikely an administration would commence large scale terminations after each new election. Even with a return to a spoils system an administration would not introduce massive terminations of productive workers for several reasons. First, as Kernell and McDonald argue, â€Å"the new breed of office-holding politicians who entered Congress at the end of the nineteenth century saw greater electoral payoffs from providing direct services to their constituencies than from subsidizing local party organizations. Thus they eschewed patronage for the merit system† (Ruhil and Camoes 2003, 27-43). This reflects twenty-first century American society more than it did in the nineteenth century. Also, the expensiveness of mass terminations would prevent government from mass terminations of productive employees. As argued by Kellough and Osuna â€Å"turnover also holds the potential for enormous organizational costs, including the direct costs of hiring and training new employees as well as significant in direct costs associated with lower productivity levels from newer employees and opportunity costs from situations requiring more experienced workers to provide task assistance to new colleagues (Kellough and Osuna 1995, 58-68). Indeed, research by the Saratoga Institute proposed that the replacement cost of an employee is between one and two times the individual’s salary. In another study by the Keener-Tregoe Business Issues Research Group it was estimated that it costs approximately $134,000 to replace a human resource manager in the automotive industry (Selden & Moynihan 2000, 63-74). For this reason it is just unlikely that government would commence with large scale terminations as those who are against the spoils systems contend. Equally important it is extremely expensive to run a merit system and as a result a lot of poorer states and local governments just cannot continue with the expansive hiring, promotion and discharge protocols. For instance, in a local government in the state of Michigan written test were administered to six hundred applicants for just a few vacancies, and followed up with oral examinations for all those found qualified by the written exam. It is argued that such a process is â€Å"neither practical nor an efficient use of limited government resources† (Leidlein 1993, 391-392). As a result a lot of states and local governments have tweaked their own merit systems resulting in abandonment of some merit principles or abandoning the principles all together. This situation is exemplified by Jay M. Shafritz, who argues that there is a â€Å"nether world of public personnel administration† which often exists to circumvent the maze of merit systems (1974, 486-492). For instance, in both the city of New Haven, Connecticut and the state of Idaho the personnel systems there were so time consuming they begun hiring temporaries in an effort to speed the process (Jorgensen et al. 1996, 5-20). Moreover, in Florida, Georgia and Virginia merit principles have been removed and have resulted in efficient government activities. For example, in the state of Georgia, merit protections have been removed entirely for state civil servants hired after June 30, 1996; employees hired prior to July 1, 1996 are still covered by the traditional merit system protections. In the state of Florida, merit protections were removed for all state civil servants on May 14, 2001. The result is in both Georgia and Florida, â€Å"civil servants can be hired, promoted, disciplined and fired quickly and with relative impunity; they [civil servants] accrue no seniority and therefore have no bumping rights whatsoever† (Walters 2003, 34-80). Nonetheless, in regards to Florida’s new civil service system, Mark Neimeiser, from Council 79 for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees which represents most of the state’s rank-and-file employees states that: It [Florida’s new system] exposes state workers who enforce regulations and license businesses and professionals to the risk of retribution for pursuing cases against politically well-connected Floridians. Second, it leaves higher-salaried senior staff exposed to the whims of departmental budget cutters who, like a sports-team owner trying to meet a salary cap, might be tempted to off-load more senior, high-paid staff just to save money, regardless of what it means by way of institutional brain drain or employee morale (Walters 2003, 34-80). However, according to Walters it seems that their concerns are valid. He details how there are several former employees who blew the whistle and were terminated for political reasons, either because they took regulatory action against an ally of the governor or because they were Democrats. Notwithstanding, Walters does point out that â€Å"Depending on one's view of the spoils system and what it ought to deliver to whom, such stories are either shocking or just par for the political course and no different than stories that filter out of Albany, Springfield or Sacramento whenever there's a change of party, regardless of the civil service rules† (Walters 2003, 34-80). Nevertheless, Walters does point out that there is ample evidence showing that there was widespread removal of long time employees in various Florida agencies. Yet, he does note that most of the laid-off employees were given the option of taking other jobs in government. According to AFSCME, the jobs offered typically represented demotions in both rank and pay. For example, a group of employees in the Department of Business and Professional Regulation were terminated, then allowed to reapply for jobs paying 25 percent less (Walters 2003, 34-80). As pointed out previously, one of the necessary factors for retaining workers is relative job security. And as such if termination protections are removed, it is believed a large turnover in the bureaucracy would occur (Godsell 1998, 653-660). However, a study on turnover in state government which specifically studied the environmental, organizational, and individual factors for turnover found that one determinant that prevented large turnovers was pay increases and promotions (Selden & Moynihan 2000, 63-74). Charles W. Gossett conducted a survey in the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice testing hypotheses on organizational loyalty, job mobility, and performance responsiveness between the workers covered by those hired after June 30, 1996 who has no civil service protections and those hired prior to July 1, 1996 whom still are covered by civil service protections (2003, 267-278). Some of Gossett's findings were that there were no substantial differences between the protected and un-protected civil servants in voluntary turnover and concern for the agency. However, Gossett's research did determine that un-protected workers are more willing to seek promotion within the agency and view themselves as needing to be more responsive to management because they feel they can be disciplined for any minor infractions (2003, 277). The purpose of this essay was to argue against and examine the arguments against eliminating merit systems. Given the importance of achieving an efficient and effective public workforce, it is essential to know whether eliminating merit protections and procedures will result into a more efficient and effective workforce. From the literature, it appears that the elimination of merit systems pose no horrific menace. Most of the arguments against removing merit factors, center on effectiveness and efficiency. The opponents argue that the removal of merit factors will result in hiring, promotion and termination based on political considerations. However, there are numerous federal laws, state laws and court decisions to protect every possible category of employee employed by government. Also, as evidenced in Georgia, non-protected workers tend to be more responsive to management which is good because it increases the effectiveness of executive leadership. For this purpose, chief executives are able to deliver on their promises. Getting rid of merit principles also allows government to hire qualified individuals quickly and cost effectively. Works Cited Durant, Robert F. 1998. Rethinking the unthinkable: A cautionary note. Administration & Society 29 (January): 643-653. Gossett, Charles W. 2003. The changing face of Georgia's merit system: results from an employee attitude survey in the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice. Public Personnel Management 32 (Summer): 267-278. Hamilton, David K. 1999. The continuing judicial assault on patronage. Public Administration Review 59. (January): 54-62. Jorgensen, Lorna, Kelli Patton and W. David. 1996. Underground merit systems and the balance between service and compliance. Review of Public Personnel Administration 16 (Spring): 5-20. Kaufman, Herbert. 2001. Major players: Bureaucracies in American government. Public Administration Review 61. (January/February): 18-42. Leidlein, James E. 1993. In search of merit. Public Administration review 53 (July/August): 391-392. Maranto, Robert. 1998. Thinking the unthinkable in public administration: A case for spoils in the federal bureaucracy. Administration & Society 29 (January): 623-633. Ruhil, Anirudh V. S. and Pedro J. Camoes. 2003. What lies beneath: The political roots of state merit systems. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 13. (January): 27-43. Selden, Sally Coleman and Donald P. Moynihan. 2003. A model of voluntary turnover in state government. Review of Public Personnel 20 (Spring) 63-74. Walters, Jonathan. 2003. Civil service tsunami. Governing 16 (May): 34-40. ________. 1997a. Who needs civil service. Governing 10 (August): 17-21. West, William E. and Robert F. Durant. 2000. Merit, management, and neutral competence: Lessons from the U. S. Merit Systems Protection Board, FY 1988-FY 1997. Public Administration Review 60 (March/April): 111-122. Cross-agency comparisons of quit rates in the Federal Service: Another look at the evidence Author: Kellough, J Edward; Osuna, Will Source: Review of Public Personnel Administration v15n4, (Fall 1995): p. 58-68 (Length: 11 pages) ISSN: 0734-371X Number: 01152472 Copyright: Copyright Institute of Public Affairs 1995 Shafritz, J. (1974). â€Å"The Cancer Eroding Public Personnel Professionalism. † Public Personnel Management 3, 3 : 486-492

Forms of Disciplining a Child

Child discipline is an issue which has raised a lot of concern in the recent past. Differentiating child discipline and child abuse is becoming more difficult with different sectors and individuals differing in this area. However, despite the different views which have been put forward regarding children discipline, instituting discipline in children is vital since it help in developing a sense of self control, respect and also accountability. While the means of instituting discipline are varied, no single method is effective in itself.Also, different children require different approaches of instituting discipline and as such parents should seek the best method which suits their kids. However, while instituting discipline in kids is vital, it may also lead to devastating effects on the entire life of the children and thus parents should be careful of the methods they use in ensuring that their kids are disciplined. Excessive use of force while disciplining kids may result to child ab use and this should be avoided. IntroductionChild discipline refers to the art of systematically giving instructions to the children to help them relate well with their friends and family, behave in a more agreeable manner and granting a child freedom of learning from his or her mistakes by the consequences of his or her decisions. Child discipline involves helping a child develop self discipline, a sense of accountability and also respect towards other people. Discipline should be separated from task performance. By the fact that a child can perform his or her tasks well should not be taken to mean that he or she is disciplined.Discipline has more to do with the behavior a child exhibits in certain situations rather than the ability to perform tasks. Heated debates have been rising as to whether instituting discipline is a form of child abuse and whether parents have the authority to discipline their kids as they may deem fit or necessary. While discipline is necessary for all chil dren, it should be instituted in a manner that is beneficial to the children. Parents have no explicit authority to discipline their children using excessive force or crude disciplinary measures (Lenton, 1990).The research paper will evaluate the importance of spanking and privileges removal as forms of disciplinary measures. Child discipline As noted earlier, discipline involves helping and guiding the children to develop and exercise self control. However, most people are opposed to the idea that discipline is the key development factor of responsible persons in the future. Some of the children with good disciplinary backgrounds do not live to the standards they are taught in their early stages. Despite this argument, setting limits for the children and correcting any misbehavior is vital in developing a responsible person even in the future.Most of the grown ups today attribute their discipline to the stringent measures which were taken on them when they were young. As such, chil d discipline is vital in ensuring that children grow to be responsible persons in their adult life. Moreover, vices and virtues are learnt and failing to discipline a child would lead to vices being enhanced in them. Discipline helps in development of healthy practices and virtues in the future. Instituting discipline is also very vital since it helps learn to develop health relationships with his or her family and friends.How to deal with different temperaments is an aspect which is learnt and is thus not inborn. Accepting other people’s ideas and way of performing tasks requires deliberate effort which children lack and if not guided, they tend to be disrespectful. Children also believe that they must always have their ideas accepted and followed always. To remove such mentality, removing some privileges when a child does not do as expected is vital. Discipline is thus vital in ensuring thus such important values are learnt and adhered to.Training a child to be disciplined thus helps him or her to learn how to deal with different kinds of personalities and situations. Most of the undisciplined adults in the society are as a result of lack of disciplinary measures while they were children (Telep, 1999). Discipline involves encouraging children by instructing and guiding them to appreciate themselves and influencing the way they regard themselves. Developing a person’s self esteem is essential in ensuring and enhancing the productivity and in determining successfulness of an individual. The future of the children is based on the kind of guidance they receive from their parents.Discipline unlike the highly held believe is does not always negative. It can be instituted in a manner to enhance important characteristics. Commenting about a positive behavior about a child within his or her presence is one way of enhancing a behavior. When children are not disciplined well, they face challenges of self esteem as their behavior is often challenged by the society thus lowering their self esteem. Such individuals have problems while dealing with other people and tend to be insecure about their capabilities as well as those of other people.Positive discipline is thus essential in improving the self esteem of a child and thus should be instituted. However, such credit should not be exaggerated to reduce the effects of overconfidence which may arise (Utay & Utay, 2005). The question of whether child discipline is a form of child abuse has been raising many debates of late. While most people agree that disciplining children is not a form of child abuse, some strongly feel that it is child abuse. Whether discipline is child abuse or not depends on the circumstance surrounding a certain case and the mode of disciplining a child is subjected to by his parents or guardians.Moderate disciplinary actions may not amount to child abuse but extreme physical and psychological abuse may amount to child abuse. Spanking has been on the spot with most people arguing that this amount to a form of child abuse. However, it has its own advantages in instituting discipline (Gootman, n. d). Child abuse occurs when the force exerted when disciplining a child becomes too much. This is however ambiguous as how much force may amount to abuse depends on an individual’s view.Discipline is however different from child abuse in that while discipline is meant to enhance positive behavior, child abuse leads to bodily harm and mental torture. In today’s world, most parents have branded discipline as abuse and that is why most of the children are arrested and are serving in the juvenile jails. Spanking for example has received negative publicity and even children are suing their parents for abuse. Spanking has been one of the most effective disciplinary measures in the past and has helped shape most of the lives of prominent persons.Children fear to be spanked and thus any behavior which may lead to such disciplinary acts are avoide d. Spanking only becomes abuse when it is done in a manner deemed to be harmful to the child’s health and mental state or capability. However, the child should be made to understand the reason behind the punishment prior to its administration. A parent cannot claim to have been disciplining his or her child by injuring him or her. Despite the thin line between abuse and discipline, â€Å"effective† discipline does not amount to child abuse.Disciplining children should not be viewed as punishing them or abusing them unless the effects of such actions are detrimental to the health and future development of a child. Discipline should be instituted on all children to help correct bad behaviors and to help shape their character (Telep, 1999). Discipline as mentioned above may amount to abuse if not carefully handled. However, parents can ensure discipline in their children without actually abusing them. One way to ensure that discipline does not amount to abuse is by using first setting limits for the children on what they can and what they cannot do.Disciplinary measures to be taken should be enlisted thus ensuring the child understands the consequences of his or her behavior. Disciplinary measures which do not amount to abuse include acts like denying the child some rights after doing something wrong. A child may be denied a chance to go and play with other children if he or she does not do his homework. This is a form of disciplinary measure which does not raise issues of abuse (Lenton, 1990). Discipline may also be instituted using more positive means like encouraging a child to behave in a particular manner by rewarding or appreciating him or her.Discipline unlike many parents believes should not always constitute the negative side. Discipline may also be attained through reinforcement of some good behavior. Also by discussing issues with the children may also help institute a sense of responsibility in them. Issuing orders and scolding to childr en passes the message that children are unable to think for themselves and this may lead to low self esteem. Instead, parents should encourage dialogue (Keep Kids Healthy, 2001). Despite the arguments that parents should not discipline their children as they may deem fit, this may apply is some instances.Parents know their children better than anybody else and so they understand the different temperaments exhibited by these children. Different children require different forms of disciplinary action and thus the parent is the best person to decide what form of action is best for his children. Also children respect more what they are told by their parents and any deterrent act to reinforce discipline is bound to be taken seriously by the children. Most of the adults today remember tough measure being taken by their parents to institute discipline which helped in shaping their future lives.Though measures taken by parents may at times seem harsh, they bear better fruits in the future a nd thus parents should have autonomy while instituting discipline on their children (Lenton, 1990). Conclusion Discipline is vital for any child as it helps raise a responsible person in the future and should be instituted by the parents. The question of discipline raises a lot of controversy regarding what constitutes sufficient disciplinary measures and what may amount to child abuse. Parents also face problems in deciding the best way to ensure discipline in their children without affecting their development or mental stability.While spanking was an effective method in the past, it is being ruled out especially by psychological experts arguing that it is not effective in ensuring discipline. More non-physical methods of instituting a sense of responsibility are being advocated today with dialogue and appreciation being highly preferred. However, one method may not be appropriate for all children. A parent should combine different methods and evaluate which one works for his child ren. Scolding, use of abusive language and physical torture should not be used for ensuring discipline as they affects the ego and self esteem of the children in the long run. Reference: Gootman, M. E. (n. d): How to Teach Your Children Discipline. Retrieved on 19th February 2009 from, http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/discipline.3.19.html. Lenton, R. L. (1990): Techniques of Child Discipline and Abuse by Parents. Journal article of Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, Vol. 27 Telep, V. (1999): Discipline for Young Children. Retrieved on 19th February 2009 from, http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/family/350-110/350-110.html. Utay, J. & Utay, C. (2005): Improving Social Skills: A Training Presentation to Parents. Journal article of Education, Vol. 126

Abortion: Pros, Cons and Propaganda

Abortion: Pros, Cons and Propaganda Abortion is a very controversial matter in our society. In the United States it is legal to abort a baby up until the day of birth. An abortion is the ending of pregnancy before birth which results in the death of an embryo or a fetus. Many people consider abortion as cruel as murder. Although some might say abortion is justifiable, others believe that no one but God has the right to take someone’s life. However, supporters of abortion do not consider an unborn child a person who must be protected. With an issue like abortion, there is a difficulty in determining if it is right or wrong. There are many sides and arguments to this matter and the media often portrays a very negative side to the choice of abortion. The media tends to be biased and against the issue of abortion. I believe that the media is very influential on our society today. In 1973, there was a U. S Supreme Court Case known as Roe versus Wade. This case legalized abortion in The United States. They ruled that babies are not legal â€Å"persons† and from that point on, babies have had no rights or protection under The Constitution of The United States of America. By extension, a woman has a right to make decisions that involve her body and the government should not try to enforce any type of regulation on a woman’s reproductive system. The government should not impose on the wishes of what a woman wants just as the media should not impose or show bias towards the issue. The abortion issue seems to be a very clear and consistent bias. Billboards, magazine ads, and television commercials have all portrayed images of innocent babies staring, with boldfaced words around them saying things like â€Å"With your tax dollars used for abortion †¦ how many more children will be lost? Another bias ad propaganda is a cartoon image with a woman in her third trimester saying â€Å"How dare you challenge my right to kill this thing? No one can stop me from doing whatever I want with my body! † Under this illustration are the words â€Å"Liberal compassion at 36 weeks. † These uses of ad hominems are clearly showing the negative wa y people view the controversial topic of abortion. Even go as far as to â€Å"stereotype† those for abortion as â€Å"Liberalist†, showing a fallacy based on something completely irrelevant. Popular teen television programs such as MTV have shown videos featuring a rapper/singer as a spirit of what appears as a baby-to-be following a woman into an abortion clinic and begging her to let him live. There is an abundance of imagery in the video to make an abortion look as violent and terrifying as possible. So teens seeing this are definitely going to assume the worst about abortions and also think that going through with a pregnancy is the only justifiable thing to do because the video not only makes this seem completely terrifying, but also because the baby would have grown up to be something great, famous. So of course it is very hard to not think about what the child would-have-been. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy states that there are â€Å"750,000 teen pregnancies annually. Only seven percent of abortions are because of rape, incest, and possible health concerns to the mother or baby. The other ninety-three percent of people who choose abortion do it for social, personal, and economic reasons. Pregnancy happens every day, planned or unplanned. Unplanned and unwanted pregnancies make abortion a sufficient option for what is basically another way out of a less than ideal situation for some people. Although women have a hard time choosing abortion as an option for unwanted pregnancies, they have been making the choice for a long time. The MTV video ad mentioned above also depicts a situation of a man criticizing a woman about her choice until she gives in and makes the choice and chooses what he wants (abortion). This anti-abortion propaganda depicts women to be unable and incapable of following their desires because of a man’s control, belittling women. Women are hardly just people who listen to what is suggested by a man instead of going with their desires and intuitions. The woman, who would be going through the actual â€Å"labor† of continuing a pregnancy, and delivering a baby, bringing it up, parenting it well, in addition to other obligations she has to do in her daily life are all things they have to consider. This alternative should be the woman’s decision, after given thought of course. It should not be a result of the man’s decision for her. The positives that come from the option of abortion are plentiful for women seeking an alternative. Women that do not choose to have sexual encounters, but yet have it forced upon them, rape victims, have a way out of an extremely terrifying situation. Pregnant women with potentially fatal or other health concerns can consider abortion to be their â€Å"lifesaver† of sorts. If there was ever an attempt to ban abortions, the percentage of illegal and dangerous procedures of aborting a pregnancy would go up, therefore causing the cost of the procedure to increase because of accountability. A babies’ life solely depends on its’ mother and a mother needs to be healthy and capable to take on motherhood. It should ultimately be her choice. â€Å"Pro-Choice† supporters, which are supporters of abortion, see a woman's right to choose as central to all of the controversy and believe women's rights are being jeopardized when the right to an abortion is taken away. Of course the people against abortion, people that are for â€Å"Pro-Life†, feel that an unborn baby is more than just potential life: they feel that an unborn baby is meaningful human life. They side with the theory that no person should have the right to decide if another human life is allowed to live or die. Abortion is clearly immoral to them. Pro-Life propaganda refers to Planned Parenthood, a healthcare clinic that offers abortion procedures, as an â€Å"abortion mill† and a â€Å"killing chamber. † The Center for Disease Control has statistics showing approximately 1,313,000 abortions in the United States alone. Abortions can cause severe side effects. Many complications can occur and these include vomiting, infections, severe bleeding, nausea, hemorrhages, and ironically death. These are very serious risks that show the obvious distaste of this controversial issue. The banning of abortion would save the lives of thousands of unborn babies each year and would cut out the chances of women who are undergoing this risky procedure from the possibilities of such severe side effects. The media uses propaganda and other fallacies to cloud ones’ judgment(s) and make people believe things that might not necessarily be true. Propaganda makes things that seem one way look completely different or make things sound more drastic than they really are. Rhetorical appeals, slanting words and propaganda affect everyone in the world today. These logical fallacies are often times absurd. For example, a billboard shows a baby and next to it in huge bolded letters, are the words â€Å"Endangered Species. † These techniques are often drastic and dramatic, however, the majority of the time, they definitely get their point across. Whether someone thinks abortion is right or wrong, it will always be around. Legal or illegal it will continue to happen. The media will continue to downgrade abortions and the people that believe in them. It is obvious that there are few people in this world that are for this issue but it is not right to place judgement on someone ithout knowing their situation, and even then, who is anyone to judge what someone else believes is in their best interest? I would say absolutely no one has that right. While the issue of abortion is so controversial, it makes it nearly impossible to talk about and possibly see the â€Å"positives† that come from it, rather than just questioning it. People will have their opinions, primarily on the basi s of their morals or ethnically, that is how they will look at this issue. The majority will have an unwillingness to change their view(s). On the hopeful side, it is possible that because society and the media portray abortion so negatively, adoption rates will increase and fewer lives are left unharmed to the decision of abortion. Works Cited â€Å"Abortion in the United States: Statistics and Trends. † www. nrlc. org. 4 October 2010. Blackmun, Harry. â€Å"Roe. vs. Wade. † www. oyex. org. 2 October 2010. Cornswald, Alexander. â€Å"Liberal Compassion at 36 weeks. † 27 March 2009. www. cornswalled. com. 2 October 2010. â€Å"News and Politics. †www. sodahead. com. 4 October 2010. Wetcher, Beth. â€Å"Knowledge Is Empowering. † www. knowledgeisempowering. com. 1 October 2010.

Should You Submit Your SAT/ACT Scores?

College applications are rarely straightforward, and as the process evolves over time, aspects that used to be fairly standard are becoming less so. This is especially true of standardized tests. While some colleges still place a great deal of weight on SAT or ACT scores, sometimes even using them as an initial screening tool, other colleges no longer require them at all. This leaves some college applicants wondering when and if they should submit their SAT or ACT scores. In this post, we’ll discuss how to decide when to submit your scores and when to withhold them. If you’re planning to apply to college this season, don’t send those score reports without reading this post first. Testing policies are different at each school. Some colleges require that you submit every score from every test you’ve taken. Some want to see only your highest section scores. Other colleges want to see only your highest composite score. It can all get a little confusing when you’re trying to apply to seven or eight different schools. Luckily, checking the score policy at each college is usually fairly straightforward. For one, when you log onto the CollegeBoard’s Score Report page and begin to select the schools you’d like to send your scores to, the form will automatically suggest which scores to send based on that specific school’s testing policy. This is a great tool, but it’s no substitute for doing your own research. The admissions page for each college generally lists its testing policy in an obvious place. If you can’t find it, check the FAQ page or contact the office of admissions directly. Â   The bottom line is that you need to understand the specific testing policy at every school you apply to in order to make an informed decision. Before you send any score reports, research the testing policy at each school on your list and come up with a score report plan for each school individually. Our students see an average increase of 250 points on their SAT scores. At , we recommend choosing only one standardized test and sticking with it. This means that if you choose the ACT, you should focus exclusively on the ACT, and the same vice versa if you choose the SAT. We know, though, that sometimes students choose to take both tests. In this case, you might have a trickier time deciding which score to submit, or wondering if you should submit them both. Â   You should only submit both scores if both are exceptionally impressive. Submitting both scores still won’t necessarily set you apart from someone who submits only one equally as impressive score, but at least it can’t hurt. If you’re not sure how impressive your scores are, you should look up how they compare to the test scores of last year’s admitted students. You can generally find this information through a simple web query. Your scores are considered impressive if they place comfortably above the 75th percentile of admitted students. Â   If your scores on the ACT and SAT are not equally impressive, do not submit both. Instead, only submit the scores that place you higher amongst other admitted students. Again, use the information available from a web query to see how last year’s admitted students faired. Then, select the scores that place you closer to the top. For example, if your SAT scores place you at the 75th percentile of admitted students, but your ACT scores place you at the 50th percentile, stick with your SAT scores. Even though your ACT scores are comfortably within the acceptable range, they aren’t as impressive as your SAT scores, and submitting them could take away from the good impression left by your SATs. Test optional schools are one of the scenarios that elicit the most questions about submitting test scores. While testing policies used to be fairly black and white, test optional schools definitely leave a gray area. In general, when a college application lists smoothing as optional, you should considered it required unless it will ultimately be a big strike against you. Basically, this means that you should still submit your best SAT or ACT score to a test optional school, unless it is poor enough to really count against you. You can determine this by checking the scores of admitted students from last year. If your score places you below the 25th percentile, think twice about submitting it. It might be best to discuss your options with your guidance counselor or eliciting advice from ’s Applications Guidance service. Here, you will be paired with a personal admissions specialist from a top a college who can provide step-by-step guidance through the entire application process, including selecting which, if any, scores to submit. To learn more about test optional schools, check out our post What Test-Optional Means for College Admissions . Of course, your best offense is always a good defense, so we suggest avoiding any questions about submitting test scores by maximizing your SAT or ACT performance from the get go. If you achieve a score you’re proud to submit, you won’t have to worry about it. For advice about preparing for standardized tests, check out these important posts: For more help preparing for your standardized tests, consider the benefits of ’s full service, customized SAT Tutoring Program , where the brightest and most qualified tutors in the industry guide students to an average score increase of 140 points.