Convincing that the same sex adoption morally RIGHT Essay

Convincing that the same sex adoption morally RIGHT - Essay Example Having children is a dream come true for most couples, who are we to say that it is wrong for the same sex couples to want the same thing? In some ways, maybe same sex adoption has benefits that will prove it to be a morally right set up for those children looking for loving homes to belong to. After all, it is never morally wrong to want to give a child a place to live where he is loved unconditionally right? Let's admit it, not all heterosexual parents chose to become parents. Some of them became parents by accident. Such situations result in unwanted children whose existence is sometimes only slightly better than living in hell. On the other hand, same sex couples choose to become parents. It is because of this motivation that we can be assured that they will always be morally responsible for their actions when it comes to their children. According to experts like Abby Goldberg (As cited in Pappas, 2012), gay parents are usually more motivated than their heterosexual counterparts because they made the choice to become parents. As such the perception that same sex couples only want to have â€Å"designer babies† is based upon misinformation. The same sex couples have a full understanding of their responsibilities as parents and what to expect when they have children. They have a much deeper understanding and commitment to the life of the child that they will be raising than most heterosexual couples do. These children have the advantage of growing up in a home that has open-mindedness, tolerance and role models for equitable relationships as part of its lifestyle. Therefore the children will grow up having a deeper understanding of social issues and a ready acceptance for anything that others might view as out of the ordinary. Children raised in gay households are no different from their heterosexual counterparts. If anything, they grow up with more empathy towards other people because they do not find themselves constrained by gender stereotypes (Bloo ms, 2011). Instead, they prove to be well adjusted individuals who have a serious insight about life and the responsibilities that it entails. Let us not forget that there are thousands of unwanted children lined up in adoption agencies who are in need of a home. Homosexual parents are more than willing to give children that heterosexual parents pass on a good and loving environment to be raised in. Children all deserve to be raised in loving homes by people who only want what is best for them. But unlike straight couples who tend to pick the best of the litter (if one were to compare babies to dogs), same sex couples do not care about the shortcomings of a child. In a report by the LA5 Champions for Children, they discovered that (2012): â€Å"Research by the Evan P. Donaldson Adoption Institute found that gays and lesbians tend to adopt children who are typically difficult to place: minorities, special needs children, and kids older than 6... . â€Å" All that matters to them, i s that they have the chance to be parents to a child who would not have a chance in life otherwise. Maybe it is because the same sex parents have to overcome adversity and judgment themselves that is why they are able to offer the kind of love and care that these less than ideal babies and children would not get from traditional parent couples. Now that leads the a question that is normally asked of parents. What exactly makes a good parent? Does being a good parent mean that a child has a set of heterosexual pare

Improve the Quality of Public Education Research Paper

Improve the Quality of Public Education - Research Paper Example It is feasible that, the child students and young graduates are finding difficult to understand what the social or family value is. Divide of joint family into the small parts can create negative mentality. Therefore, young generation cannot understand the proper family tradition and values. Several political issues and individualism is another reason behind the decline of public education system in America (Sexton, 2012). Privatization and high corruption level regarding the fund distribution is creating barriers for the development of schools. In the year 1996, the federal government of America has provided 10 percent of total funding to the public schools. Moreover, the remainder comes from the local and state sources, but it was evidenced that the poll did not organize any kind of inquiry commission to about the decrease or increase in local or state investment (Peltzmen, 1992). Since 2000, the government of America used to focus on the private educational institute. The people o f middle income level find it very much difficult to admit their child in this expensive private educational institution due to low disposable income. The economic downturn is the only reason for this low disposable income of people. Moreover, the government did not take appropriate initiatives for these kinds of issues. Slowly and gradually, the quality of education in the public schools has decreased. Responsibility of Teachers The public education of America is in a declining stage. Teachers and administrators have become very much incompetent and have been biased by the inadequate regulatory system. Low academic preparation is another issue... This paper approves that train the trainer is one of the key leadership developments. The federal government of America should focus on educating members, volunteers and other coalition partners in order to train the teachers properly. Confidence building is necessary for the teachers in order to teach the students appropriately. Presently, the public education system is lacking the quality and several aspects. Government of America should make and manage commitments in order to develop the public education system. Last but not the least; government should look forward to overcome the problematic economic and social situation. Presently, the crime rate is rapidly increasing in America. On the other hand, the low disposable income of middle class people is creating barrier for the parents to admit their child in the expensive private graduate schools. This paper makes a conclusion that some effective recommendation plans have been provided in order to overcome the challenges linked with the public education system in America. As it is feasible from the study is that, several economical, social and political factors and government’s negligence is affecting the public education structure. Moreover, teachers’ inadequate teaching process is creating difficulty for the students. The economic recession, low disposable income of people and political corruption has decreased the quality of education in the public schools. Moreover, teacher’s partiality while evaluating the exam papers is restricting the deserved students to perform effectively. Therefore, it is necessary for government to look after these issues and challenges in order to bring the light of education within the whole American Society.

The history, structure, classification of type Essay

The history, structure, classification of type - Essay Example ype designers have gone further to categorize the typographic variations in letterforms like x-height, length of ascenders and descenders and stroke weight that contribute to functionality, clarity and aesthetics of the design (Raizman 194). The humanist (Venetian) faces of 15th and 16th centuries emulated the classical calligraphy. The humanist typefaces were designed to imitate Italian Renaissance handwriting and the types use bracketed serifs while letters are wide. The old style (Garalde) was designed developed between 15th and 17th century. These types have moderate contrast and entail rounded serifs and rounded letters that enhance readability. The old style has small serifs and small x-heights and minimal variations of thick and thin strokes. The stress is diagonal and tops of lowercase ascenders often will exceed the height of the capital letters (Raizman 195). The transitional classification has sharper serifs and was introduced in mid 18th century by John Baskerville. The mechanical-like structure ensures these types are reverse and stippled thus looking excellent on smooth paper. The modern typefaces were designed by Didone in late 18th century and early 19th century and include straight serifs, and sharp contrast from thick to thin strokes (Felici 53). The advancement in typography was occasioned by improvements in technology such as printing and binding of papers thus making it possible to develop type styles with fine hairlines and strong vertical emphasis (Felici 78). The Egyptian or slab-serifs (19th century) has heavy serifs and is mainly used for decorations since it provides high legibility (Cullen 145). The slab serif is useful in posters and flyers due to bold printing types and strong, square finishing strokes that capture the viewers’ attention. The decorative typefaces (19th to 20th century) are mainly used in poster s and billboards since legibility wanes if used in small point sizes. They are designed for large point sizes in order to

Metaphysics - ontology Essay Example for Free

Metaphysics ontology Essay â€Å"I think therefore I am-Descartes;† â€Å"All noble things are as difficult as they are rare- Spinoza. † Decorates and Spinoza are unique; they are like nothing this class has studied previous. They focus on nature, existence and power as the fundamental building blocks to their unique philosophies. The beauty of these two men’s philosophies is not only in their contrasts but in all the ideas the students can draw from their logically thinking strategies; ultimately creating an individual philosophy and bettering ones own life from it. They both use logic but the use of language is the â€Å"wild card† that allows the real questioning to happen. Spinoza and Decorates are masters at using concrete facts and twisting them in such a way so as to question their existence entirely. Almost like one is pressing the reset button on life and starting fresh. The best example I can give is our day-to-day class discussion. Previously our tangents have been focused and connected. But with Spinoza and Decorates they have been different. They have become sporadic, wide spread, and eye opening. Yes the focus has and will always remain to be on the ideals that these men present; but the beauty in these philosophies are not restricted to just their points. The beauty lies within what the student (since we are all students’ not philosophy kings yet) can question and provide. This paper will discuss all the points crucial to these two men’s philosophies; however, throughout the paper the tangents I will draw will reveal my own conclusions that I have been taking note off from our class discussion in order to shed some light on the impact these philosophies have had to myself and philosophy itself. First thing that this paper will cover, and the biggest topic of debate between the two is the dialectic about the mind and body. Descartes is a substance duelist. He believes substance is divided into two things: mind substance and body substance. They are also independent entities in his eyes. In the second meditation he concludes that doubt is possible about the existence of the body but there can be no doubt as to the existence of the thinking mind; the mind simply cannot doubt the existence of thinking, since even the doubt itself would require thinking to exist (this concept itself is confusing and brilliant at the same time basically embodying who Descartes is in a one thought). Therefore Descartes is able to conclude that since there is doubt about the existence of the body, the mind can think without the use of the body. Thus independence is the only logical result. After all of that, duality in substances is born and realized. On the contrary, Spinoza believes mind and body are the same substance. Mind is dependent of the body and vice versa. The mind is united to the body because the body is the object of the mind (Ethics 2, prop 21). However one does not determine the other: The body cannot determine the mind to think, nor the mind the body to remain in motion or at rest (Ethics 3, 2). † Simply put, it is illogical to believe that one act causes the other act to happen. The mind is in place to insure the survival of the body. He rejects the idea of substances that Descartes suggests. Spinoza believes that there is only infinite substance, and no finite substance; which is a contradiction and a double negative (proving a statement false with false evidence). Each thing, mind and body, is both a thought and an extension. The thought is what is known through ideas and the extension is what exists and is sensed physically. Therefore thought is mental and extension is physical. For Spinoza, the mind and body act as a mirror image of each other; neither has any freedom from the other; dependence is therefore born. Then the role of infinite substance is introduced. Spinoza argues that God is the only infinite substance in nature. There can be only one substance that satisfies the idea difference between the two philosophers and that is that Spinoza views thought and extension as inseparable not having independent extensions. While in Descartes philosophy there are two distinct extensions. The mind substance is further divided into infinite and finite thinking. The infinite is God, the finite is each individual mind and soul. There is only one infinite thinking substance and that is God. Thinking is not a physical action (it is a behavior). It is an individual act that only the individual can control. One doesnt have to think a normal way, Descartes would argue. This connects to his views on education and how it can sometimes â€Å"cloud† individuals from their true passions and loves in life. Thinking with a clear mind is something that goes hand in hand with self-knowledge; learning from experience through one’s own paths and mistakes. Accepting that one cannot control everything (only one’s thoughts and physical actions) and understanding the necessity for an open mind to nature. Only then when this is all applied is it possible to live an active life; living life to the fullest and embracing all it has to offer. This leads into Spinoza’s definition of affect. He defines it as â€Å"the modifications of the body whereby the active power of the said body is increased or diminished, aided or constrained, and also the ideas of such modification (Ethics, prop 130). † Simply put, that which is affected does not exist; meaning the only thing that can possibly exist is God. Everything is dependent on something in order for it to survive; a book, a tree, a person, is dependent on something else for its survival. One could argue (and will now) that the mind has the ability to affect too. The only thing that can affect the mind is the mind itself. But the mind can be deceiving. Overthinking or over analyzing can change our perception of what reality is. Emotions and senses also add to the deception the mind can cause. A smell could lead somebody to not eat a meal; hearing somebody’s voice can be appealing or completely â€Å"turn off† the individual from furthering the conversation. The mind can also cause passive moments. Being passive is a huge part of nonexistence to Spinoza. Although the passive moments in ones life are inevitable, Spinoza suggests that we must attempt to control them in order obtain maximum freedom in life. Freedom is that in which someone lives an active life (living in the moment, embracing all that life can offer). By developing good habits, living actively, one can limit the passive moments and bounce back (not fall too far down the divided line). The goal in life is to live the most active life and experience nature to the fullest. Descartes believes in the exact opposite. He beliefs that mind and body are two separate substances that dont rely on each other. Therefore the mind cannot affect the body and the body cannot affect the mind. Thus all that Spinoza would suggest is a â€Å"waste. † The four cores of life are sadness, joy, weakness and power. Each person will experience one in his or her lifetime (if one does not then their alien [interesting what an alien is or is not]). The key, Spinoza would argue is that one experiences the cores in their own way. The question he would ask is: â€Å"will you live your life or the way others tell you too. † God is the key answer to this question. What does it mean to say that God is substance and that everything else is â€Å"in† God? Spinoza suggests that rocks, tables, chairs, birds, mountains, rivers and human beings are all properties of God. Thus all we are is a creation off God. It’s crazy to think that we are merely just part of an image of some other higher substance. When a person feels pain, sadness and joy; does it follow that all the emotions are ultimately just a property of God, therefore suggesting that God feels it too (chills run down*). This is the gut of Spinoza’s philosophy as he devotes the first 15 proportions to defining God and all that he does. Descartes is similar on his view with God. Gods existence is inferred, simply because of existence. For example, God is not an extended thing but only a thinking thing; God exists in a higher form, and he and only he can cause its existence. The idea of God is the idea of an infinite substance. Since a finite substance is less real than an infinite substance. A finite substance does not have enough reality to be the cause of its own idea. But the idea must have come from something. So that something is God, which must be an infinite substance. Therefore, God exists as the only possible cause of this idea. These comparisons that the two philosophers naturally bring to the table lead the mind to wonder. The possibilities are endless when it comes to questions and conclusions. The beauty lies within these questions. It is up to the individual, as Spinoza would say, to stop living a passive life and â€Å"attack† these philosophers in order to create something beautiful.

Reflection of Personal Art Therapy Experience as Facilitator

Reflection of Personal Art Therapy Experience as Facilitator Brett Cartwright Description I have chosen to do my reflection on the Art Therapy Focusing model in which I facilitated a process for my client, who for the purpose of confidentiality we will call ‘Jemima’. This session was conducted at the Phoenix Institute of Australia as a part of the learning model presented by my lecturer within the Art Therapy Module. During the â€Å"setting up† (Malchiodi 1998) the space process I went about finding an appropriate area and making sure there were sufficient items conducive of an Art Therapy session, such as pastels, paper, and markers, as well as a cabinet in the corner filled with Art Therapy supplies, should Jemima wish to use something different. Upon the completion of the setting up process, I quickly checked in with myself to ensure I was capable of holding space for my client before walking into the waiting area to greet Jemima, inviting her to join me in the room. Once in the room I enquired about how she felt regarding the comfort of the space and offered her the opportunity to rearrange it in any way she saw fit, also pointing out that there were many more art supplies in the corner cabinet. Jemima nodded and said â€Å"I’m actually quite happy with this† making a bodily gesture toward the previously setup space. Now sitting, we began to talk about how her day was going so far and if there was anything specific she would like to focus on. Upon creating an intention for the session I suggested that we try an Art Therapy Focusing process and proceeded to explain what would be involved. We began by drawing her attention into her body, in search of a ‘Felt Sense’ (Gendlin 1996) eventually finding an image that had an ‘emotional quality’ fitting to the intention we had set for the session. I then extended an invite to open her eyes and bring the image to concretised form on the paper, inviting her to open up a dialogue with me about the process if she saw fit at any time, which she ackn owledged but declined. The rest of the session was quite silent and required little more than my presence, â€Å"unconditional positive regard† (Rogers 1980) and holding of the space to facilitate. Jemima indicated when she had finished her image, at which time I asked her to close her eyes again, inviting her to bring her awareness back to the room and slowly drawing her out of the focusing process. At this point I asked her if she could share with me how the process was for her. I let Jemima know that the session was coming to a close, offering her the opportunity to express anything else that might have come up for her during the process, and we closed the session. I then invited Jemima to give reflection on my performance as a therapist, took some notes, and the entire process was complete. Feelings I felt quite comfortable entering into this process as I am reasonably familiar and confident with the focusing process from both the ‘Focuser’ and ‘Companion’ perspectives. Also, I have worked with Jemima on a number of occasions and have developed a good amount of rapport with her, which makes for a productive and healthy therapeutic relationship. Having said that there were, and always are, a certain amount of nerves for me when stepping into the role of therapist, as I have recently discovered via an empty chair process that I have a dominant inner critic that has created really strong insecurities around professionalism. This was, however, coupled with intense feelings of excitement about acting out the entire process of a therapy session and the learning that comes from the experience. At the end of the session, as always, I found myself left with mixed feelings. I became highly stressed and critical about how I performed as the therapist, and some of the feedback I received from Jemima, again coupled with an element of excitement about having made it through the process without any major hiccups on my end. Evaluation At the time I felt things went reasonably well for both the client, and myself. It seemed that the client had really managed to embody the Art Therapy Focusing process. The â€Å"Coming in† process (Purton 2004) was smooth and seemed to flow quite well as we slowly drew Jemima’s awareness toward her inner-world, searching for a Felt Sense that eventually matched that of a ‘Protector’ (as referenced in the Analysis section below). Throughout the creation of the artwork I made a few observations about certain things, such as the way Jemima smiled when the image of her protector came to her; the movements and motions of her strokes on the paper which were reflected as being â€Å"helpful for meaning making† by the client; and the pressure she seemed to apply to different areas of the page. The end of this session felt a bit rigid and clunky upon reflection, as I always seem to have some amount of trouble tying things off without interrupting the clientà ¢â‚¬â„¢s process. Analysis Upon analysis of the session and the feedback given by the client, it would seem that it was a productively therapeutic session that helped the client in â€Å"clearing space† (Gendlin 1996) and creating a â€Å"safe space† using an image of a â€Å"protector† as tools created by Judith Herman and described by Rappaport (1998), which the client can now refer to in consecutive sessions to help return to that feeling of safety, if the client resonates strongly with that image. There was the possibility for a couple of intersubjective responses, as I had a couple of images with protective qualities come up for me when I was witnessing the client’s process unfold, which I held back due to some nervousness around projection and interpretation as I did not want to influence the client’s process in any way. Conclusion In Conclusion, upon reflection of the content of the session from both my perspective and the feedback given, I realise that there is a level of incongruence, and slight lack of unconditional positive regard in not sharing my intersubjective responses with the client. Thus putting distance between myself and the client, and in turn creating a lack of attunement. As a final note, there is very little I would change about the process apart from exercising more congruence and working on developing better skills around closing the session. References Malchiodi, C.A. (1998). Setting up: Drawing on Environment and Materials. The Art Therapy Sourcebook: Art Making for Personal Growth, Insight, and Transformation. (p.79 – 102) Rappaport, L. (1998). Focusing And Art Therapy: Tools for Working Through Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Focusing Folio, Vol. 17 (1), (p.2-3) Gendlin, E.T. (1996). Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy: A Manual of the Experiential Method. New York: Guildford Press. (p.57-58) Purton, C. (2004). Focusing as a Taught Procedure. Person-Centred Therapy: The Focusing-Oriented Approach. United Kingdom: Palgrave MacMillan. (p.90) Rogers. C. R. (1980). Characteristics of the Person-Centred Approach. A Way of Being. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. (p.115-116)

Areas in the Early Years Foundation Stage

Areas in the Early Years Foundation Stage Building positive relationships To build a positive relationship with a little person is not always easy. Some people are really opened and easy to get along with but then some are uncommunicative so they would rather be alone and do their own thing than play and talk to others. Also, children’s behaviour is unpredictable, you just never know what is behind the corner. That is why you can not work in child care setting thinking you act the same with every single person. Unfortunately it is not that easy because personalities are different and every child is an individual who needs different kind of care. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statuary framework that sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. These standards are: The promotion of the welfare of children in the child care setting Appropriately screened adults to work with the children A suitable environment, equipment and premises Correctly maintained documentation The provision of an organisational structure in which they can learn and develop emotionally, socially, physically and intellectually It is extremely important that the adults working with kids are working for these standards especially when they are OFSTED registered because simply not working with these rules and being registered with OFSTED is against the law. Children learn best when they are healthy, safe and secure, when their individual needs are met and when they have positive relationships with the adults caring of them. With these rules child care professionals have learnt how to implement the 6 learning goals, which is worked out by The Early Years Foundation Stage, in the child care setting. The Early Years Foundation Stage consists of six areas of learning and development which are: Personal, social and emotional development Communication, language and literacy Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy Knowledge and understanding of the world Physical development Creative development Most of the areas are covered simply just the children being in the child care setting surrounded by intelligent adults and of course other children whom they are socialising and playing with. Only playing with other kids brings out most of the six points in individual but obviously it is not enough. With manners, literacy, numeracy, knowledge and understanding of the world kids do need a little help from the adults but that is why professional carers know all different type of activities and exercises that are good for learning and development. People working with children have been taught to observe every person so they know what every single individual needs to learn quicker, how to learn and to develop more. Obviously it is always good to communicate with other carers and of course parents, to make the best decisions out of it. Children’s respect to other people comes from an early age, it all depends of the environment they have been raised up in but also of the parents, what they have taught to their children. It is typical the kids believe in the same things as the adults living at home but it is not always good. As the time goes on, there is so many changes in life that older people do not accept but we can not teach our kids to do that. That is why it is important to teach children from young age to respect and value individuality. We often find children who do not have any siblings not really respectful to others, because they have used to get everything they want but also there is no-one at home they have to share their things with. There is lots of responsibilities coming from home that parents need to do but also if the kids attend nursery or a child care setting, carers have their own part of raising children to become responsible young adults. Going to the child care setting regularly definitely helps children to understand other children’s needs and how to communicate and play with others. Professional carers have been taught how to deal with young people. They know how to act in front of and with the children so they have no bad example they could take from the adults. But communication is the key! Carers and parents definitely need to talk things through, because children get confused and nothing good comes out of it if adults at home are acting very different to the ones at the child care setting. It is also very easy to teach kids through games. Games teach how to share things, how to communicate with others and when difficulties appear, how to solve problems and arguments. Really good for this are role plays. But it is important for adults to stay on the side and observe so they could help to understand the situation of the problems and find the solution together with the kids involved. Showing children that everyone in this world are equal no matter their culture, material status, skin colour or age, could keep them away of trouble when being kids but also in the future. It is important them to tolerate and value individuality. Keeping positive behaviour and avoid negative at home and also in the child care setting, is probably every parent’s and carer’s dream. But the thing adults are usually struggling with is consistency. From my own experience when moved into my previous host family to look after the kids, they did have the same problem. It seems to be really difficult for parents to stick to what they have said. With two boys in the family to look after I made it pretty clear from the start what they can and can not to. Of course they tried to push the boundaries but I sticked to my words. The difference how the kids behaved with me and with the parents was huge. I knew when I asked them to do something, they did it and never had to ask twice but when parents asked, really often kids did not even respond. It shows clearly what these parents have done wrong and therefore they will not get enough respect by their own children. The main thing for parents is to keep their promises and keep up with consistency but the children need to also know that after every bad behaviour there are always consequences. It is really important for adults to keep up with this too, otherwise child will get confused and there will be no result. But recognising only bad behaviour and keep telling children off is frustrating for both sides. That is why we also need to notice the good things kids do. Nurseries and schools are often using stickers as a reward for a good behaviour. As children love stickers it is really good idea to use it in a child care setting. By seeing and noticing the good things kids are doing, they want to get noticed even more because they know it will also bring more attention from adults and of course they will get rewards. Parents and carers do need to be careful though because there is so many cases when children are using this and will blackmail the adults to get what they want simply just misbehaving when the parents will not buy something they wanted. But there should not be any problems when the rules are clear from an early age. In every household and child care setting children and adults are really often facing conflicts. It is usually between children who are fighting over toys or attention, or problems are appearing simply because of lack of social skills, hunger, tiredness or lack of suitable role models. But sometimes we do see conflicts between children and adults. Usually caused because of not enough attention, generational clashes or because the middle child has been forgotten about. So what should we do, to solve these problems?! And at the end of the day, are conflicts good or bad? The KidsHealth website gives advice for parents to give some more privacy to their children but also to trust them a little bit more. It is obviously more of an advice to parents with a little bit older children who actually do know what they are doing. The website also says to listen and of course to do more explaining. Kids should be taught to ask adults to explain things through so the conflict would not develop. So, is conflict good or a bad thing? Many theorists agree that it is a good thing and it helps children to develop. Piaget believed that conflict in children was healthy, and if worked through, would help children to overcome their egocentric thought patterns, Erikson believed that to become a better person one must resolve the conflict in each stage of life, because life is full of conflicts. And Vygotsky thought conflict is more like a learning progress, he believed that children will learn from the conflict. Many different child care facilities seems to think that conflict is a part of human nature and kids needs to have the skill to solve a problem without an adults help. That is why they believed it is an adults responsibility to give children conflicts to resolve, at this point with adults but by the time they are all grown up, they can do it themselves and through this, survive. Keeping the perfect parent/carer and friend relationship at home or in the child care setting might be sometimes really difficult. Kids often just would not take well an adults telling them what to do, or how to behave with others and also by teaching them, children would not think you still want to be their friend. Still trying to be a friend but at the same time to stay professional, have children’s respect and keep up with the consistency is a hard work. But if this happens when children and adults find the perfect balance, it will be really good harmony in a whole household/child care setting, which is a good influence to everyone. Bibliography: http://www.kon.org/urc/dennis.html http://www.livestrong.com/article/84969-parentchild-conflict/ http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/encouraging_good_behaviour.html http://discipline.about.com/od/disciplinebasics/a/Discipline-Kids-With-Positive-And-Negative-Consequences.htm www.kidscount.com.au/english/chapter11.asp www.childcarealgoma.ca/UploadedFiles/files/importance_of_observing_and_recording_children.pdf

The Spiritual Decline of Shakespeares Macbeth Essay -- GCSE English L

The Spiritual Decline of Macbeth The play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, has been analyzed to such an extent that many assume it is impossible to say anything new about the play.   Yet, a close reading of Macbeth can still yield tremendous insights.   One interesting point worth noting is Macbeth's inability to answer "Amen" to a solemn prayer to God. Shakespeare's post-medieval world strictly adhered to the binary opposition between good and evil, or in other words, between Christ and Satan. The common belief was that satanic forces could not pay homage to Christ. Thus, Macbeth's inability to answer "Amen" reflects his spiritual decline, sinking to the ranks of the witches and Lady Macbeth.    Macbeth was written for Shakespeare’s new patron, James I (James VI of Scotland), following the death of Queen Elizabeth. James, a relative of the real Banquo, was interested in witchcraft and Scotland, hence the themes and setting of the play.   The play itself tells the story of a man, urged by his wife and foretold by prophecy, who commits regicide in order to gain power.         Lady Macbeth is the wife of Macbeth and the person who has the greatest influence over him. A childless woman, from the start of the play she turns feverish at the prospect of becoming queen and declares that she would kill her own child--"dash his brains out"--if it would help her achieve her goal (I.vii.55). This connection between childlessness and power has led critics, prominently AC Knight in his famous essay, â€Å"How Many Children Had Lady Macbeth?† to remark that this is part of the play's greater symbolism, where evil is infertile and good is fertile.   (Citation?   Since you just paraphrased one of Kn... ...m he must take the daggers back, put them with the grooms, and smear the grooms with blood, so it will look like the grooms killed the King.   Macbeth is unable to return to the scene of the crime to do that so Lady Macbeth takes the daggers from him and tells him that it's childish to be afraid of the sleeping or the dead. And she's not afraid of blood, either. She says, "If he [King Duncan] do bleed, / I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal / For it must seem their guilt" (2.2.52-54) The conscience is a fickle thing.   If it is suffering, its owner suffers.   As Macbeth’s spirituality declined, he was unable to acknowledge a simple prayer with a simple response, â€Å"Amen†. His wife apparently was unable to take comfort from prayer.   For both, this lack of communion with goodness ultimately led to their deaths.