John Dos Passos Essays - John Dos Passos, Old Right,

John Dos Passos Almost every one writer can say that they are influenced by their childhood and past. Memories flood back to them as they encounter a similar experience or similar situation in their earlier years. No doubt a significant factor in their writing, the past from a specific writer's life usually adds more depth and complexity to their works. Because these previous experiences are from the author's actual life, the scenes and subjects related to the theme are more accurate and realistic, and may even be more appealing to read. These past voices may appear either consciously through the author's works, or sometimes unconsciously, guided maybe by some early childhood memory. Well, whatever the case, John Dos Passos was such a man that appeared to have been significantly influenced by his past. Born un-rooted to any plot of land, his life was a mission to search for new ground on which to grow, which can be seen as an major theme throughout all his works. Dos Passos grew up to a turbulent childhood, being unconventionally born on January 14, 1896. His father, John Randalph Dos Passos, was a prominent attorney and his mother, Lucy Addison Sprigg, a housewife and an excellent mother. Because his parents were not officially married until in 1910, he was considered "illegitimate" for about 14 years; this theme of alienation is found in many of his writings. Most of the time spent during his childhood was with his mother, who travelled abundantly, and this was the time where he grew closer to his mother and started to drift away from the man he called "dad". His travels with his mom led him to places such as Mexico, Belgium, and England. Dos Passos's association with France began when he was very young, and his knowledge of the language was quite thorough. Much of his French expertise is showed off in his works, including Manhattan Transfer. Dos Passos first attended school in the District of Colombia. As he grew up, he spent some of his childhood in Tidewater Virginia. He began attending Choate School where his first published writings were articles for the Choate School News. Upon completing Choate School at the age of fifteen, he entered Harvard University in 1912. At Harvard, he continued his journalism by joining the Harvard Monthly. While at Harvard, he developed a close, long-lasting friendship with E.E. Cummings. During this time at Harvard, the spirit of idealism swept the country. Dos Passos was stirred by ideas of idealism and began to write short autobiographical tales for the Harvard Monthly, which showed vague idealism. He later graduated in June of 1916. Out of college now, Dos Passos choose to volunteer for ambulance duty overseas but his father rejected his idea. So instead, he decided to make his first long visit to Spain, a country which held fascination for him all his life, to study architecture. With the death of his father lather in 1917, he joined the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Group and sailed for France. During his tour of duty as an ambulance driver, he collaborated with a friend, Robert Hillyer, on alternate chapters of a novel, and after several revisions, it became One Man's Initiation - 1917. This book was based largely on his own wartime experiences in France and Italy. His second novel, Three Soldiers, was published in 1920. In 1915, Harper published Manhattan Transfer, a city novel in which Dos Passos first began to use the experimental techniques he would develop more fully in his major contributions to American fiction. The themes of this novel are typical of Dos Passos's work: alienation, loneliness, frustration, and loss of individuality but Manhattan Transfer " was his first success at creating a 'collective novel' where a unifying theme is conveyed through multiple facets of character and situation." (Wrenn,32) He borrowed styles from Flaubert, Zola, Balzac, James Joyce, and T.S. Eliot and found many technical and artistic ideas in early twentieth century French literature. Taking segments of his life, Dos Passos intermingled it with his imagination to make Manhattan Transfer what it is. The autobiography is placed almost entirely within the life of a single fictional character, Jimmy Herf, a young newspaper reporter with ambitions to become a writer. The role of Herf was not simple to bring the author's experience into the novel, but probably instead to show him as being like a rebel, overcoming obstacles that success command, and finding values that counter what society feels important. But also representing Dos Passos, was Armand Duval, "Congo Jake", an anarchist and bootlegger who learns how to ridicule the law and get away with it. He illustrates

Albert Einstein Essays (1603 words) - Albert Einstein, Free Essays

Albert Einstein Essays (1603 words) - Albert Einstein, Free Essays Albert Einstein Of all the scientists to emerge from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there is one whose name is known by almost all living people. While most of these do not understand this man's work, everyone knows that its impact on the world of science is astonishing. Yes, many have heard of Albert Einstein's General Theory of relativity, but few know about the intriguing life that led this scientist to discover what some have called, "The greatest single achievement of human thought." Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1874. Before his first birthday, his family had moved to Munich where young Albert's father, Hermann Einstein, and uncle set up a small electro-chemical business. He was fortunate to have an excellent family with which he held a strong relationship. Albert's mother, Pauline Einstein, had an intense passion for music and literature, and it was she that first introduced her son to the violin in which he found much joy and relaxation. Also, he was very close with his younger sister, Maja, and they could often be found in the lakes that were scattered about the countryside near Munich. As a child, Einstein's sense of curiosity had already begun to stir. A favorite toy of his was his father's compass, and he often marvelled at his uncle's explanations of algebra. Although young Albert was intrigued by certain mysteries of science, he was considered a slow learner. His failure to become fluent in German until the age of nine even led some teachers to believe he was disabled. Einstein's post-basic education began at the Luitpold Gymnasium when he was ten. It was here that he first encountered the German spirit through the school's strict disciplinary policy. His disapproval of this method of teaching led to his reputation as a rebel. It was probably these differences that caused Einstein to search for knowledge at home. He began not with science, but with religion. He avidly studied the Bible seeking truth, but this religious fervor soon died down when he discovered the intrigue of science and math. To him, these seemed much more realistic than ancient stories. With this new knowledge he disliked class even more, and was eventually expelled from Luitpold Gymnasium being considered a disruptive influence. Feeling that he could no longer deal with the German mentality, Einstein moved to Switzerland where he continued his education. At sixteen he attempted to enroll at the Federal Institute of Technology but failed the entrance exam. This forced him to study locally for one year until he finally passed the school's evaluation. The Institute allowed Einstein to meet many other students that shared his curiosity, and It was here that his studies turned mainly to Physics. He quickly learned that while physicists had generally agreed on major principals in the past, there were modern scientists who were attempting to disprove outdated theories. Since most of Einstein's teachers ignored these new ideas, he was again forced to explore on his own. In 1900 he graduated from the Institute and then achieved citizenship to Switzerland. Einstein became a clerk at the Swiss Patent Office in 1902. This job had little to do with physics, but he was able to satiate his curiosity by figuring out how new inventions worked. The most important part of Einstein's occupation was that it allowed him enough time to pursue his own line of research. As his ideas began to develop, he published them in specialist journals. Though he was still unknown to the scientific world, he began to attract a large circle of friends and admirers. A group of students that he tutored quickly transformed into a social club that shared a love of nature, music, and of course, science. In 1903 he married Mileva Meric, a mathematician friend. In 1905, Einstein published five separate papers in a journal, the Annals of Physics. The first was immediately acknowledged, and the University of Zurich awarded Einstein an additional degree. The other papers helped to develop modern physics and earned him the reputation of an artist. Many scientists have said that Einstein's work contained an imaginative spirit that was seen in most poetry. His work at this time dealt with molecules, and

Environmental Policy Analysis Paper - Deforestation Research

Environmental Policy Analysis - Deforestation - Research Paper Example According to statistics, about 2-3 hectares of forestland is destroyed for agricultural purposes annually. In addition to the commercial use of the forest, ranching has also led to an increase in the deforestation process. Deforestation has also been due to livestock operations, which has led to increase in small-scale farming, since land devoted for annual crops production is converted to pasture due to low yields. According to Wood and Porro (25), the Brazilian Environmental Policy being discussed in this paper mainly addresses mechanisms for reducing deforestation without affecting economical development in the Amazon region. For example, the policy deals with introducing practices that would reduce deforestation through either slashing or burning. The economic and environmental impacts of the policy are mainly targeted on technological changes in the agricultural sector in the region. Some of the new technology would have both negative and positive effects on the environment as w ell as economical situation. This is because the new technology might emit gasses in the air and make many farmers lose their source of income. The policy also seeks to update the physical infrastructure in the region, and the effects of lower transportation costs would make the area more accessible (Wood and Porro 30). This would reduce costs by reducing transportation expense for transporting goods and people from one area to another. The other effect of the policy is reducing the macro-economic impact of shocks such as currency devaluation on the movement of agriculture in the region. Balancing environmental sustainability and reducing poverty levels is always a problem in any region, hence the need to identify a policy that would be able to provide basic needs without affecting or destroying the natural environment (Wood and Porro 39). This necessitates the provision of an alternative to slashing and burning for agriculture. Even though the government removed policies that advoc ated for land clearing, the rate of deforestation has not reduced in the area. Therefore, to mitigate the effects of deforestation there was a need to come up with a model that would facilitate the Brazilian economic policy changes and improve land tenure regimes in the region. The model would also ensure the adoption of new agricultural policies such as adoption of new farming tenure systems that would take into consideration growing of perennial crops rather than annual crops. In addition to the improvement of infrastructure in the region, the policy seeks to reduce currency devaluation and align it with the new system, and provide fiscal methods to reduce the rate of deforestation (Wood and Porro 45). Regulating the land tenure system is one of the best options for reducing deforestation since most instances of deforestation occurred in the hands of foresters who acquired informal land tenure. By introducing new land tenures, the government is reclaiming the land and removing the incentives for deforestation, which would effectively reduce deforestation by 23 percent per year. Advancement in agricultural development would play a vital role in agricultural advancement and reduce deforestation (Wood and Porro 46). Due to improvement in livestock production, the returns of agricultural activities would increase, which would in turn improve food security. However, in the long-run, deforestation would increase as

Implementation Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Implementation Plan - Essay Example d guidelines of the proposal are pertinent to information security and privacy that are currently put forward by bodies of the state, federal regulators, and the state. New technologies are coming up in the market daily. Therefore, there is need to safeguard the evolving technologies. In the case where MEMATECH Solutions limited has this need, I have proposed to develop and install a new security plan for the company. The idea behind the plan is to come up with a network that connects all the machines in the organization in protecting the plan from being publicized during the stage of development and research. The paper therefore, discusses the proposal of MEMATECH Solutions limited security plan proposal for the connections that dwells on the authentication mechanisms, policies of password, and the plan’s proposed cost (Pipkin, 2000). I have proposed a security plan for MEMATECH Solutions limited for the connection that will safeguard their new products when researching and developing stages are carried out. The paper proposes a comprehensive plan that deals with password policy, network policy, authentication of data, and the project’s cost. To safeguard the project it is imperative that all information and data are kept on different networks and servers that are not within the access of the general corporation. This can be achieved by developing new networks through the appliances of Cisco Terascale router or Cisco ASA security, VMware, VLANS, and Windows 2008 with the help of IPV6 private addressing. Employing the appliances of ASA security and Terascale, I will be able to monitor and control the entire network and access traffic on the corporate network subset through the firewall features. In conjunction with MAC address, I will implement through filtering to offer more security. The IPV6 IP mechanism will be employed to help it from attempts of network intrusion and brute force. I will use a private address to ensure that all the IP address are

Implications and Benefits Essay Example for Free

Implications and Benefits Essay One of the biggest challenges facing small and medium-sized organizations today is the coordination of work among the workers and managers. Many companies have been successful in gathering or statistically evaluating data, but find it hard to convert the findings into positive results. Studies have shown that with globalization, many companies have had problems in motivating or working with ethnic and other culturally different employees. Many organizations have valued diversity to enhance organizational effectiveness and growth, while others still languish from hostile and unhealthy practices. As a general rule, organizations must address the importance of employee participation programs and group based pay incentives. These measures have met with success, and so too have profit and gain sharing programs. High-performance and High-involvement are two business terms related to employees and production. In order to attain perfection, employee performance is mandatory, and the company’s management needed to develop a strong belief and determination among the leadership and worker-class, to accelerate progressive changes and create a difference. Only those with exceptional influence can change the way an organization runs. Management must consider the criticality of a visible and active role taken by them to integrate policies of diversity and inclusion into every aspect of an organization’s operation and culture. Culture affects every employee of the organization, whether it is a man or woman. It’s imperative that any policy decision reach all concerned in the organization; every individual of the organization must feel a part of the scheme of things, for the welfare of the organization. A healthy work environment goes a long way in instigating quality work. At the workplace, it is imperative for the management to introduce an increased and effective mode of cooperation between the workers and managers. One way of looking at it is by creating better leadership styles and flexible work/career patterns. There are many number of business tactics, that can be employed to bring about operational changes to manage talent most effectively. Some tactics, most noticeable among them are: †¢ Identifying role models and establishing mentoring programs †¢ Eliminating all bias-based company policies and procedures †¢ Providing equal opportunities, training and development for all †¢ Conducting workshops for employees to impress upon them the importance of diversity and inclusiveness to increase performance and production Though the above initiatives may sound simple, there is more to it, than meets the eye. The exercise needs the wholehearted support and sustained effort by all employees to make it a success (David Pappie, p. 103, 2006). 1. 1 Thesis Question There have been many studies undertaken to understand the importance of cultural diversity and its acceptance in the process of organizational growth and productivity. In most cases, studies carried out have been successful in identifying the areas which have led to organizational breakdowns and slow progress. Many of these theories have been put to test with varying results. What is it that determines cultural unity, and how can this attribute to an organization’s progress? This paper tries within the limits of its structure to elicit the importance of cultural unity, by taking into consideration, the most important factor; the workforce, to gauge and underline how organizations counter cultural and other variants to become successful. 2. 0 Executive Summary Performance is the cornerstone to success and productivity. Performance comes about through the wholehearted and sincere effort of employees of an organization. This is possible only if the employees are kept happy and cared for. Strategies that favor employee retention, elicit competitive bonus schemes, and creates healthy work environment are pre-requisites for employee performance, culminating in higher production. A company’s best asset is its people, so there is a good reason why the company needs to do what is right for them. A point of contention to performance and productivity is the way one works; the ability to work remotely, where enterprise convergence gains momentum. This can come about only if the people concerned in the program are well trained to perform under least supervision and motivated. For business bosses and their employees, a converged environment makes work location and distance irrelevant. The impetus to work for the benefit of the organization must come from within the individuals concerned. Just as a students finds his/her studies important and strive for excellence, employees must find the inclination to work from within their heart. This can come about with the sustained effort of the management to bring changes that enliven the workplace (Tanuja Randery, p. 107, 2006). Globalization has opened up new vistas for entrepreneurs and other organizations to forge partnerships in third countries and enjoy governmental subsidies and tax benefits, apart from cheap labor and raw materials. When people with cultural difference enter employment in many western countries, the U. S included, they find the work ethics and style different from their own. This could have serious repercussion on co-workers and the organization as a whole. Production could get affected, quality gradually begins to deteriorate, and the organization machinery could go haywire. People from ethnic background find it hard to communicate or follow their organizational strategies or goals and are forced to defend for themselves. Just as in a foreign collaboration or merger where the foreign participant has to adjust to their surroundings and local policies and rules, workers who travel abroad and take up employment in organizations there, have to make the adjustments to fit into their roles to be of asset to that organization. Since the organization stands to gain through good HR policies, it is imperative that the organization welcomes these workers with a helping hand and guard against discrimination or inequality. 3. 0 Literature Review In order to understand the importance of cultural unity among a workforce, one could perhaps study how organizations counter cultural and other variants to become successful. During a merger, or an association, many organizations worked diligently to assimilate the various synergistic features; right from assets and equipment to technology and strategies, discounting the complexity of variant cultures. They barge into an alliance and without a thought; obliterate the long-standing traditions, practices and policies of the merged company, to meld it into a faceless subsidiary. Even in case of an equal alliance, the combined entity loses the erstwhile individualistic charm and appeal as they overlook the people factor. Corroborating this theory is a recent ‘Making Mergers Work’ study by the Society for Human Resource Management, wherein HR professionals listed incompatible cultures as the biggest obstacle to success in mergers and acquisitions. They emphasized that these companies failed to recognize the importance of cultural issues. This caused the merger to lose ground due to the negligence of culture conflict. So, what makes a partnership tick successfully? It’s the people and its culture. The recipe for getting a successful merger off the ground is shifting the spotlight from deal-making to merging-of-cultures. In fact, culture has been attributed to being one of the most important factors in building relationships. How do cultural variations integrate? Every organization has its own unique way of doing things, be it management, employment, or compensation to investment. When two firms seek to merge, customary differences are more than likely to crop up. Structured-entrepreneurial, proactive-reactive, centralised-decentralised, formal-informal or extravagant-economical, each firm has its own firm belief in what is right and what’s wrong. This is where cultural differences emerge. Management has always devised a set of ethics on which the company and its employees perform; this is organizational culture (The Hindu, 2007). Culture change management is a tough volley and can be successful only when employees ascribe to it. However, predisposed workers lose motivation and experience job insecurity. So, leaders should use persuasion, not coercion, to mobilize the apprehensive culturally different workforce. Culture within an organization is equally important in the context of organizational success. Culture is built over years of practice and cannot be changed overnight. The culture that one wraps around people can not alter them as individuals, but will definitely influence their behavior. HRM needs to address the concerns of these workers. HRM policies should support employee grievance and at the same time be pro-employer. Using various HR techniques, HRM should be able to bring these workers to understand the importance of any new development that the organization initiates, and that with the growth of the organization, they grow too. Cultural changes are imperative in this world of globalization. Global competition means performing to global standards. This can be achieved only if the workers; the backbone of an industry, makes a strong effort to absorb these changes. This can be done by proper management of human resource management. HR must play the pivotal role of educator where cultural differences occur among the workforce (Neville Lake, 2002). 3. 1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Cultural Diversity While there are many advantages in embracing the ethical minority in an organization, there are some disadvantages as well. Many organizations embrace a continued commitment to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families, as well as the local community and society at large, says Holme and Watts (2000, p. 4) . Many organizations have targeted their HR policies to involve all employees equally, irrespective of their culture or gender. This helps those inclined to be different to be a part of the organizational strategy and brought into the mainstream to perform as one. With proper training and development, these individuals can become equally effective in their duties and contribute to the growth of their organization. These culturally different workers may need more time to understand their work and find it hard to communicate with their colleagues or superiors to work in unison. This can upset the tempo of production. However, with some support and motivation, these people should be able to learn their responsibilities in no time. What is important is the support and encouragement to perform. It has been found that while white Americans have little or no issues at a relatively middle-age, ethnic people have a large family to support and look after. This means that while the demands of the white Americans are far less, ethnic people find that they have more responsibilities and demands to be met. This is carried to their workplace, where they find that they have to balance their time at work and also at home, creating pressure to perform. Many organizations have responded to these issues or trends with sympathy and found their performance giving competitive advantages over other organizations. Leading academicians, researchers, and businessmen, according to Cox and Blake (1991), found that a well managed, diverse workforce held potential competitive advantages for their organizations .

Claude Monet: Grainstack (Sunset) Essays -- essays papers

Claude Monet: Grainstack (Sunset) Claude Monet's Grainstack (Sunset) is the painting I chose from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Monet was an impressionist painter in France, and did most of his work at his home at Giverny. Impressionism got its name from a painting that Monet painted, Impression Sunrise. Impressionist paintings are put into a category based on characteristics such as light that draws attention to objects, rough textures, and visual pleasure that the viewer receives upon looking at the paintings. Impressionist paintings are art for arts sake and focus on leisure and nature. These paintings are generally the most well known and popular paintings because of their attractive appearance. The Grainstack (Sunset) was painted between 1890 and 1891, and is a part of Monet?s first true series paintings. During the time of this series was painted, there was a lot of unrest going on in Europe. Many of the major cities were experiencing industrial growth, and it was causing the people to suffer from a magnitude of social problems. There were high rates of suicide, and anarchist groups. Over the years to follow, 1889 to 1894, there were at least 600 strikes involving 120,000 workers. There were bombings, raids, and wide spread fear across the country. It was during this time period that Monet was going to establish himself as one of the major painters of the country. As the viewer looks at this painting, they are taken into a rural scene. You notice first the grainstack as the major object in the painting. As you move around the painting, there are many striking areas of light. The sunset causes a brilliant display of colors around the scene. The sky is fading in the background as the sun sunsets. There is a small amount of blue still hanging in the sky, and under that a large portion of a yellow hue from the sun setting. As the suns sets further it cause a pink color above the land. The sunset has cause the grainstacks color to darken. You can see that the light left in the scene is on the other side of the stack. There is a shadow cast of the back side, making the stacks top dark brown, and the bottom a dark red. The rural scene in the Grainstack (Sunset), as well as the other grainstacks in his series paintings, all basically share many of the same characteristics. The haystacks are never overwhelmed by light. As in the Grainstac... ...ainting and finding out what is behind it makes the work a lot more interesting. Monet?s grainstacks have not only taught me about him as a painter and why he painted as he did, but also about France and what was going on during this period. His works are a beautiful representation of what life was like, and what Monet was experiencing right in his own backyard. Bibliography Hayes Tucker, Paul. Monet in the 90?s: Series Paintings. Boston Museum of Fine Arts; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. Hayes Tucker, Paul. Monet in the Twentieth Century. Boston Museum of Fine Arts; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. Frascina, Francis. Modernity and Modernism: French Painting in the Nineteenth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. Gerdts, William H. Monet?s Giverny: An Impressionists Colony. New York: Abbeville Press, 1993. Copplestone, Trewin. The History and Techniques of the Great Masters: Monet. New Jersey: Chartwell Books, 1987. Tomkins, Calvin. ?Monet?s Illusion.? Vanity Fair. July 1995, Vol. 58 Issue 7: pg. 96-102. Hurwitz, Laurie S. ?The Well Planned Spontaneity of Claude Monet.? American Artist. March 1996, Vol. 60 Issue 644: pg. 56-64. Claude Monet: Grainstack (Sunset) Essays -- essays papers Claude Monet: Grainstack (Sunset) Claude Monet's Grainstack (Sunset) is the painting I chose from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Monet was an impressionist painter in France, and did most of his work at his home at Giverny. Impressionism got its name from a painting that Monet painted, Impression Sunrise. Impressionist paintings are put into a category based on characteristics such as light that draws attention to objects, rough textures, and visual pleasure that the viewer receives upon looking at the paintings. Impressionist paintings are art for arts sake and focus on leisure and nature. These paintings are generally the most well known and popular paintings because of their attractive appearance. The Grainstack (Sunset) was painted between 1890 and 1891, and is a part of Monet?s first true series paintings. During the time of this series was painted, there was a lot of unrest going on in Europe. Many of the major cities were experiencing industrial growth, and it was causing the people to suffer from a magnitude of social problems. There were high rates of suicide, and anarchist groups. Over the years to follow, 1889 to 1894, there were at least 600 strikes involving 120,000 workers. There were bombings, raids, and wide spread fear across the country. It was during this time period that Monet was going to establish himself as one of the major painters of the country. As the viewer looks at this painting, they are taken into a rural scene. You notice first the grainstack as the major object in the painting. As you move around the painting, there are many striking areas of light. The sunset causes a brilliant display of colors around the scene. The sky is fading in the background as the sun sunsets. There is a small amount of blue still hanging in the sky, and under that a large portion of a yellow hue from the sun setting. As the suns sets further it cause a pink color above the land. The sunset has cause the grainstacks color to darken. You can see that the light left in the scene is on the other side of the stack. There is a shadow cast of the back side, making the stacks top dark brown, and the bottom a dark red. The rural scene in the Grainstack (Sunset), as well as the other grainstacks in his series paintings, all basically share many of the same characteristics. The haystacks are never overwhelmed by light. As in the Grainstac... ...ainting and finding out what is behind it makes the work a lot more interesting. Monet?s grainstacks have not only taught me about him as a painter and why he painted as he did, but also about France and what was going on during this period. His works are a beautiful representation of what life was like, and what Monet was experiencing right in his own backyard. Bibliography Hayes Tucker, Paul. Monet in the 90?s: Series Paintings. Boston Museum of Fine Arts; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. Hayes Tucker, Paul. Monet in the Twentieth Century. Boston Museum of Fine Arts; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. Frascina, Francis. Modernity and Modernism: French Painting in the Nineteenth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. Gerdts, William H. Monet?s Giverny: An Impressionists Colony. New York: Abbeville Press, 1993. Copplestone, Trewin. The History and Techniques of the Great Masters: Monet. New Jersey: Chartwell Books, 1987. Tomkins, Calvin. ?Monet?s Illusion.? Vanity Fair. July 1995, Vol. 58 Issue 7: pg. 96-102. Hurwitz, Laurie S. ?The Well Planned Spontaneity of Claude Monet.? American Artist. March 1996, Vol. 60 Issue 644: pg. 56-64.

Freakonomics Essay Essay

The most interesting excerpt of â€Å"Freakonomics† was the connection made between crime rates and abortions. This passage was fascinating for a few reasons. The first reason being that it makes absolute and complete sense, so much so that it should be common sense. This correlation between the legalization of abortion and the rate of crime going down is so simple, yet so incredibly profound. This piece of information, if used correctly, can totally obliterate the argument that pro-choice is a negative thing for society. On a more personal note, I found the concept that the crime rate really is not as high as it was in the 90’s to be encouraging. One thing I really do not enjoy is when an adult says something along the lines of, â€Å"The world really isn’t what it used to be,† when referring to safety. As much as I do understand that â€Å"back in the day† things were much more relaxed and safer, all I can do is accept how the world is now and not let it get in the way of my life. With the decline of the crime rate in the 90’s due to abortion, it is a great feeling to think that where our world is, safety-wise, is not at its lowest point, and therefore we know that it can be handled. Overall I really enjoyed this book. Even the parts I did not like very much still caught my attention. An example of this is the section pertaining to how real estate agents may not try their very hardest to get you the best deal. Although this makes absolute sense in the simplest manner, much like everything in this book, it is not the easiest to stomach. While the real estate agents only lose a couple hundred dollars in commission, a buyer or seller can lose thousands of dollars because of an antsy real estate agent. Another example of a part that I did not like was the excerpt on the teachers cheating for their students. I was completely put off by this because in the end, the students ended up in a worse spot than where they were original. Standardized testing is put in place to make sure that no children fall too far behind in school. While I don’t believe in all of the repercussions of standardized testing such as lack of funding for low scores or teachers solely teaching to the test, I do believe that standardized testing does serve a really important purpose in schools. Standardized testing is a benchmark that the teachers should strive to reach for with  every child in their class. This testing ensures that kids are learning the fundamentals needed throughout life, such as reading comprehension and critical thinking. The fact that the teachers were cheating for their children proved that the teachers did not believe they have done a good enough job at teaching these fundamentals. These teachers therefore, while they believe the contrary, are doing a disservice to their students. The biggest thing I learned from â€Å"Freakonomics† was that economics is simple, sometimes so simple in fact that the general public a majority of the time over thinks it. Not only that, but economics can also be extremely interesting. This is because at the core of economics, is us. When I say us I mean, us, the people that buy and sell and keep the economy going. Without us, the economy would not exist. So essentially, the study of economics is the study of people and the decisions we make.