Development of Global Managers Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Development of Global Managers - Research Paper Example The companies now need strategic capabilities in three major business areas including global scale efficiency, local responsiveness and capability of leveraging worldwide. The notion of global manager is not very new however it has got momentum is recent time when the business world all over globe are witnessing the transformational changed led by the technology advancements. The concept of global managers has evolved over the time with the expectation of fulfilment of these objectives however, it is also a fact that no single global manager could perform all of these tasks for a business and generally group of specialized managers is developed for the management of company matters worldwide (Steers, et al, 2010). . The development of global managers is an important issue for the companies operating internationally because the global managers are made and not born. The development of the global managers appears to be foremost question for the corporate managers because they have to a ssure that the right person has got the right training and capabilities to work at the right place for generating the desired results. The concept of global managers is not very new and since the development of the notion there is extensive research work conducted around the topic in order to explore the issue from various perspectives (Bartlett and Ghoshal 2003). It has been unveiled that mainly these used to be three types of global managers including business manager, country manager and functional manager. The global business or product division manager has the responsibility to build efficiency and competitiveness of the company all around the world by recognizing cross border opportunities and risks. The country managers work as building block for worldwide operations of the company by providing detailed understanding and interpretation of local markets and building local capabilities and resources. The third type of global manager is worldwide functional specialist that trans fers the expertise from one unit to another and works for leverage learning, generation of good ideas and best business practice of the companies (Kediaa and Mukherji, 1999). Development of Global Managers – Current Issues The international business operations require constructing internationally competent workforces that must be comprise of the people having adequate information about the business. This requirement is also fulfilled by the global managers that are expected to be highly flexible and open minded. The building of such team is not a simple task and sometimes the companies take years to come up with the team of perfectly chosen global managers to organize their worldwide operations in adequate manner (Steers, et al, 2010). It is now impossible for the multinational companies to consult and reply upon single manager or specialist for effective management of their operations in any country because they must have team of global managers with multicultural experience so that they could recognize the cultural differences affecting the business activities and communication as well as working relationship within the company (McNally and Parry, 2000). Traditionally the businesses use to reply upon single country managers or expert for the management of the cross border business matters however, the increased trend of international business has changed the situation and the companies are required to give special attention towards allocation of management duties to competent

West Side Story Essay Example for Free

West Side Story Essay Do you believe that everyone has a reason to hate someone or something just because of the way they look? May racism be the starting point to hatred? In â€Å"West Side Story†, author Irving Shulman gives us nothing but clues to these questions. The Sharks and the Jets are in a â€Å" turf † war. But two people, one from each side fall deeply in love. Irving Shulman writes how interracial relationships cause hate to increase in an instant and how racism leads up to hate. The story tells the reader how the Puerto Ricans and the Jets cause the world to shake because of racial prejudice. West Side Story† shows how racial prejudice and interracial relationships cause hate to grow. â€Å"West Side Story† shows hate between almost anyone and yet we have no answers on why people hate. After reading â€Å"West Side Story† it made me believe that racism caused by interracial relationships may be what causes hate in this story. In â€Å"West Side Story† two gangs, the Jets and the Puerto Ricans hate each other just because of the way they look, where they are from, and how they live. Racism is a big part in this story. The main part of hate came from an interracial relationship that began between a man of American descent and a Puerto Rican woman, which caused hate to grow between two gangs in the streets of New York. Racial prejudice was very bad in the time this story was written. Anyone can relate to racial remarks. This story truly shows how people used to be and how much the idea of interracial relationships happening changed. Now, it doesn’t matter if two people fall in love even though they are not from the same race. From this you can infer that racism might be what inaugurates hate. Racism might seem like just a word but it’s more powerful than just a word. It only leads to no good in â€Å"West Side Story†. Hate, what is the definition of hate? Everyone has a different perspective of it, but no one can really see what it can lead up to. I don’t understand why people hate for no reason. I think that they are influenced by what they see. Racism is a terrible thing in this story. It makes hate grow a thousand times bigger and causes a huge impact in others’ lifes. Throughout the story there was a part where both gangs went to a dance and one of the gangs were dancing on the contrary side of the building so they wouldn’t mix with the other race. This shows some sort of proof of how both gangs show hate towards one another. Even those that weren’t in any of the gang’s side were involved in discrimination against the other race because they were following what the others were doing. This made me think about how racism begins. It can be caused by those around you, which might be the influence. Racism is an organization in our country. It has existed since our country’s beginning, and there is not much that anyone can do to stop it but ignore it. Anywhere and everywhere you go, there will be someone different but this doesn’t mean you have to hate or criticize those who are different. Towards the ending of â€Å"West Side Story†, the unexpected happened. There was a death and I can conclude that hate and racism were the leading products to this horrific tragedy. For example, Tony had died and Maria was devastated without him. These violent delights have violent ends. Maria had then realized what had killed him and said, We all killed him I can kill now because I hate now. This shows how the racism and hatred of the two gangs lead to event of Tony’s death. People have to understand that love happens. It doesn’t make sense how some people despise the love that happens between two races. It doesn’t matter if both of the people are from a different race. You can’t keep hating on interracial relationships your entire life and being racist against them. Because like this story much of your hatred and racism can lead onto a terrible catastrophic event such as the deaths that happened in â€Å"West Side Story†. Everyone needs to understand that racism isn’t a pretty thing to live with and it’s as bad as hating someone without a purpose. Even if you had a purpose, hate is an evil and powerful thing that can control someone’s mind and influence others. Not only Tony had died in this story but Bernardo, Maria’s brother died too. That is how hate influenced Maria’s supposed to be husband to murder Tony. This interracial relationship caused hates to grow in everyone’s eyes and no one refused to let go of on whose fault it was. It led on, to bigger tragedies. To conclude, the hate that goes towards interracial relationships and racist remarks cause hate to expand in â€Å"West. My final thoughts for this story are that hate and racial prejudice remarks are not the way to situate things, because all they do is hurt others. I want the world to love everyone for who they are. Nothing makes sense anymore, because many are being influenced by hate. How can someone hate two that fell in love? In my opinion the definition for hate is death, because I feel that hate will always lead up to death. You will end up alone in life. Racism is a synonym for hate and even though we can’t do anything about racism we should at least try not to influence it. â€Å"West Side Story† made me think twice about life and that everyone is different and yet equal in the same way, we are all human beings. As I stated earlier racism and interracial relationships cause hate to grow in this world and should be avoided everyday. The world isn’t perfect but we can at least try to make it perfect.

Language Relativity Hypothesis

Language Relativity Hypothesis Language Relativity Hypothesis Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis Does Language Affect Out Thoughts? Abstract Benjamin Lee Whorf and his teacher and mentor Edward Sapir developed the theory that language affects our thoughts and perceptions. This theory proposes that there is a systematic relationship between the grammar of a language a person speaks and how that person both understand the world and behaves in it. Today linguists now call that theory the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis, or Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis. Studies have not conclusively proven Whorfs and Sapirs theory, however, there is intriguing data to support their idea. Does Language Shape our Thoughts? Most humans communicate with each other through language. At this time, there is thought to be over 5000 different languages in use today, and most are quite different from each other (Stanford encyclopedia, n.d.). The relationship between language and thought is an important question in Cognitive Science. Do speakers of different languages think differently about the world? This question has been attracting thinkers from Plato to Whorf, but despite much attention and debate, definitive answers have not been forthcoming. Benjamin Lee Whorf and his mentor and teacher Edward Sapir, examined the question of how language affects our thoughts, in their renowned and much considered Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis. Linguistic relativity hypothesis/ Whorf-Sapir hypothesis Linguistic relativity or what is also referred to as the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis, was developed by Benjamin Lee Whorf and was an expansion on his mentor, Edward Sapirs, theory that language has a coherent and systematic nature and interacts at a wider level with thought and behavior (Yale University, n.d.). Whorf proposed that there is a systematic relationship between the grammar of a language a person speaks and how that person both understand the world and behaves in it (Whorf, 1956). The hypothesis postulates that a particular languages nature influences the habitual thought of its speakers: that different language patterns yield different patterns of thought (Stanford encyclopedia, n.d.) Though there is no empirical proof of this hypothesis, there is convincing data to support this theory. In the past, the bulk of research was concentrated on supporting or disproving the Whorfs hypothesis, with very little new research being done (Lucy, 1992). According to Lucy (1992) there is little experimental data that is able to disprove Whorfs theory, and they are questioned due to the research methods used (Lucy, 1992). However, in the last decade, Whorfs idea has taken on new enthusiasm within the linguist research community and new data is emerging that supports the original idea. Benjamin Lee Whorf According to the Linguistic department at Yale University (n.d.) Benjamin was an influential American linguist that first graduated first from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1918 with a degree in chemical engineering. In 1931, Whorf changed focus and began studying his passion for linguistics at Yale University, where he first began developing his now famous hypothesis under his professor and mentor Edward Sapir. In 1936, Whorf was selected for an Honorary Research Fellowship in Anthropology at Yale and received the Sterling Fellowship in 1937. He was a lecturer in Anthropology from 1937 through 1938 in the field of linguistics. Whorf focus was Linguistic Anthropology, Psychological Linguistics, Mayan hieroglyphics and a dictionary of Hopi languages (Yale Linguistics, n.d.). This is where he began to develop his ideas about language and our perceptions. Principle of Linguistic Relativity Zhu Zhifang (2002) author of Linguistic relativity and Cultural Communication, shares that while Whorf was investigated Hebrew, Aztec, Maya, Hopi and other unfamiliar languages, he discovered that these languages were structured differently from that of English and other European languages. Languages, with different collocations of semantic ideas might provide different segmentation of experience (Whorf, 1956 p. 56). Zhifang (2002) continues to clarify that Whorf put a great deal of emphasis on the Hopi language. A language, he thought, had a grammar much more complicated and subtle than that of the European languages. Whorf saw that experiences were segmented by language in a very different way, not only by its lexicon but also by its grammatical organization. The notion of linguistic relativity is the suggestion that all ones life has been tricked by the structure of language into a certain way of perceiving reality, with the implication that awareness of this trickery will enable one to see the world with fresh insight (Zhifang 2002, p.263). With a detailed description of the grammatical and semantic structure of the Hopi language, Whorf concludes: All this is an illustration of how language produces an organization of experience. We are inclined to think of language simply as a technique of expression, not to realize that language first of all is a classification and arrangement of the stream of sensory experience which results in a certain world order, a certain segment of the world that is easily expressible by the type of symbolic means that language employs. (Whorf, 1956, p. 55) Language Metaphysics (Philosophy) Eleanor Rosch (1987) explains in her paper, Linguistic relativity, etc.: A Review of General Semantics, that the average European languages uses objects (nouns) as the basic unit of reality, which is composed of substance, form, and actions (verbs). All of which, Rosch (1987) describes, as existing in an objective, three-dimensional space, and a one-dimensional uniform and perpetual flow of time, expressed in sentence tense, that create our perceptions. Rosch (1987) further explains that in his study of the Hopi language, Whorf discovered that they do not differentiate between objects and actions. Object and actions are more accurately described as events, different from each other according to a length of time. Instead of considering substance, motion, space, and time, Hopi grammar separates their world by two main beliefs about language, manifested (objective) and Un-manifest (Subjective) (Rosch, 1987). Manifested comprises all that is or has been accessible to the senses, and un-manifested is considered all that the Hopi call the future (Rosch, 1987). Zhifang (2002) takes Roschs ideas and further demonstrates that Whorf discovered the Hopi language functions entirely without tenses for its verbs and has no general understanding or perception of time and does not think of time as a linear continuum in which all in the world moves at an equal rate. The Hopi language contains no words, grammatical forms, constructions or expressions referring directly to what Europeans call time, or to past, present, future, or to enduring or lasting . (Zhifang, 2002, p. 164). Rosch (1987) states that the metaphysics understood in the sentence structure of European languages, makes it reasonable to examine and evaluate sentences into, what we consider actions, and results of actions. However, according to Whorf, these ideas are gross distortions when used as units of analysis for various American Indian Languages. (Rosch, 1987). According to Rosch (1987), Whorf uses the example of how Indian languages translate into English as a demonstration of the differences in thought processes between the two languages. He uses Apache, It is a dripping spring is deciphered as As water, or springs, whiteness moves downward in English. Another example, in Shawnee, cleaning gun with a ramrod is direct hollow moving dry spot by movement of tool in English (Rosch, 1987). Zhifang (2002) sums up Roschs observations by stating that Whorf argued that every language conceals a metaphysics. (Zhifang 2002, p. 163) The Hopi language applies a philosophy unlike that of European languages. Zhifang, (2002) explains that the difference in concepts and abstractions associated with Hopi language make up a foreign metaphysics from that of European languages. From the Western standpoint, this philosophy appears mystical in nature (Zhifang, 2002). They are ideas which we are accustomed to consider as part and parcel either of so-called animistic or vitalistic beliefs, or of those transcendental unifications of experience and intuitions of things unseen that are felt by the consciousness of the mystic, or which are given out in mystical and (or) so-called occult systems of thought. These abstractions are definitely given either explicitly in wordspsychological or metaphysical termsin the Hopi language, or, even more, are implicit in the very structure and grammar of the language, as well as being observable in Hopi culture and behavior. (Whorf, 1956, p. 58-59). Whorf is not the only one who had this idea of cultural differences in language. Alfred Korzybski came to a similar view of cultural differences in language, several years before Whorf. He explained that, Culturally inherited structure of an individuals language, including his or her terminology, grammar, logic, semantics, doctrines, etc. relates to assumptions, premises, implications about the structure of ourselves and the world. (Korzybski, 1933, p. 92). Author Alfred Korzybski (1933), in is article Science and Sanity, summed up the power of language well: We do not realize what tremendous power the structure of a habitual language has. It is not an exaggeration to say that it enslaves us through the mechanism of semantic or evaluational reactions and that the structure which a language exhibits, and impresses upon us unconsciously is automatically projected upon the world around us (Korzybski, 1933, p. 90). Language and Thought As demonstrated through Whorfs observation of the Hopi language and the differences in semantics from European language, we see a pattern of information that gave rise to his hypothesis. However, Lera Boroditsky, professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MIT), reminds us that a definitive answer to the questions does language shape thoughts?, has been a challenging task (Boroditsky, 2003). Not until the last decade, has research on language and thought gained new interest. As a result, new evidence has become available on peoples perspectives of space, time, and objects. Spatial differences in Language and Thought Remarkable differences in semantics have been observed in the way languages illustrate spatial locations. While most languages rely a great deal on relative spatial terms to express the relative locations of objects (left, right, front, back), Tzeltal, a Mayan language, relies largely on absolute reference (a system similar to English north and south direction system) (Levinson, 1996) . Levinson (1996), points out that to the Tzeltal, spatial observations that are north are expressed as downhill and those south are expressed as uphill. This absolute uphill/downhill approach is the main system to express spatial relations between objects in Tzeltal. There is no corresponding equivalent to the English term front/back or left/right (Levinson, 1996). To test whether this difference between the two languages has cognitive consequences, Levinson (1996) created a study whereas Dutch and Tzeltal speakers were tested in spatial tasks. In one study, participants were seated at a table and an arrow lay in front of them pointing either to the right (north) or to the left (south). Levinson (1996) explains how the arrows were rotated 180 degree to a second table which had two arrows (one pointing to the left (north) and one to the right (south), and were asked to identify the arrow like the one they saw before. The study reveled that Dutch speakers would choose the relative solution. Further testing of Levinsons (1996) theory showed that if the arrow pointed to the right (and north), Dutch speakers would chose the arrow that still pointed to the right (though this time it pointed south instead of the previous north). Tzeltal did precisely the reverse, and chose the absolute solution. Levinson (1996) confirmed that if the arrow direction was to the right (and north) Tzeltal speakers chose the arrow that still pointed north (though it now pointed left instead of right). Thus, explains Levinson (1996), the Tzeltal language relies a great deal on absolute reference in spatial description. It has also affected their understanding of a non-linguistic orientation task (Levinson, 1996). Time Differences in Language and Thought Languages also differ from one another on their use and understanding of time. While all languages use spatial expressions to address time (I will see you tomorrow, he was ahead of his time, he is behind in his homework), different languages use unique spatial terms (Boroditsky, 2001). He demonstrates how English primarily uses front/back vocabulary to talk about time, as evidence in terms such as we still have our vacation ahead of us, or that incident is behind us, or we are moving forward, or go back to the beginning and take your shoes off before you enter. The language employed to organize events are the same as those used to articulate asymmetric horizontal spatial relations (he is looking forward to tomorrow or the hard times are behind us) (Boroditsky, 2001, p. 2). According to Boroditsky (2001), the Mandarin language also uses front/back spatial terms to describe time relationships such as the spatial term Xian (front) and Hou (back). What makes Mandarin remarkable is that the Mandarin language also systematically uses vertical metaphors to address time. The special word shang (up) and xia (down) are often used discuss the sequence of events roughly translated into English as last and next (Boroditsky, 2001). Earlier events are said to be shang (up) and later events are said to be xia (down). In summary, both the Mandarin and English language use horizontal terms to talk about time. In addition Mandarin speakers also use the vertical term shang and xia (Boroditsky, 2001). Boroditsky (2001) discusses how the English and Mandarin ways of talking, lead to differences in how people think about time. Boroditsky (2001) analyzed a group of studies and discovered that Mandarin speakers tend to think about time vertically even when they are thinking for English. Boroditsky (2001) observed that Mandarin speakers could more rapidly confirm that March comes earlier than April, if they had just seen a vertical group of objects than if they had seen a horizontal arrangement. Boroditsky (2001) noticed that the opposite was true for English speakers. Another study showed that the extent to which Mandarin-English bilinguals think about time vertically is related to how old they were when they first began to learn English. According to Boroditsky (2001), this last outcome implies two things; language is a convincing tool in the influence of thought and ones native language plays a role in shaping habitual thought. Objects Languages also differ in how names of objects are grouped into grammatical categories. Boroditsky (2001) uses the argument that a many languages use grammatical gender and unlike English, many languages use a grammatical gender system where all nouns (chair, socks and books) are assigned a gender. Languages that use grammatical gender are required to assign objects a gender role by using gendered pronouns and modifying adjectives or verbs to match gender use with nouns (Boroditsky, 2001). This effects the how a person thinks about inanimate objects when assigned a gender. Boroditsky, together Michal Ramscar and Wendy Ham, conducted four studies that suggests assigning grammatical genders to objects with language does influence peoples mental representations of objects (Boroditsky, Ham Ramscar, 2002). Spanish and German speakers were asked to rate similarities between pictures of people (male and female) and pictures of objects (the names of which had opposite genders in Spanish and German). Both groups rated grammatically feminine objects to be more similar to females and grammatically masculine objects more similar to males. This was true even though all objects had opposite genders in Spanish and German. It appears that even a small fluke of grammar (the seemingly arbitrary assignment of a noun to be masculine or feminine) can have an effect on how people think about things in the world (Boroditsky, et al, 2002, p. 136) Summary Through Whorf study of languages, especially his interest in Native Indian languages, he expanded on his mentors idea that language has a coherent and systematic nature to develop his now famous Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis. He was not the first to propose the idea that language affects our thoughts and perception, but it is his hypothesis that inspired others such as Levisons research on spatial relationships and language, and Boroditskys study of language in relationship to objects and time, to continue the search to find answers for his assumptions. Additional investigation into linguistic relativity will eventually reveal the exact nature of the connections between language and cognitive function. These studies will help us to establish what might be the commonality of all human cognition. References Boroditsky, L. (2001). Does language shape thought? Mandarin and English speakersconception of time. Cognitive Psychology 43 (1): 1-22. Boroditsky, L., Ham, W. and Ramscar, M., (2002). What is universal about event perceptions? Comparing English and Idonesian speakers. Proceedings of the 24th Annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from: http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/CSJarchive/Proceedings/2002/CogSci02.pdf Kodish, B. (2003). What we do with language what it does with us. Etc: A Review of General Semantics, 60(4), 383-395. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection database. Korzybski, A., 1994 (1933). Science and Sanity: An introduction to non-aristotelian systems and general semantics. Fifth Edition. Institute of general Semantics. Brooklyn, NY: Levinson, S., (1996). Frames of reference and Molyneuxs question: research into cross- linguistic evidence. In: Bloom P and Peterson M (eds) Language and Space, pp. 109-169. Lucy, J. (1997). Linguistic relativity.Annual Review of Anthropology,26,291-312. Retrieved August 21, 2008, from Research Librarydatabase. (Document ID:21752097). Rosch, E. (1987, Fall). Linguistic relativity, etc.: A Review of General Semantics, 44(3), 254- 279. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from Education Research Complete database. Stanford Encyclopedia, (n.d.). The Linguistic relativity hypothesis. Stanford University. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/supplement2.html Yale Linguistics, (n.d.), Benjamin Lee Whorf. Yale University. Retrieved August 22, 2008, from website: http://www.ling.yale.edu/history/whorf.html and http://www.ling.yale.edu/history/sapir.html. Whorf, B., (1956). Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf Edited by Carroll, J., Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1998. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from: http://books.google.com/books?id=W2d1Q4el00QCprintsec=frontcoverdq=Language,+thought+and+realitysig=ACfU3U0-0aOK_v3HYwbXt0FxR-AVFVaT0A#PPA1,M1 Zhifang, Z. (2002, May). Linguistic Relativity and Cultural Communication. Educational Philosophy Theory, 34(2), 161-170. Retrieved August 22, 2008, doi:10.1080/00131850120102231.

Essay --

Georgia Phinn Tommie Byrd ENG 101 November 23, 2013 Domestic Violence Against Children What is domestic violence? According to the Minnesota Statue 5181B.01, Domestic Abuse Act, defines domestic violence as willfully causing physical and bodily harm, assault and infliction of fear against a family member or partner within a household (Jau, Lina, 1998). Domestic violence is a serious societal issue and it does not matter the age, the ethnic background, or economic status of that family. This paper will explore the causes and effects of domestic violence against children and the impact on a child’s development through to adulthood and what can be done to rectify this societal issue. There are numerous causes of domestic violence against children. One of a main cause is excessive consumption of alcohol or illegal drugs by an adult within the family as a factor in provoking violent and aggressive behavior towards children. A terrifying case and point is the trial of Eric Pratt. According to â€Å"Lasting Wounds For Everyone But The Batterer† (2000), Eric Pratt was sentenced 10 to 30 years for throwing his 2 year old daughter in a brick wall, knocking her unconscious and using his fist to knock out his daughter’s mother due to drug and alcohol induced fit of rage. One of the saddest part of this case is he was in complete denial at his arraignment. After investigations, it was discovered that Eric Pratt had a drug problem and the mother was aware of this problem and refused to leave the relationship. Another major cause of domestic violence against children is the high risk violent environment in which a child resides. For example in Eric Pratt’s trial case, his wife Massie was aware of Pratt abusing alcohol and ... ... to domestic violence. The abusers need to be held accountable to the full extent of the law for their actions. Library Database Jau, Lina. "What is Domestic Violence?" Asian Pages: 11. Nov 14 1998. ProQuest. Web. 22 Nov. 2013 . Milloy, Courtland. "Lasting Wounds for Everyone but the Batterer." The Washington Post: 0. Mar 22 2000. ProQuest. Web. 23 Nov. 2013 . Shah, Nirvi. "Childhood Violence; 'National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence'." Education Week 22 May 2013: 5. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. McCarthy, John, and Angela Alsobrooks. "The Invisible Victims of Domestic Violence." The Washington PostFeb 17 2013. ProQuest. Web. 16 Nov. 2013 . Glazer, Sarah. "Violence Against Women." CQ Researcher 26 Feb. 1993: 169-92. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. Mantel, Barbara. "Domestic Violence." CQ Researcher 15 Nov. 2013: 981-1004. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.

Chinese Women in the 21st Century Essay

â€Å"There would be no new China without the Communist Party†, I’ve heard of this saying since I was a little child. From then on, the Communist Party has left a deep and giant impression on me. China makes great progress under the leadership of the Communist Party which has always been the belief of China. I’ve been told that it would be a great honor to be a party member. So now I am a party member and the Chinese belief becomes my genuine belief. However, as growing up, I begin to wonder whether all the party members can regard the Communist party as their belief all the time and whether they are doing the things the party member should do. The answer is so disappointed. The power of Chinese belief and the awareness of Chinese people of supporting the belief are becoming weaker and weaker. China needs a firm and strong advocate of the belief. Many people can establish the belief of becoming a party member, but they can’t follow their original belief all the lifetime. Gradually they lose themselves in the debauchery lives and they forget what they have said under the flag. Other people without party affiliation are harder to see their own belief clearly. A nation without definite belief is lamentable and horrible because it can be easily destroyed by the outside rumor. Chinese dream of need a power to hold the belief is the same as my dream. We are facing the similar situation. It is easy for me to set up a goal, but I can’t carry out the goal from beginning to end. Sometimes the obstacles or the outside environment make me give up the goal. I lack the perseverance. I lack the power to hold the goal. I’ m a member of the Communist Party, but I’m not true of the name for the reason I’ve mentioned above. After many years, I’ m afraid of becoming the kind of person I disliked before. I’ m afraid of losing myself in the busy world. I’ m afraid of forget all the dream and belief made when I was young. I really need the power to help me hold the belief. China is developing and I’ m growing. We all share the same dream. China needs the citizens to awaken themselves and I need the self-awakening. The glamour of the surface must be very vulnerable. We should be tested by the time. Only holding the belief all the time can we go further towards the success. Chinese dream is my dream. Hoping the dream comes true.

The Ancient Greek Iconoclast’s Philosophy of Education

The basic philosophical foundation that supports the Socratic philosophy of education Socrates, in The Republic, begins his query by asking how is it best to live one†s life? He suggests the best life is lived in such a fashion that is conducive to creating a just society. Such a society is the one designed that is most conducive to justice, and therefore to happiness, as opposed to pleasure. Remember that happiness for the Greeks was not a matter of individual self-fulfillment. Rather, Socrates considered happiness as fulfilling one†s most fitting vocational role in society. Socrates defined a society that is best in autocratic terms-a cobbler should not rule, and a potential ruler or philosopher should not make shoes, because this is antithetical to their natural abilities and fitness. But although Socrates advocated oligarchy as the fittest system of governance, he did not advocate aristocracy. In one of his earlier dialogues, called the â€Å"Meno,† Socrates is shown leading a slave boy through mathematical proofs. With correct prompting the boy is thus able to recover innate knowledge about the world. Thus Socrates saw intellectual gifts as intrinsic to the human mind and not necessarily based on the ability of the tutor. This is why Socrates did not charge for his teachings, unlike the Sophists. (Kemerling, 2002,†Socrates,† The Philosophy Pages) But to accept the Socratic doctrine one must also believe that potential intellectual abilities are not democratically bestowed upon individuals as suggested by the Sophists, who aimed to teach all people to rhetorically please the people in the law courts and in the political sphere, by using clever phrases. Socrates believed that there was an inherent paradox in acquring knowledge â€Å"the most fundamental questions about our own nature and function,† are actually unaswerable and undemonstratable by common rhetorical devices, therefore â€Å"it seems impossible for us to learn anything. The only escape, Socrates proposed, is to acknowledge â€Å"that we already know what we need to know.† (Kemerling, 2002, â€Å"Plato: Immortality and the Forms-Doctrine of Recollection,† Philosophy Pages) How does this philosophy define the roles of teacher? From the â€Å"Meno† cited above, it might seem that Socrates saw himself primarily as a questioner and a facilitator of the recollection innate gifts. â€Å"The dialogue form was probably invented by Plato† to portray the Socratic method, otherwise known as the dialectic.† (Huffman, 2005) The method known as the Socratic method of teaching, still practiced in many schools (particularly law schools) today, â€Å"consisted of asking questions like ‘What is courage?† of people who were confident of the answer. Socrates, claiming ignorance of the answers to the questions, would gradually show the people's beliefs to be contradictory. Socrates did not answer his questions, though much could be learned from the course of the discussion.† (Huffman, 2005) How will this philosophy guide the learning expectations in a classroom? Using questions places the teacher in some authority, as the teacher directs the discussion through involved questioning. However, it also demands a great deal of preparedness and attentiveness on the part of the student, combined with a willingness to question what the student†s society may deem to be common sense. Students of innately high ability are supposed to continually excel, to justify the teacher†s expectations of the student's gifts. Ultimately, this questioning of common sense doctrine resulted in the condemnation of Socrates for corrupting the youth of Athens and of questioning the piety of the Greek gods. (Huffman, 2005) How will this philosophy exemplify the high standards of teaching? On one hand, the Socratic dialectic may seem to be an equalizing form of philosophy. Anyone can answer the questions of the teacher. But because the method stresses student recollection, rather than the teacher†s ability to mold or impart knowledge upon a blank slate, it did not function as such in Socrates† actual practice. The Republic, the delineation of the ideal state, advances a tiered division of society, mimicking the division of the body into soul, heart, and lower regions-rulers are innately of the mind, warriors of the heart or hands, and laborers of the lower regions of the body. â€Å"Only those with a philosophical temperament, Plato supposed, are competent to judge between what merely seems to be the case and what really is, between the misleading, transient appearances of sensible objects and the the permanent reality of unchanging, abstract forms.† (Kemerling, 2002, Philsophy Pages, â€Å"Plato: Education and the Value of Justice†) How will this philosophy address public expectations concerning student achievement? Accountability? In the world of the Republic, students of high levels of ability do not necessarily have empowerment over their education. Although they are subjected to rigorous Socratic questioning, they are also kept away from members of other classes of society, and not permitted to be corrupted by fairytales and myths that could take them away from their innate gifts of purely understanding the nature of virtue and the world of the forms. â€Å"Perhaps our best alternative, Socrates held, is to suppose that virtue is a (divinely bestowed?) true opinion that merely happens to lack the sort of rational justification which would earn it the status of certain knowledge,† and therefore virtue is unteachable. (Kemerling, 2002, â€Å"Plato: Immortality and the Forms-Doctrine of Recollection,† Philosophy Pages) Student achievement thus ultimately lies in the ability of the student, and the accountability of the teacher lies in his or her ability to select the correct student for the correct form of learning, rather than his or function as a teacher in the classroom.