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Table of contentsAbstractBook AnalysisReferences:AbstractJared Diamond's Gun, Ge ...

Table of contents

  1. Abstract
  2. Book Analysis
  3. References:

Abstract

Jared Diamond's Gun, Germs and Steel won the Pulitzer Prize and the British Popular Science Book Award in 1998. This book points out that the environment has a great influence on human history and negates the theory of human determinism. Starting with the capture of the unfortunate Atawalpa (the bare-shouldered man wearing only a bath towel on the cover), the book elaborates on this contact between American and European civilizations and explores what has caused such a huge gap between America and Europe for tens of thousands of years.

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Book Analysis

Jared Diamond is the professor of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. He began his scientific career in physiology and expanded into evolutionary biology and biogeography. He is also a historian, and author who is best known for its book Guns, Germs, and Steel. I’ve heard about this book for a long time and I finally finished reading it. This book took me to another perspective, looking at the development of human beings for tens of thousands of years with the eyes of God. The author wrote this book only because one of his good African friends asked why most money and resources in the world were earned and gained by white people. Instead of giving an answer, Diamond was confused about the question. Thus, the book was born.

In this book, the author uses the question of one of his African friends as an introduction: “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo … but we black people had little cargo of our own?.” We've heard so much about this kind of question, but it's not put forward in a very 'earthy' way through academic packaging, and Jared begins his quest for answers. Let me try to give a brief overview of the human experience in Jared's eyes. Some people were born in environments with potential development at that time, such as the 'crescent fertile land' in the book. There are enough large mammals but are easy to tame, and plants that are easy to be selectively improved. As a result, agriculture has developed on a large scale, and the population has increased. Because of the possibility of the emergence of outstanding people in a fixed probability, new technologies and civilizations were created.

The transverse expansion of Eurasian geography makes the dissemination of civilization relatively convenient. After all, the same animals and plants are more suitable for survival at the same latitude. In this process, Africa and the America unfortunately expand longitudinally, which not only causes the difficulty of the dissemination of civilization due to the different latitudes, but also makes the natural barriers such as Sahara Africa appear on those continents.

The emergence of advanced technology can only be slowly expanded. Then, there is the accumulation of conquering factors in Eurasia relative to other continents. Due to the development of agriculture and animal husbandry, the increase of contact between human and livestock has led to the production of highly lethal pathogens. In one plague, the immunity of the old continental people has been continuously improved, and the lethality of pathogens has been continuously enhanced. At present, the development of agriculture in the new continents is slow, and there aren’t many lethal pathogens where people's immunity is naturally low.

Finally, the Old World was ready, and with their destructive guns, the dead germs began to conquer the New World. The following scenes are all too familiar to us. Europeans brutally massacre the indigenous peoples of Africa, America and Oceania, while more indigenous people die of dead pathogens that frighten them. Finally, the old continent firmly occupies the new continent, and a solemn history of conquest ends.

“Thus, invention is often the mother of necessity, rather than vice versa.” Guns and steel represent technology, and the author believes that the development of European technology benefits from their region, Eurasia. It has to be said that Eurasia is a paradise relative to other continents. The reason for this is that the Eurasian continent has a relatively good longitude span compared with other continents, and the terrain is not too complex as that of Africa and America so that the transportation within the Eurasian continent is relatively developed.

Therefore, the exchange of civilizations is easier than that in other regions. “Thus, an observer transported back in time to 11,000 B.C. could not have predicted on which continent human societies would develop most quickly but could have made a strong case for any of the continents.” Therefore, the technology of wheels, words, iron smelting and gunpowder has been produced and disseminated in Eurasia. Moreover, there are many small countries in Europe. From time to time, there are wars between them.

As a result, small countries in Europe value technology very much. Dur to Europe's technology is far superior to that of the Americas, the author put forward two ways of disseminating new technology, which made me shudder. The first is that only technology is disseminated, that is, new technology comes to the local area and is accepted or used by the local people. The second is the spread of the population, which is the people who master the new technology use the new technology to eliminate and occupy the local population. This will bring new technologies to the local market.

Ninety percent of Americans died of diseases brought by Europeans during the invasion of Europe, feeling that America was hell on earth at that time. Why do Europeans bring germs to wipe out Americans in large quantities? Firstly, the author confirms that most of the pathogens of human infectious diseases originate from livestock. And Americans have almost no livestock. Why? Because human beings have developed in Eurasia and Africa for millions of years, and in these years, human beings have gradually developed hunting techniques and strategies, and animals in Eurasia and Africa have gradually adapted and learned to deal with human beings. Therefore, the animals in Eurasia and Africa can reproduce to the ability of human beings to domesticate animals and become human livestock.

America was only migrated by humans 120,000 years ago, so people with high technology developed over millions of years came to the pure and foolish American animals who had never seen anyone before, and the consequences were conceivable. Large numbers of species are extinct. As a result, Americans lost livestock and the chance to get sick, and most of them had no resistance to infectious diseases. On the other hand, Eurasia has relatively developed transportation and a relatively large population, so infectious diseases can continue to multiply in Eurasia, tormenting Europe, tormenting Asia and tormenting Europe. This is why people in Eurasia have been experiencing the test of infectious diseases and have been screening out people who are resistant to infectious diseases. So, when contacted in Europe and the United States, Americans died of infectious diseases brought about by Europeans in large numbers.

The difference of development between people does not lie in the physiological difference, but in the environment in which they grow up. Past history tells us a concise truth: those who have material and technological advantages always expand at the expense of others until the latter cannot be exploited or people begin to share the cake and means of production created by these societies. Each person's natural processes of differential survival and reproductive status make this choice, which constitutes people now and in the future.

If people’s living conditions as an individual have changed, then you're likely to survive or reproduce better and be 'naturally selected' again. Your final result is that as an individual, you've evolved through life as compared to your previous results. And if a group or race has undergone this evolution, they have indeed been re-selected. Therefore, this group of people will expand according to the truth above. In this way, we can eliminate others, or we can survive on top of them.

Does this cruel and realistic tone mean that it is fine not to pursue these things without a person's material base and the means of production to create wealth? No, as a life in the course of human evolution, it is an inevitable choice for human, which means we have to contribute our time and energy for these things, for the wheel of social progress. Different people have different willingness, whether passive or active, the destination is always similar. Therefore, after understanding all of these, what we need to do is to open our minds and strive to pursue these things.

Spiritual will eventually be transformed into material, material will accumulate more. To achieve the goal, we need to master as many skills as possible to maximize the limited time utility of individuals, which is to achieve the value of social requirements. However, the greatest success can only be achieved by a few people. The time difference for these people to succeed is also great, and the competition among the winners is still fierce. In the end, some people may have achieved success, but they have not made further progress and will inevitably be eliminated again. There are numerous cases in the political and business circles, which has become an unavoidable death for the vast majority of people in their lives.

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“Domesticable animals are all alike; every undomesticable animal is undomesticable in its own way.” People’s life is made up of countless variables. A hard life is only one of the variables. Nevertheless, I still advise everyone not to stop fighting. After all, there is only one kind of heroism in life, which is, after knowing the truth of life, we still love life. Only by striving hard and preparing well, we will not lose good luck and complete our individual life. This is what I learn and what I ‘d like to reveal.

References:

  1. Diamond, J. (1999). Guns, Germs and Steel. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

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Table of contentsDesign elementsLightingSurfacesConclusionDesign elementsLightin ...

Table of contents

  1. Design elements
  2. LightingSurfaces
  3. Conclusion

Design elements

Lighting

The lighting of the building was inspired by the traditional African craft of basket-weaving from the rural villages of South Africa. The light touches the materials ever so slightly showing the texture of the exposed materials. The materials selected were selected because of the ability to communicate the traditional methods of space making by implementing contemporary design methods. The craft of weaving and basket making is taken out of its context and reinterpreted in the setting.

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Surfaces

Using the theme of materiality. The Staircases and doors resemble the craft of weaving and this is showcased by the way they were used in their aesthetics. The doors are decorated with traditional emblems like traditional architecture. The visual interaction with the building is furthermore explored with the use of colours that represent the South African flag.

Conclusion

The careful study and appreciation of provincial traditions and cultures has had a clear and positive impact on the built form. The effects of this are not only felt at a visual level but can also impact the feeling users get inside the building. The ability to feel traditions through space have created majestic architecture through the years. A form of architecture that has always existed but has only recently been realized of the potential it bares for not only narrating the past but to benefit the future as well, it is wide spread, though controversial topic it has clear implications on the social, psychological and physical development of societies.

There are lessons to be learned from an architecture that has such a strong identity and does no shy to state its intentions, though the regional built form is built to blend in, it would be a mistake to underestimate how further it can take the positive social implications it can have in modern culture. The relationships that manifest between the building envelope and the interior spaces give the spaces character. This is common among the buildings that I have looked it. The use of locally sourced material does not only serve an economic function but serve to ground the building in its roots down to the site that suit only itself. This creates a unique architecture that even though lacks the universal principles arguments can state that this is what makes it better. These buildings hold a deeper meaning in their inception that often advertise generations of crafting in the making.


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Guns, Germs, and Steel sets out to tell the history for the last 13,000 years. I ...

Guns, Germs, and Steel sets out to tell the history for the last 13,000 years. It also aims to explain why some societies were much more successful than others. Some of this success can be given to population growth, immunity to germs, and animal domestication. Jared Diamond then goes on to propose an interesting question, asked by a local New Guinea politician named Yali: “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?” This is a very interesting point and one that the book certainly revolves around. Why do certain countries lack the resources they need to become a thriving nation? Diamond thoroughly answers both of these questions throughout the book. His main argument is that the aspects of European life: the military, economy, etc., evolved the way they did due to geographical luck and not because they were better in any way than the rest of the world.

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The term globalization has been around for a while now. It can be described as how countries interact with each other, as well as come together for any number of purposes. Even 13,000 years ago, there were countries trading products and goods, making journeys overseas, and exchanging information. The fact that all of these aspects of life started, as well as why and how leads straight into Guns, Germs, and Steel.

This book is not just for history professors. If you have any interest in world history, or understanding why some countries progressed much slower than others, it is a must read. Overall, Diamond succeeds in explaining the factors that were attributed to this slow progression. These include: the plants and animals that were available for domestication, the differences in population size, and the spreading of technology in Europe.

In Chapter 4 of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond explains why agriculture was important to human history. In short, if humans are hunter gatherers, there is no specialization because they are always out searching for food. But when animals started to be domesticated and kept on a farm, it led to people that have political power gaining control of all of the food produced. Keep in mind, not all continents had many animals that could be domesticated. Europe had a large amount of animals that could be, which leads to another important point: When animals are domesticated and crops are grown, it leads to an increase in leisure time. This is important because it gives humans plenty of time to experiment with other jobs that do not involve food. The next step in this in all of this is population growth. Diamond says it himself when he states on page 82 that “...availability of more consumable calories means more people.” More people simply means more experimenting which then leads to other useful materials being produced out of the crops and livestock such as clothing, blankets, nets and rope. Silk was another crucial material taken from silkworms. Another important aspect of animal domestication and the technology developed was the fact that horses were domesticated. They could be used in wars, and this was a very nice advantage to have. As we discussed in class, horses could be used for long journeys as well as flanking an enemy in war. Diamond does a great job explaining how these resources became readily available. All of these points tie back to Europe having an advantage over the rest of the world in terms of animal domestication, development of technology, and the population size increasing. The fact that Europe had a large amount of animals that could be domesticated goes back to one of Diamond’s main points in the book: That this is initially what caused there to be an increase in food, an increase in population, and development of new technology.

The Germs part of the title is clearly illustrated on page 87 when Diamond states: “The humans who domesticated animals were the first to fall victim to the newly evolved germs.” He goes onto explain how humans eventually developed a resistance to the serious diseases that these animals were causing. As talked about in class, cows carry “cowpox”. Once a boil develops, a human can simply make a cut on his or her arm and insert the puss from the boil on the cow, creating a resistance to smallpox. This shows that the Europeans were very inventive when it comes to treating and preventing diseases.

It is important to note that those who had been farming the longest had the best resources, technology, the worst germs. They cleared out their enemies with ease. This can explain Yali’s question. People that were not killed in the revolution or had less animals that were domesticated became the lowest of the low in the world: The poor. “Diamond infers that human populations under duress cannot move more quickly to adopt new technologies or organizations.” This explains the question of why survivors did not catch onto any of the advances of the invaders.

One of the flaws of the book is that Diamond does not talk about how culture or race influenced where parts of the world are today. Different cultures have different ways of doing things, such as harvesting crops, way of transportation, and economic specialization. The Europeans could just have had a much more efficient way of handling these aspects of life, but Diamond does not talk about that at all. Overall however, Diamond does an overwhelmingly good job discussing why the Europeans had an advantage over the rest of the world, as well as why they, before anyone else to become a thriving nation. These reasons included why certain plants and animals were available for domestication, the increase in population, technological development, and lastly, their geographical location.


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"Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody" (J.D. ...

"Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody" (J.D. Salinger)

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Holden Caulfield was a misunderstood teenager looking to fit in. In the Catcher in the Rye Holden faces self-conflicts with his insecurities and his mental health. Holden faces a change at the end of the book, he's been through rough things with friends but he still misses them and the experience. He has terrible friends, Stradlater, fought him. Ackley, brought his insecurities and Maurice. Through this essay, it will explain the most compelling things in The Catcher in the Rye, and J.D. Salinger’s life background.

Regardless of his thin group of work and withdrawn way of life, Salinger was one of the most compelling American authors of the twentieth century. Glass family that shows up in a portion of his works, was the result of blended parentage his dad was Jewish and his mom was Scotch-Irish. Salinger's childhood was much the same as that of Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye, the Glass youngsters, and a large number of his different characters. Salinger had just an older sister. He experienced childhood in chic zones of Manhattan and for a period went to state funded schools. Afterward, the youthful Salinger went to private academies where he evidently thought that it was hard to alter

Graduating from Valley Forge, he decided to go one year to New York University before taking off to Europe. After returning home, he went to school at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, before returning to New York and taking night classes at Columbia University there. Salinger met a Professor Whit Burnett. Burnett, saw Salinger's ability as an author, and pushed him to work. Then the assault on Pearl Harbor happened, Salinger was drafted into the military, serving from 1942-'44. During this time Salinger kept on composing, amassing sections for another novel whose principle character was a profoundly unsatisfied youngster named Holden Caulfield. Relating to Holden, Salinger after the war he was hospitalized in the wake of enduring a mental meltdown. Posting the book J.D. becoming one of the most incredible writings.

In Catcher in the Rye, it was different in terms of style. Most would use like or as but in this story, he wouldn't say 'like' he would use a different term and still mean the same. In the story J.D has to express that he isn't an adult, he is Holden. This is Holden writing this book he has to make it seem like it is a teenager who's been through a rough time as much as J.D. He makes the writing 'phony' and 'corny' to express the weird teenager Holden is. J.D definitely connects to Holden emotionally. J.D was writing this story during the war, he came out of the war with no injuries but he did come out having a melt breakdowns and was hospitalized and through the Catcher in The Rye Holden has melt breakdowns and has to be hospitalized and writes about his life to help his emotions. Holden and J.D also connects on an isolation level, they feel as if they need to be alone to fully understand.

At the beginning of this story Holden tells what happened when he was expelled. Holden starts a fight with his roommate, Stradlater over the fact be wouldn't tell about the date with Jane Gallagher. Suddenly Holden felt alienated from his school then goes to New York City and rent a hotel room to get away. As Holden was renting the hotel he say couples and got aroused so he pays a prostitute, Sunny, and then sends her away with only 5 dollars. Sunny and her pimp break down Holden for more money. Holden tries to look for a connection around New York but he felt alienated, he decided to call, Sally and they went to the theater. Holden and Sally's date ends in a fight then meets up with his friend Carl Luce. Holden asks many questions about sex and drove Carl away. Holden looks for ducks around central park and his home and talks with Phoebe, his sister.

Holden tries to talk with, Mr. Antolin but flees when he found that he would watch Holden sleep. Phoebe tries to go with Holden back to California but he rejects the offer. He tries to tell her to stay but he realizes that he needs to stay too. In the climax of the story, Holden realizes that he must let Phoebe touch the golden on the carousel. Phoebe and Holden forgive each other and Phoebe kisses Holden and gives back his red hat. Holden's red hat symbolizes, his insecurities but his creativity personality Also bright red color makes him want to be noticed. Holden feels confident and comfortable in his red hat and when he feels insecure he even tries to hide it away. Holden feels happy that Phoebe accepts him as he watches Phoebe on the carousel. Holden goes back to the hospital in California and refuses to answer questions about his future even from his brother, but he truly misses everyone he talked about in this book

This story took place in the 1940s in New York city, Holden was 16. The book came out in 1951, it was supposed to be only for adults to read during that time. The book definitely reflects how J.D saw the 1940s saw to be, he was writing this story almost at the same time period as the story actually took place. J.D had a life in the 1940s he brought Holden basically to life by using Holden's eyes around the world in the 1940s. J.D probably wanted to express his time period as a child or how he thought teens and adults acted in that year.

Throughout this story Holden faces many insecurities. He never worked hard or stayed on something for school, and he always wanted to find love. Holden would also judge people by first glance, calling people 'bastards' or 'phony'. This book definitely addresses how people with insecurities and mental health issues bring themselves down and how they go through it. During the writing of The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger was in the war. J.D. was in distress and faced many mental health issues as well, with everything he witnessed he made a character to take him away from the war and imagine how it would feel back home.

Throughout the ending of the book Holden says to never tell anybody anything and if you do you would miss them, J.D. Salinger probably didn't want to bring up his family to not miss them during the bloody war he went through, even all the men he met during the war, he didn't want to experience the pain of losing someone in his life probably. J.D. thought he wouldn't even make it, he didn't want to miss everyone.

The strengths throughout this book brought Holden’s true feelings. You got to feel every moment he felt and it moves you so much throughout the story. As well, how the story was written basically like the style of how Holden is was shown and how it was executed. I definitely I like this book and would definitely recommend for people who want to emotionally open up to different types of emotional decisions.

Conclusion

It shows that even a boy who is judgemental, mean, and disgusted with the world can miss people too and be kind. It's important to know this because anyone could be going through many emotions as much as Holden and would still be good and kind. This book brought different emotions, and it was brought like a rollercoaster.


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Lots of Americans believe in the American dream today, but does the American dre ...

Lots of Americans believe in the American dream today, but does the American dream truly existent? In this paper on the American dream, I would argue that it is not a true thing, because this is not a reality for every American since money, not just hard work ensures the ease of success.

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For the introduction to this essay, let’s look at the US Pew Charitable Trusts Economic Mobility Project study shows that although 40% of Americans are still convinced that starting from poverty to wealth is quite common, only 4% of them are actually successful. The article said that more Americans born in poor families can't get rid of poverty for a lifetime, and the United States should do more to improve social mobility.

If you are born in the lower class, it’s so hard for you to go to the higher class. 25% of Americans are born into the lowest class. After a decade, 46% of them are still in the same class, 27% of them go to a higher level, 17% of them go to the middle class, 9% of them go to the second class, and only one percent of them go to the upper class.

Being born into poverty will give you less chance to move up the social class than people born into wealth. Wealthier people will have an easier time moving to a higher class than poorer people. Poor people tend to stay poor their entire lives.

In the past four decades, the income of the middle population has remained stagnant, and the income of the upper 1% has tripled. Just as in the mid-20th century, the top 10% of American earners took one-third of the country's total income. Today it's closer to 50%. In the mid-20th century, the top 1% of wealthy households received 10% of the total national income. Today, 1% of upper households take home 25% of the total income. If you are one of the lucky ones, I hope that you will be grateful and don't think that everything should be like this.

The difference between each class makes the American dream harder to come true. On Constitution Avenue near the White House, a pair of middle-aged couples covered themselves with newspapers and slept in the open near the subway entrance. Not far away, the Trump International Hotel, which recently opened, features a luxurious interior and sky-high room rates only the wealthy can afford. On the other side of the Newspaper Museum, workers are changing the front cover of the newspaper in dozens of windows to propagate the country‘s 'Freedom' and 'democracy.' The rich can live in their own house, drive their luxury cars to work, while most people are forced to walk, take the bus or subway to work because they can't afford to own a car. These will all make the difference between wealth and poor people developed gradually.

Just like The Great Gatsby, Nick, Gatsby, and Daisy all intend to realize their dreams from the Midwest to the East. The pursuit of money, reputation, success, and excitement make Daisy will not marry a man who is unnamed. Her Life with Tom is made up of luxury houses, polo, travel and how to waste daily time; and Gatsby only earns a lot of money through various illegal ways, living in a beach house and a life with billions of dollars. After all these, Gatsby finally has the brave to try to let Daisy back, and this is his American dream. He is eager to use the money to win back the feelings of Daisy, but he is not aware that a woman who is like a Western woman has no real feelings, she only care who can give her better life.

What does American dream mean to you? Many would answer “money”, but having enough money not means you join the upper society. In the American bourgeoisie, there are not only differences in wealth, but also the difference between 'new' and 'old'. Therefore, there is always an insurmountable gap between Gatsby’s world and the privileged world. Even he has a big party in his house every week and has attracted many celebrities from all walks of life, but everyone is just using Gatsby’s home as a free entertainment place. They are looking for fun cozily, at the same time not letting go of any opportunity to express contempt for the master, there are all kinds of gossip about him.

To continue the essay, maybe you will say in The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner finally gets success by hard work, but the truth is he gets success because he has the talent. Success equals 99% perspiration and 1% talent, but often 1% talent is more important than 99% perspiration. Chris Gardner has the talent on Math, that’s why he can get the job.

Many teenagers work hard just like what American dream said, but the thing happen is that mostly they don’t success. After they graduate from college, most of the teenagers decide to go to work. Just like every healthy middle-class, you’ll have a decent job, stable housing, affordable education and healthcare, and a clear route to retirement. After twenty years, you will see them still in the same post. And you even can’t move to a new place, this wouldn’t just mean uprooting the kids; it would mean leaving the dynamic labor market. It’s hard to find a new job with a good salary.

Harvard researchers concluded that our collective lack of economic mobility is driven by income inequality. To help solve this problem, the government gives money and entitlements to poor people in an attempt to make them more equal to the more fortunate. This doesn't help in The long run because the tendency is for people to stagnate at this level and lose ambition to improve their situation since most of their basic needs are being met by government subsidies.

In fact, 20 percent of households own more than 84 percent of the wealth. This makes it harder for low or no income families to better themselves because the money from The wealthiest portion of the population does not trickle down to the lower class. If you don't have money from the start, it's harder for you to go to a higher class and life becomes a vicious circle of generational poverty.

So, as shown in this essay, social inequality under oligarchic politics and the decline of class mobility are social crises that are more profound than the impact of economic crisis. Social wealth weakens the state's ability to govern after. When wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few, the majority of the Population has less to spend, leading to an overall negative effect on a country's economy. Serious inequality has eroded the cornerstone of the 'American Dream.' American democracy has taken off its gorgeous coat, and has efficiently revealed the truth that 'the rich have, the rich control, and the rich enjoy.' 


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In healthcare, good hygiene is important as it prevents many diseases and infect ...

In healthcare, good hygiene is important as it prevents many diseases and infections (Malliarou, 2017). The issue of hand hygiene is important because approximately 10 percent of patients admitted worldwide will acquire healthcare associated infection (HAI) while in hospital (Jowitt et al., 2016). Healthcare worker’s hand are the primary medium for the transmission of pathogens from patient to patient in healthcare facilities. The skin of patients may be colonized with pathogens, and when they shed this skin, it covers the surfaces of their environment (Allegranzi & Pittet., 2009). The transmission of pathogens usually occurs when a health worker touches a patient’s environment. Despite no direct contact between the healthcare worker and the patient, transmission still occurs (Allegranzi & Pittet., 2009). In many health facilities, workers wear gloves to prevent HAI, but this is ineffective due to their improper use by health care workers and the fact that microorganisms can survive for several minutes which is sufficient for an individual to contaminate a large area (Pronovost, 2015 A lot of resources are devoted to maintaining high levels of hygiene in healthcare facilities.

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However, hand hygiene is usually overlooked despite its role in the spread of diseases (Mathur, 2011). Poor hand hygiene in a health facility exposes patients, visitors and health workers and their families to diseases and infections. Simple tasks performed by healthcare workers such as checking the temperature of patients and changing their gowns can expose both the patient and the healthcare worker to harmful microorganisms (Shabot et al., 2016). To ensure good hand hygiene, it is essential for healthcare workers to scrub their hands vigorously using soap and water to ensure all microorganisms are destroyed (Widmer, 2013). The scope of the problem of hygiene in healthcare can be analysed by looking at HAI that patients suffer from when undergoing treatment in healthcare facilities (Al-Tawfiqa & Tambyahc, 2014).

In England there are approximately 100 000 cases of HAI which result in close to 5000 deaths annually (World Health Organization, 2007). HAI costs the National Health Service approximately 1 billion pounds a year and in the United States, there are 2 million cases of HAI annually at the cost of approximately 5 billion dollars. Also, 90 000 deaths are as a result of HAI (Fox et al., 2015). Evidence from studies shows that poor hand hygiene is the primary cause of HAI and to reduce infections and increase patient safety health facilities will have to encourage and maintain hand hygiene (World Health Organization, 2007). The introduction of alcohol-based hand sanitizers has had a positive impact as it has allowed healthcare staff to frequently and conveniently sanitize their hands. Despite the introduction of alcohol-based hand sanitizers adherence to hand hygiene standards remain as low as forty percent and this includes large well-resourced facilities (Longtin et al., 2011).

In many health facilities around the world understaffing is a major problem and places a heavy workload and pressure on existing staff, leaving them little time to focus on maintaining required hand hygiene standards (Ellingson et al., 2014). In some health facilities, sinks are placed in inconvenient locations which results in their limited use (Kendall et al., 2016). Also, cultural issues play a part in hand hygiene standards such as the case of Muslims who shun the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers as alcohol is taboo in their religion (Van de Mortel et al.,2017). Management or senior staff in health facilities play a vital role in hand hygiene as they must be role models and must set an example to other staff members otherwise they will pay little attention to hygiene rules and guidelines. Health facilities have workers from different professions such as nurses, physiotherapists, radiographers, sonographer and doctors and this has a direct impact on the level of hand hygiene of each worker (Allegranzi & Pittet, 2009). This implies that individuals from different professions are trained differently with each profession placing a different emphasis on the importance of hand hygiene (Allegranzi & Pittet, 2009). The area in a health facility that individual works also influences their level of hand hygiene (Allegranzi & Pittet, 2009). Health workers who work in the intensive care unit and surgery rooms demonstrate high levels of hand hygiene due to the policies placed by their units because of the sensitive condition of patients in these areas (Allegranzi & Pittet, 2009). However, this approach is not entirely successful as HAI still occurs as health workers from less hygienic parts of the facility visit these areas. For instance, sonographers usually go to the intensive therapy units to perform bedside scans. As a result, it is essential for health facilities to ensure that all departments are subject to the same high standards of hygiene.

An important aspect of hand hygiene is the attitude and perceptions of healthcare workers towards this issue. A research conducted on the perception of healthcare workers in Malaysia raised the importance of this issue (Birks et al., 2011). The research indicated that despite extensive training and efforts by healthcare facilities to highlight the importance of hygiene to its workers, their perception of the importance of hygiene determined their level of hand hygiene (Birks et al., 2011). It is impossible to monitor every health worker at a health facility so to overcome this issue it is important for staff to be highly motivated and receive mentorship from senior staff members to ensure they continue learning and developing professionally. The attitude of health workers plays a role in their level of hygiene in a healthcare facility (Dreidi et al., 2016). A health worker with bad attitudes often careless when it comes to their duties and is more likely not to maintain the required levels of hygiene (Dreidi et al., 2016).

The cause of negative attitudes of healthcare workers is mainly due to displeasure caused by their working environments such as long working hours or an unreasonable workload. Negative attitudes can be prevented by management and senior staff members communicating with workers to gain knowledge of the challenges they face and to find solutions to this challenge. Health facilities have few private rooms for patients and open ward designs, and semi-private rooms make reducing HAI and improving hygiene difficult (Stichler 2013). Poor hand hygiene can be prevented through tools and methods such as automated observation, volume-based observation and direct observations (Ellingson et al. 2014). However, throughout the world, there are no national standards, rules or laws for hand hygiene in health facilities. A government program that includes measurement and feedback from patients will be an effective method improving the national level hand hygiene (Bhat et al. 2015).

The case A patient complained through Patient Advised and Liaison Service (PALS) of the trust about her experience in the ultrasound department. She was experiencing post-menopausal bleeding and was referred to the ultrasound department by her general practitioner (GP). Prior to the scan the sonographer informed her that the scan would be performed both trans-abdominally and trans-vaginally to evaluate the lining of the uterus and the ovaries in greater detail. She gave her consent to the procedures. However, according to the patient, the sonographer did not carry out hand hygiene before performing the transvaginal scan. While she could not challenge this at the time of the scan, this made her uncomfortable throughout the scan which resulted in her loss of confidence in the sonographer and the system at large. She also mentioned she had both trans-abdominal and transvaginal scans in the past in this trust and other trusts during which the sonographers observed all the necessary hygiene in each of the scans and wondered why things had changed. She was concerned that health service users would potentially be exposed to infection if the infection control policy of the trust is not adhered to by the staff. The department however, has not been able to verify if the information in this complaint is entirely true.

Discussion A critical evaluation of the case will require an in-depth analysis of the procedures and methodology used by the sonographer. The patient was suffering post-menopausal bleeding and determining the cause the sonographer decided to perform both trans-abdominally and transvaginal scan as recommended by departmental and BMUS guidelines. The complainant did not mention if the sonographer observed hand hygiene before the initial trans-abdominal scan. The major issue in this case arises from the lack of hand hygiene before the transvaginal scan. Understandably, with transvaginal ultrasonography, there is higher possibility of cross-contamination involving microorganisms which increases the risk of disease or infection to the patient (Buescher et al., 2016). So it is not surprising that the patient was more concerned about the hand hygiene prior to the transvaginal scan. To prevent the spread of disease and infection in a medical facility, it is essential for medical staff to wash and cover themselves and to use sterilized or disinfected equipment (Allegranzi & Pittet, 2009). The sonographer may have displayed negligence and a disregard for the safety of the patient by providing the least amount of protection or safety. In this case, hand sanitization was vital as the sonographer could have easily transferred bacteria or a virus to the outer layer of the gloves which would have come into direct contact with the patient.

The vagina is a sensitive organ which is extremely susceptible to diseases and infection, and the sonographer should have taken extra care when performing a transvaginal scan. The low hygiene standards expose the sonographer to the risk of disease and infection which can quickly spread throughout the health facility as the sonographer is exposed to sick individuals with weak immune systems (Mathur, 2011). The event had negative psychological and emotional impact on the patient. The patient was already suffering from post-menopausal bleeding which is a serious condition which put her in distress. She gave her consent and placed her trust in the sonographer because the sonographer was a professional who was assisting her. During the transvaginal scan, the patient experienced psychological distress as she was put in a helpless position while being exposed to a procedure that was potentially harmful to her. As a result, the patient lost trust in the medical facility and the safety of medical procedures.

The fact that she had knowledge of trans-abdominally and transvaginal scans as she had undergone the procedures in the past will make restoring her faith difficult. The long-term impact of the case on the patient is that she may be unwilling to give her consent to medical procedures in the future and may seek less effective methods of treatment and put her health at risk. The case will also make other women who use the medical facility less willing to give their consent to gynaecological scans especially transvaginal scans out of the fear that they may be exposed to the risk of disease and infection. The community that the health facility serves will be less willing to use its services as the low levels of hygiene and patient are highly discouraging.

Recommendations for Practice After analyzing the literature that is related to the case, I learned that poor hand hygiene has a significant impact on patient care. Also, I learned that health care professionals could pose a threat to the health patients by not upholding high hygiene standards. The case I presented exposes the psychological impact the lack of hand hygiene can have on a patient and their attitude towards healthcare. A recommendation I can use from my literature review that can put into practice is the use of tools and methods that can be used to monitor hand hygiene adherence in a health facility. An effective method that can be used universally is direct observation where healthcare workers are monitored to ensure they maintain the required hygiene standards (Ellingson et al., 2014). Automated monitoring of hand hygiene involves devices that record the use of hand hygiene dispensers by staff members and their movements, especially when entering a patient’s room (Polgreen et al., 2010). As such, this system is effective for large healthcare facilities where active monitoring of healthcare staff would be difficult (Polgreen et al., 2010).

An additional method of monitoring and measuring hand hygiene adherence is volume-based measurement which involves measuring the amount of soap or hand sanitizer used by a health facility as hand hygiene is an accurate measure of the level of hygiene in a health facility (Jeanes, 2003). The use of video recording to analyze hand hygiene in a facility is a highly effective and cost friendly method (Reynier et al., 2016). The use of these monitoring and evaluation methods could have easily prevented the issue of poor hand hygiene presented in my case. It could have as well verified if what the patient said was entirely true. A recommendation I have derived from the analysis of the literature review relating to my case is the use of the five rules of hand hygiene which were created by the World Health Organization (Landers et al., 2012). The rules of hand hygiene state that before and after a healthcare worker touches a patient, they must sanitize their hands (World Health Organization, 2018). When a healthcare worker wants to clean a patient or change their clothes they must sanitize their hands (World Health Organization, 2018). Upon exposure to the body fluids of a patient, a healthcare worker must sanitize their hands. Lastly, when the health worker touches the surroundings of a patient they must sanitize their hands (World Health Organization, 2018).

The rules of hand hygiene have proven an effective strategy in promoting hand hygiene in healthcare facilities especially in third world countries with healthcare facilities that have limited resource. Another recommendation that is vital to the case will be to introduce and practice patient empowerment as a tool for hand hygiene. The empowerment of patients involves giving them a platform and encouraging them to speak out when healthcare workers do not sanitize their hands (Lastinger et al., 2017). As such, this would have prevented the exposure of the patient in my case to the risk of disease and infection. Also it is highly recommendable for sinks which are meant for hand-washing be situated very close to the entrance of procedure room to enable the sonographer and other healthcare workers easily access these sinks.

Evidently, good hygiene is important as it prevents many diseases and infections. Evidence from studies shows that poor hand hygiene is the primary cause of HAI and to reduce infections and increase patient safety health facilities will have to promote and improve hand hygiene. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers has allowed healthcare staff to frequently and conveniently sanitize their hands but despite its introduction adherence to hand hygiene standards remain as low as forty percent even well-resourced facilities. A major issue with the case arises from the poor hand hygiene before the transvaginal scan. Preventing the spread of disease and infection in a medical facility is important and is essential for medical staff to wash and cover themselves and to sterilize or disinfect equipment. The sonographer displayed negligence and a disregard for the safety of the patient by providing the least amount of protection or safety. In this case, carrying out hand hygiene was vital as the sonographer could have easily transferred bacteria or a virus to the outer layer of the gloves which would have come into direct contact with the patient. Microorganisms can survive for several minutes, and in this case, the patient could have easily contracted a sexually transmitted disease due to the negligence of the sonographer as the vagina is a sensitive organ which is extremely susceptible to diseases and infection.

The event had negative psychological and emotional impact on the patient who was suffering from the serious condition and was put in a helpless position while being exposed to a procedure that was potentially harmful to her health. The lasting impact of the case on the patient is that she may be unwilling to give her consent to medical procedures in the future and may seek less effective methods of treatment. The case will also make other women who use the medical facility less willing to give their consent to trans-abdominally and transvaginal scans out of the fear that they may pose a risk to their health. To improve hand hygiene in the healthcare field, it is essential to introduce measures such as monitoring hand hygiene adherence and the rules of hand hygiene presented by the World Health Organization

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References

1. (Havard Leeds) Allegranzi, B. and Pittet, D. 2009. Role of hand hygiene in healthcare-associated infection prevention. Journal of Hospital Infection, 73(1), pp. 305-315.
2. Al-Tawfiqa, J. & Tambyahc, P., 2014. Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) Perspectives. Journal of Infection and Public Health, 7(1), pp. 339-244.
3. Arnstein, F., 1997. Catalogue of Human Error. British Journal of Anaesthesia, 79(1), pp. 645-656.
4. Atalabi, O. M. et al., 2012. Transvaginal ultrasonography: a survey of the acceptability and its predictors among a native African women population. International Journal of Women's Health, 4(1), pp. 1-6.
5. Bhat, L. et al., 2015. Hand-Washing and public health. Economic & Political Weekly, 48(1), pp. 19-22.
6. Birks, M., Coyle, M., Porter, J. & Mills, J., 2011. Perceptions of hand hygiene amongst healthcare workers in Sibu, East Malaysia. International Journal of Infection Control, 8(11), pp. 11-13.
7. Buescher, D. L. et al., 2016. Disinfection of transvaginal ultrasound probes in a clinical setting: comparative performance of automated and manual reprocessing methods. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol, 47(1), p. 646–651.
8. DiSaia, P. J. et al., 2017. Clinical Gynecologic Oncology E-Book. 9 ed. s.l.:Elsevier.
9. Dreidi, M., Alrimawi, I., Saifan, A. & Batiha, A.-M., 2016. Hand Hygiene Knowledge, Practices and Attitudes among Nurses and Physicians. Health, 8(1), pp. 456-462.
10. Ellingson, C. et al., 2014. Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections through Hand Hygiene. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology., 35(8), pp. 937-960.
11. Fox, C. et al., 2015. Use of a Patient Hand Hygiene Protocol to Reduce Hospital-Acquired Infections and Improve Uses' Hand Washing. American Journal of Critical, 24(3), pp. 216-225.
12. Jeanes, A., 2003. Improving hand hygiene compliance. Best practice Infection control, 99(7), pp. 47-49.
13. Jowitt, D. et al., 2016. The impact of the Hand Hygiene New Zealand programme on hand hygiene practices in New Zealand’s public hospitals. The New Zealand Medical Journal, pp. 67-77.
14. Kendall, A. et al., 2016. Point of care hand hygiene—where’s the rub? A survey of US and Canadian healthcare workers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices. American Journal of Infection Control, 44(1), pp. 1095-1101.
15. Landers, T., Abusalem, S., Coty, M.-B. & Bingham, J., 2012. Patient-centered hand hygiene: The next step in infection prevention. American Journal of Infection Control, 40(1), pp. 511-517.
16. Lastinger, A., Gomez, K., Manegold, E. & Khakoo, R., 2017. Use of a patient empowerment tool for hand hygiene. American Journal of Infection Control, 45(1), pp. 824-829.
17. Longtin, Y. et al., 2011. Hand Hygiene. The New England Journal of Medicine, 364(1), pp. 24-28. Malliarou, M., 2017. Hand Hygiene of Nurses and Patient Safety. International Journal of Nursing & Clinical Practices, Volume 4, p. 217.
18. Mathur, P., 2011. Hand hygiene: Back to the basics of infection control. Indian Journal of Medical Research, 134(5), p. 611–620.
19. Pickering, A., Boehm, A., Mwanjali, M. & Davis, J., 2010. Efficacy of Waterless Hand Hygiene Compared with Handwashing with Soap: A Field Study in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 82(2), p. 270–278.
20. Pinto, A. et al., 2013. Sources of error in emergency ultrasonography. Critical Ultrasound Journal, 5(1), pp. 1-18. Polgreen, P. et al., 2010. Method for Automated Monitoring of Hand Hygiene Adherence without Radio-Frequency Identification. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 31(12), pp. 1294-1297.
21. Pronovost, P., 2015. Sustaining and Spreading Improvement in Hand Hygiene Compliance. Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 41(1), pp. 1-25.
22. Reynier, P. et al., 2016. Hand Hygiene Analyzed by Video Recording. Journal of Nursing & Care, 5(2), pp. 1-5.
23. Shabot, M. et al., 2016. Sustaining Improvement in Hand Hygiene and Health Care-Associated Infections. Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 42(1), pp. 1-17.
24. Stichler, J., 2013. Healthcare-Associated Infections: The Nursing Perspective. Sage Journals, 7(1), pp. 8-12.
25. Van de Mortel, T., Ng, W. & Shaban, R., 2017. Healthcare professionals’ hand hygiene knowledge and beliefs in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Infection Prevention, 18(3), pp. 1-29.
26. Widmer, A., 2013. Surgical hand hygiene: scrub or rub?. Journal of Hospital Infection, 83(1), pp. S35-S39. World Health Organization, 2007. Improved Hand Hygiene to Prevent Health Care-Associated Infections. s.l.:World Health Organization Press.
27. World Health Organization, 2018. Five moments for hand hygiene. [Online] Available at: http://www.who.int/gpsc/tools/Five_moments/en


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Table of contentsIntroductionAgainst Videogame ViolenceFor Videogame ViolencePer ...

Table of contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Against Videogame ViolenceFor Videogame ViolencePersonal Opinion
  3. Conclusion

Introduction

As the popularity of videogames has increased, they have undergone much criticism. The idea of using violence in videogames as a form of entertainment seems vile and childish to some. One of the original games to hint at violence was the game “Death Race” which was released in 1975. Small stick figure shapes were to resemble “gremlins” and would turn into gravestones and squeal once hit by the small moving car. (cite) Today’s society would laugh at the content and context which this game is reviewed. Some might say it is because we are desensitized to violence today. With the advancement of technology and expansion of entertainment, violence will continue to be a key selling point of games.

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In Psalm 11:5, the Psalmist writes “The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence”. Videogames are merely simulations, or even a release of anger and or boredom, therefore it could be argued if videogames truly count as violence or just a simulation. Colossians 3:23-24 states that “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” This verse has been interpreted in many ways. One perspective is that an individual’s talents, which were given by God, to play the game and share that belief and be proud of it when and if you attain a professional status in the game. Violence shouldn’t be endorsed but it isn’t detrimental to society either. ("33 Bible […] Games")

Against Videogame Violence

Many activists against videogame violence correlate major events of terror and harm to videogames and gun control. For example, on December 20, 2012 Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary with a 9mm SIG Sauer P226 handgun, .223-caliber Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, and a 10mm Glock 20SF handgun. ("Sandy Hook Overview") Lanza killed over twenty children in total; politicians will use this as a cornerstone for gun reform in the U.S. Many groups blamed his motive on videogames, and they caused his outburst. Iowa State University psychologist Dr. Craig A. Anderson said:

None of these extreme acts, like a school shooting, occurs because of only one risk factor; there are many factors, including feeling socially isolated, being bullied, not being accepted by peers and so on […] But if you look at the literature, I think it's clear that violent media is one factor; it's not the largest factor, but it's also not the smallest. (Anderson)

On April 20, 1999 Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold enter Columbine High school with plans to launch an assault on their teachers and classmates. Their written plans indicated they planned to kill over 100 of their classmates, primarily athletes, and club members. They successfully murdered 13 and wounded 23 before killing themselves. Both Eric and Dylan were avid players of the popular game “Doom”, one of the first FPS or “first person shooter” games on the market. This game was assigned to the US military to help train soldiers to kill effectively. More evidence was found on the boy’s computers, which held a customized game of Doom with two players, both with extra weapons and unlimited ammo, set in a school. The victims were unable to fight back or touch the players when they were murdering the NPCs (Non-Player Characters).

There are small groups who have risen to fight against violence in videogames which include MAVAV (Mothers against Videogame Addiction and Violence) who have controversial claims including: “Textspeak Linked to Violent Videogames”, “Videogames Not Fun”, “Everything Just a Game to Gamers”, and many more on the group’s site. These groups seek to abolish violence as a form of entertainment. (“MAVAV”)

Violent videogames require constant participation and repetition with the violent character or player in the game. New game controllers allow more physical interaction, the games obtain more interactive characteristics and could increase the likelihood of juvenile violence. Violent videogames cause the players to associate happiness and reward with the ability to cause pain in others. Some games reward the person playing with new weapons, powers, and abilities depending on how much havoc or kills are achieved in the game. Studies have shown that when violence is encouraged and rewarded in videogames, players tend to exhibit an increased aggressive response and behavior compared to players of videogames where violence is harmful and punished. Some violent videogames desensitize players to violence in real-life. (Layton)

The repetition of death in these games makes life seem like a joke or a game where you have multiple chances to redo the actions if you make a mistake. A 2005 study showed violent videogame exposure was linked to lower P300 waves in the brain; these are linked with desensitization to violence and increases in aggressive tempers. (Peckham) Constant exposure to violence in videogames is believed to lower empathy in the players. In 2004, a study of 150 fifth and fourth graders by Jeanne Funk showed that violent videogames were one of the primary types of media associated with lowering empathy. Empathy being, the ability to understand, relate and enter someone’s feelings, emotions, and issues, which is vital for mental growth and moral equilibrium and is believed to inhibit aggressiveness. (Mosher) (“ProCon.org”)

For Videogame Violence

Juvenile crime in the America has been on the decline as violent videogame popularity has risen. Arrest rates for juvenile murders have dropped 71.9% between 1995 and 2008. The arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes has declined 49.3%. In this same period, videogame sales have more than tripled.(Corriea) In Brad Bushman’s recent article “Do violent videogames play a role in shootings?” Bushman states:

The problem is that people are looking for a yes-or-no answer about the role of videogames in violence, when there is none. Violent videogames alone likely didn't cause Alexis to go on his rampage. But these games aren't harmless, either. Recent reports suggest he may have been mentally ill and had anger control issues. But it isn't hard to believe that videogame use may have been a contributing factor. (Bushman) with regard to the Navy yard shooting by Aaron Alexis on November 16, 2013.

Some studies have shown playing violent videogames reduces overall violence in adolescent boys by serving as a substitute for rough housing and harmful play. Playing violent videogames allows juvenile boys and girls to express aggression, or anger without causing physical harm. ("ProCon.org") Some say, playing violent videogames provides a safe outlet for aggressive feelings. A 2007 study reported that 46% of boys played videogames because "it helps me get my anger out" and 62% played because “it helps me relax." (Chang) Research that shows violent videogames causing more aggression, and violence is because the comparative game is not as involving and exciting. A short-term increase in aggression and arousal doesn’t mean a child is going to leave their house and commit a violent crime or act. Youth and juveniles model violent crimes and acts on actions they’ve seen in videogames, but the violence still occurs even in the absence of these games. Videogames provide safe and controlled environments for children and youth to virtually explore laws, rules, and the consequences of their violent actions. Some violent games also allow youth to experiment with issues such as violence, war, and death with no real-world consequences and side effects. (Whiteman)

Violence plays a vital role entertainment, the statement may seem harsh but when looked at as a whole it is clear. Football for example, essentially it is a broken game of fetch where the players seek to slam into and harm the other team to achieve a common goal, a touchdown. Football is one of the most watched sports in the US. But when violence in video gaming is mentioned other forms of violence in everyday life, like sports, don’t come to light. Wrestling is violence at its rawest form, with the goal being either to: hurt the other person as much as possible until surrender is achieved, or cause enough harm until the other person’s body gives up and is knocked unconscious. This type of entertainment is nothing modern; it can be seen as far back as the gladiator era. These forms of entertainment are not shunned when the topic of violence is mentioned.

When the topic of violent videogames is mentioned, the majority of people seem to be focused and worried primarily for children and youth. As people mature they tend to shed the skin of their former selves and develop new moral ideals and personalities, generally for the better. First Corinthians mentions this in chapter thirteen, verse eleven saying: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” ("33 Bible […] Games") This applies to violent videogames also, when playing a game its solely that, just a game. If you mean no true harm and are playing the game purely for the entertainment value there is no harm to be done. A child will retain some input of anything given to them, violence, tragedy, and war should be given in moderation.

Personal Opinion

When the topic of violence in videogames is mentioned and how it ruins children today, I get defensive. Both my brother and I were raised on videogames and love them as a form of entertainment and only entertainment. I feel they benefit much more than as a form on entertainment but also help things like: reaction timing, teamwork skills, tactical skills, puzzle solving abilities, and even as a learning/teaching tool. Reaction timing is essential to being a good gamer, which is not only beneficial in the game but also in real life daily tasks like sports and driving. Teamwork skills help you grow closer to friends, work together with peers and coworkers and even help excel you in your career. Puzzle solving skills apply to test taking, general problem solving in daily situations, which can also help you excel in your career. Videogames are also a great teaching tool. The popular game “Minecraft” is being implemented into elementary schools because of its simplicity and its ability to capture the attention of the students.

I have played videogames for the majority of my life, both as a stress reliever, free time consumer, and a way to bond with friends. The social aspect alone of videogames and how it bonds today’s youth greatly outweighs its potentially “harmful” aspects. Videogames are competitive, entertaining, educational, and can even become a profession. There are hundreds of thousands who actually get paid and sponsored to play videogames, which could be a very viable solution for working at home.

I believe that when the statement that says “videogames make people more aggressive” is completely false. During the game you are going to be competitive and try your hardest to achieve victory. Any obstacle which hinders you from achieving that goal is frustrating. The player may seem aggressive during or in the game but once it is over, it’s over, and gamers realize that. Also, the claim is made that “life becomes like a joke” but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This could cause people to become more outgoing and joke around a lot more, serious issues are still treated respectfully because most games don’t virtualize the boring or hard decisions that must be made in life.

When the aspect of desensitization is brought to light I also have a conflicting opinion. Being desensitized to violence isn’t endorsing it, it merely teaches you to deal with it. Soldiers deal with death, gore, and violence on a daily basis and I’m sure exposure to it as a juvenile helped them compensate and understand what is truly going on. It helps the person not to overreact or exaggerate a small issue or problem like a broken bone, or blood in general. These types of skills are good to have as a parent, doctor, or even a bystander to a crime or murder.

In my opinion, there is no need for activism against such a simple topic like violence in videogames. Groups like the MAVAV seem unneeded and have no large impact on the topic. Those mothers should not allow their children to play those types of games, they should have no say or opinion in how other mothers and parents raise their child. If they feel the need to deprive their children of both the social aspects of video games, and the other skills mentioned, that is their choice but should not be forced on other parents. The claims of the MAVAV such as: “Textspeak Linked to Violent Videogames”, “Videogames Not Fun”, “Everything Just a Game to Gamers” are outrageous considering their evidence. On the topic of “Textspeak Linked to Violent Videogames” the argument they supply is “Textspeak is the process of shortening words and adding numbers to a text message to make it "cooler." The form of text messaging is highly annoying. One example suffice: "RU cmin out 2nite?" Deciphered: "Are you coming out tonight?" (MAVAV) This type of language only to shorten the amount of characters when typing and still convey the same message, how this is applied to violent video games is beyond me.

Conclusion

Violence will continue to be a key selling point of games as technology advances even with results and new research coming out daily. Overall there are many varying opinions on the subject of whether violence in videogames are necessary shown by researchers and the data of different studies. Those who are against violence in videogames seek to show the negative events of Major terroristic events and temporary psychological effects. The actions carried out by Aaron Alexis, Adam Lanza, Eric Harris, and Dylan Klebold were outliers of the whole community of gamers who enjoy more interactive and semi-violent games. The psychological benefits shown by the pro-violence side seem to outweigh the hindrances claimed by the anti-violence side.

The bible does mention that violence is despised by God and he “hates the wicked and the one who loves violence”. As mentioned previously, gaming is merely a simulation and form of entertainment. If the player intends for the actions he/she is committing in the game to be violent, then those are the ones who should not be encouraged to play. But the fact that people seek to remove all violence from games is too big of a task and hindrance to people who do not abuse that form of entertainment.

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However, 1 Thessalonians 5:22 states to “Abstain from every form of evil.” Some might consider videogames a form of evil. Psalm 119:37 says “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.” In conclusion, there are well developed arguments for both perspectives. As Proverbs 22:6 says: Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. The decision of videogames should be left up to the parents when the child is young. The key is to teach the child correct morals, and to create a healthy character and child that is spiritually mature.


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Table of contentsIntroductionCritiquing Puritan life in The Scarlet LetterConclu ...

Table of contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Critiquing Puritan life in The Scarlet Letter
  3. Conclusion

Introduction

Throughout the late 18th century and 19th century, Romanticism was a highly popular literary style adopted by many novelists. Nature, a prominent element of Romanticism, is used in these authors' writings not just for descriptions and images, but also to emphasize major ideas. One gifted author influenced by Romanticism was Nathaniel Hawthorne, the creator of "The Scarlet Letter". In "The Scarlet Letter", Hawthorne uses nature as a romantic source for critiquing Puritan life: the harshness of its society, the unjust laws of the Puritan theocracy, and the corruption of the Puritan humanity.

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Critiquing Puritan life in The Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne uses a strongly romantic view of nature to emphasize the Puritans' harshness and lack of compassion. For instance, in the first chapter, Hawthorne describes the town as "the black flower of civilized society". In this passage, he uses a flower, an element of nature, to symbolize the despair of the prison town. He further emphasizes this symbol by describing the prison's plot of as "overgrown with burdock, pig-weed, apple-peru, and such unsightly vegetation". By representing the prison and scaffold as a gloomy place of punishment, Hawthorne foreshadows the immoral events that are soon to take place.

The use of nature to symbolize the prison also establishes a dark atmosphere that sets up the scene by the scaffold, the place of punishment. During this scene, the women watching take a "peculiar interest in whatever penal infliction might be expected to ensue". The supposedly moral Puritans are portrayed as people with no compassion for Hester, the "criminal". One of the women even demands that they brand Hester's forehead with the letter "A". These women are depicted as merciless people whose religion emphasizes God's wrath, not God's love. Hawthorne contrasts the prison and scaffold, the evil symbols of Puritan society, with the "wild rose-bush...which might be imagined to offer its fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in...in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him". The rose-bush, a symbol of Nature, is a completely pure component that has not been "tainted" by the harshness of Puritan society. It is also used as a symbol of hope for the town, contrasting with the evil and darkness of the prison and scaffold. Hawthorne effectively uses nature to criticize Puritan society by illustrating the prison and scaffold as the embodiment of societal evil. Hawthorne purposefully uses these descriptions in the beginning of the novel to establish the mood. By contrasting nature with Puritan society, Hawthorne successfully criticizes the Puritans.

In "The Scarlet Letter", the forest, a symbol of freedom, is contrasted with the town in order to criticize the cruel, strict laws of the theocracy. Hawthorne's use of the forest also emphasizes the Romantic aspect of the novel. The forest is considered a place of evil, where the Black Man dwells. However, Hawthorne describes the Nature of the forest as a "wild, heathen Nature...never subjugated by human law, nor illumined by higher truth". Even though the Puritans believe the forest is an evil place, Hawthorne depicts it as an almost holy sanctuary that contrasts with the destructive and unforgiving town. Furthermore, Hawthorne uses Dimmesdale and Hester's love to depict the forest as a place of happiness and freedom. In the forest, Hester and Dimmesdale can be alone for the first time in seven years. The two lovers unite and Hester undoes "the clasp that fastens the scarlet letter, and taking it from her bosom, throws it to a distance among the withered leaves". Hester is defying the town and the Puritan faith by removing the scarlet letter from her bosom. She can only do this in the forest, a place free from boundaries and laws. Once again, Hawthorne uses the forest as a contrast to the strict Puritan society.

This contrast is elucidated further during the scene where Pearl points out that the sunlight in the forest does "not love Hester. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on Hester's bosom". The scarlet letter symbolizes the laws of the town, and therefore the destructiveness of the Puritans. The sunshine in the forest, a component of nature, shuns Hester because of this letter but fills the forest with light when Hester removes the letter from her chest. The sunshine in the forest is shown as a symbol of happiness and holiness, where the sunshine only shines upon the good. The Puritans believe that their town is a sacred village, and that the forest is a place of evil and sin; however, Hawthorne shows the forest as a place of pureness, freedom, and happiness. Through the forest, he exploits the Puritans' ignorance, once again criticizing Puritan society through the use of nature.

Hawthorne's final criticism of Puritanism uses nature to reveal the corruption of Puritan society. Hawthorne achieves this by revealing that the Puritan view of Pearl is unjust. The Puritans of the town scorn Pearl and think of her as an "imp of evil" because she is an "emblem and product of sin". Because Pearl is the result of the sin Hester and Dimmesdale committed, the people of the town look down on her. Nevertheless, Hawthorne uses nature to transform Pearl into a sacred figure. During the sunshine episode, Pearl exclaims that Hester is not loved by the sunshine, but Pearl "actually catches the sunshine, and stands laughing in the midst of it, all brightened by its splendor". The sunshine only runs from the corrupted; it does not run from Pearl, a completely pure child. This event contrasts the Puritan opinion of Pearl as an evil child who is no more than the product of a sin. Hawthorne criticizes the corruption of Puritan humanity by attacking the Puritans' unjust attitude towards Pearl.

Hawthorne expands on Pearl's purity during the scene where Pearl sees her own reflection in the brook. Pearl is "glorified with a ray of sunshine" and is depicted as a pure child free from the corruption of Puritan society. Her purity is again shown when the forest becomes the "playmate of the lonely infant, as well as it knew how" and "it puts on the kindest of its moods to welcome her". Pearl is engulfed by the wilderness, and actually becomes part of the wild. By exalting in Pearl's purity, Hawthorne draws attention to the corruption of Puritan humanity. Again, Hawthorne criticizes the Puritans' humanity through nature and the purity of Pearl.

Conclusion

In "The Scarlet Letter", Hawthorne effectively criticizes Puritan society through the use of nature. Christianity, a faith commonly thought of as very forgiving, is depicted as a caustic, punishing religion. Hawthorne uses the flower of the rosebush to criticize the Puritans' vicious ways, and the forest and Pearl to criticize the laws of their theocracy. Because of his effective use of nature, Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" qualifies as the work of a Romantic author.


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Table of contentsAbstractCritique of: Thriving at Work: A meta-analysisPremises ...

Table of contents

  1. Abstract
  2. Critique of: Thriving at Work: A meta-analysisPremises of ResearchIndividual CharacteristicsRelational CharacteristicsResearch MethodResearch FindingTopic Learned from the Journal
  3. Implementation in the Real World
  4. References

Abstract

The research article, “Thriving at work: A meta-analysis” by Anne-Kathrin Kleine, Cort W. Rudolph, and Hannes Zacher primarily focuses on employees thriving in a workplace. The goal of the authors is to focus on employees in the workplace and analyze their psychological state to determine which factors come into play when they thrive at work. The authors use the Spreitzer and Colleagues' model to determine the internal characteristics expressed by the workers. The authors have several hypotheses about thriving at work in their research. For example, one of the hypotheses is that: psychological capital is positively related to thriving at work. From this hypothesis, the authors conduct an experiment using different types of variables to study human characteristics. Ultimately, the researchers found that there was a positive relationship between psychological capital and thriving at work. With that being said, the article will focus on summarizing the journal in terms of the type of research methods used and the results found out the end to determine if the personal hypothesis was proven to be true or not.

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Keywords: Thriving, Work, Psychological, Research

Critique of: Thriving at Work: A meta-analysis

To begin with, Anne-Kathrin Kleine, Cort W. Rudolph, and Hannes Zacher conducted an excellent meta-analysis based on the topic of thriving at work. The journal mentions how the word “thriving” has a different meaning in the world of organizational behavior. The authors mention that; “Spreitzer, Sutcliffe, Dutton, Sonenshein, and Grant defined thriving at work as a positive psychological state characterized by a joint sense of vitality and learning”. This is essential to the research because it shows the blueprint for which the research will be focusing on. This leads to the main motive for the research which is to examine if there is any correlation between a person's psychological state and who is thriving at work.

Premises of Research

Research on thriving at work has been conducted numerous times over the past decade. However, the research pool needs systematic and theory-based synthesis. Researchers all around the world lack essential knowledge on the nomological network of thriving at work, including crucial antecedents and consequences. According to the authors, 'the overcharging goal of this article is to present and discuss the theoretical background, methods, and results of a meta-analysis that quantitatively integrates existing empirical-quantitative studies on thriving at work'. In other words, the main rationale behind this journal was to provide systematic research in the hypothesis that is well calculated using professional research methods. With the help of this journal, recommendations for future research and organizational practice will not be difficult to conduct.

As mentioned before, thriving at work is defined as the psychological state in which individuals experience both a sense of vitality and learning. The basis of this research is taken from the model of thriving at work created by Spreitzer’s team. The authors used the model as a starting point and updated it by dividing antecedents of thriving into two categories which include: individual characteristics and relational characteristics.

Individual Characteristics

The first antecedent of thriving at work is individual characteristics. As an individual, we need supportive coworker behavior, leadership, and trust amongst each other. Therefore, individual characteristics can play an important role in analyzing thriving at work. According to the authors, “individual characteristics include psychological capital, core self-evaluations, proactive personality, positive affect, (low) negative affect, (low) perceived stress, and work engagement”. In their research, the authors have formulated a hypothesis for each type of individual characteristic. To begin with, psychological capital refers to a set of resources such as; self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience a person can use to help improve performance and well-being in a workplace. The first hypothesis for psychological capital is that it is positively related to thriving at work. To continue, core self-evaluations deals with personality trait responsible for our temperaments such as locus of control, neuroticism, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. The hypothesis dealing with core self-evaluations is that it has a positive relation to thriving at work. Moving on, a proactive personality deals with a person motivated to pursue opportunities for self-improvement such as knowledge, skills, and education. The author's hypothesis is that a “proactive personality is positively related to thriving at work”. To continue, individuals with positive affect are likely to interact with their environment by participating in activities which result in developing inner characteristics. The authors' hypothesis is that positive affect has a positive correlation to thriving at work. The other individual characteristic that was hypothesized to be positively related to thriving at work deals with work engagement in which an individual is in a positive and fulfilling work-related state of mind. On the other hand, negative affect and perceived stress are hypothesized to be negatively related to thriving at work.

Relational Characteristics

The second antecedent of thriving is relational characteristics. Relational characteristics focus on employees’ relationships with their coworkers. Examples of relational characteristics that the authors include are: “heedful relating, supportive coworker behavior, workplace civility, supportive leadership behavior, empowering leadership, transformational leadership, and LMX quality”. Most of the definitions of the examples go straightforward with the word itself. However, there are some such as LMX and transformational relationships, that are complex to understand. To begin with, transformational leadership deal with inspiring employees to strive for the best version of themselves and achieve their goals. LMX focuses on the relationship between leaders and followers. Therefore, high-quality LMX relationships consist of trust, respect, and responsibilities. On the other hand, the only negatively characteristic related to thriving at work is workplace incivility.

Research Method

For this journal, the authors decided to conduct a meta-analysis, which is a statistical analysis of older similar experiments to test the combined data for statistical significance. The authors used electronic engines and databases such as “Google Scholar, Web of Science, EBSCO Host, JSTOR, and ProQuest” for studies that had citations of the original paper constructed by Spreitzer and his team. For the databases, the authors searched for articles published between 2005 and 2018 that used keywords like 'thriving' and 'work'. The third method of gathering data was done by searching for prepress articles via journal websites such as the Journal of Organizational Behavior and the Journal of Applied Psychology. The fourth method was cross-referencing conference programs from the Academy of Management. The subject of the research was employees in the workplace. Employee attributes such as their age, how long they worked for, and the hours they worked every week were captured and presented in chronological order. Attributes such as gender were dummy coded in a binary fashion, such that the number zero belonged to males and the number one belonged to females.

Research Finding

After conducting meta-analytic statistics, the database found 73 independent samples, representing a sample size of 21,739 employees in the workplace. For this research, the authors described the variable rc to describe “the sample size-weighted and reliability-corrected correlation”. The value of RC close to .1 is considered small, .3 is considered moderate, and .5 is considered large. RC was utilized in the research to determine the correlation between individual characteristics and thriving at work. Klein and her colleagues conducted that psychological capital had a moderate and positive correlation with “thriving at work “(RC = .47), learning (RC = .40), and vitality (RC = .56). Core- evaluations (RC = .50), proactive personality (RC = .58), and positive affect (RC = .52)”. Each of those characteristics had a positive and strong correlation to thriving at work. On the other hand, the authors report that negative affect had “(RC = -.36) and vitality (RC = -.44) had a moderate and negative correlation with thriving and it’s unrelated to learning”. The authors also noticed that “perceived stress also had a negative correlation with thriving (RC = -.31). Work engagement had the strongest and positive correlation with thriving (RC = .64)”. These findings are significant enough to support the hypotheses that were previously stated.

On the other hand, the authors found that relational characteristics such as “relationships with coworkers, heedful relating” had a strong and positive correlation “(RC = .50). Supportive coworker behavior” had a moderate and positive correlation “(RC = .42), and workplace civility” had a strong and positive correlation “(RC = .54) with thriving at work. Workplace incivility” had a weak and negative correlation “with thriving (RC = -.22). Relationships with supervisors, supportive leadership behavior (RC = .44), and empowering leadership (RC = .44)” all had strong and positive correlation unlike transformational leadership, where there was a weak and positive correlation with thriving (RC = .29). Finally, LMX had the strongest correlation with thriving (RC = .61). These results show that the sample size- weight and reliability-corrected correlation is significant enough to support the hypotheses.

Topic Learned from the Journal

One specific topic about organizational behavior that can be learned from this journal is attitudes and job satisfaction. Attitudes refer to evaluation statements – either favorable or unfavorable- about objects, events, or people. They reflect how a person feels about a certain topic. The reason why this topic can be learned from this journal is that a case can be made that thriving at work is similar to job satisfaction. Just like thriving has two antecedents, individual characteristics and relational characteristics, attitudes that lead to job satisfaction can be broken down into cognitive components, affective components, and behavioral components. The cognitive component involves a person's belief or knowledge about a topic. The behavioral component deals with how attitude influences the way a person behaves. Affective emotion involves a person's feelings or emotions towards a topic. All of the components could essentially be tied to employees' characteristics and relational characteristics. For example, the cognitive component can be tied into individual characteristics because belief or knowledge can lead to individual characteristics such as core self-evaluations and psychological capital. Another topic related to job satisfaction deals with employee engagement. According to Robbins and Judge,” highly engaged employees have a passion for their work and feel a deep connection to their companies”. This is similar to relational characteristics because being engaged in the environment leads to overall satisfaction, which ultimately leads to thriving in work.

Implementation in the Real World

Research about thriving in work has been conducted for decades. However, this research should be implemented in the real world because it shows significant data values that prove popular hypotheses to be true. Although the construction of state-of-the-art office spaces where employees have the luxury to socialize is important, it is not necessary to create an environment where employees are motivated and thrive in their work. Companies should look at the statistics provided by this article to formulate a plan where employees can achieve both individual and relational characteristics. For instance, companies can switch into a group-orientated fashion where employees are constantly bouncing ideas off of each other. This will help achieve characteristics such as psychological capital, proactive personality, and work engagement. By working together, employees will experience a sense of belonging which will increase their self-esteem, begin to challenge themselves, dedication, and work engagement. This will also add to relational characteristics because employees working together will begin to support each other and will have civility. Another way to achieve relational characteristics is by hiring supportive and empowering leaders who will make other employees become the best versions of themselves and increase their overall motivation and drive.

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Ultimately, there are millions of studies conducted around the world to figure out the formula for creating the most efficient and thriving workplace. The truth is that there is no right formula for this equation. If that were the case, every company would have the highest employee satisfaction and production. Even though things are never perfect, steps such as this article can be taken to ensure to get the best out of every employee possible.

References

  1. Grabarek, P. (2018, December 10). What is Psychological Capital? Workr Beeing. Retrieved from https://workrbeeing.com/2018/12/10/psychological-capital/
  2. Kleine, A., Rudolph, C., Zacher, H. (2019, April 25). Thriving at work: A meta-analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(9-10), 973-999. Retrieved from   https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2375
  3. McLeod, S. (2018). Attitudes and Behavior. SimplyPsychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/attitudes.html
  4. Meta-analysis. 2020. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved April 21, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meta-analysis
  5. Pignatelli, A. (2014, December 21). How to Boost Employee Performance by Raising Core Self-Evaluations. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/boosting-job-performance-raising-employee-core-ascanio-pignatelli
  6. Porath, C., Spreitzer, G., Gibson, C., Garnett, F. (2012, February). Thriving at work: Toward its measurement, construct validation, and theoretical refinement. Journal of Organizational Behavior. (33), 250 - 275. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227671228_Thriving_at_work_Toward_its_measurement_construct_validation_and_theoretical_refinement/citation/download
  7. Robbins, S. & Judge, T. (2018) Organizational Behavior. Pearson

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Table of contentsIntroductionPhilosophical Thought in CurriculumMain Proponents ...

Table of contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Philosophical Thought in CurriculumMain Proponents’ Pros and Cons
  3. Conclusion
  4. References

Introduction

When one thinks of the curriculum it can be looked at from a school, subject, co-curricular or the experienced curriculum which Michael Littledyke (1996) refers to as the learning students actually receive as a result of the whole educational experience the school provides. This includes the impact of the school curriculum, the teaching approaches used by the teachers, the co-curricular curriculum and the learning environment which is available. It includes both the planned and unplanned or unintended outcomes of the curriculum.

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John Dewey who conceptualises progressivism is of the view that children are naturally curious and therefore schools need to give them the opportunity in their curriculum for critical inquiry, problem solving and to build a worldview based on scientific method. The philosophy of Progressivism is basically the children in charge and teachers are just there to facilitate the process. Dewey said that children should not be forced to learn what they do not think is necessary and while they may be allowed to do their own learning, teachers are needed to guide the process. This was how he came up with the progressivism philosophy which speaks to students deciding what they want to learn.

This paper looks at John Dewey’s view of the philosophy of progressivism, the perspectives of metaphysics, axiology, and epistemology. The pros and cons will also be discussed and also the relevance of progressivism to the curriculum in the 21st century.

Philosophical Thought in Curriculum

Philosophy according to Orstein & Hunkins (1988), requires looking beyond the immediate to causes and relationships and to future developments. In the words of William, (1965): cited by Orstein & Hunkins (1988), “our source of direction is found in our guiding philosophy”. That is to say, “our philosophy of education influences and to some extent determines our educational decisions, choices and alternatives. It therefore means that what is learnt is because of the choices we make. And because of this there are different forms or types of curriculum that may be identified. It is what we are guided by and so even within the planned curriculum all could not be learnt and so many times the hidden curriculum is important to all that is to be done. The importance of philosophy in determining curriculum decisions is articulated by Hopkins L. T (1945): cited by Orstein & Hunkins (1988), “when a state office suggests a pupil-teacher time schedule, this is based upon philosophy, either hidden or consciously formulated.

When a curriculum is been developed the perspectives that are looked at are metaphysics, epistemology and axiology. Metaphysics deals with reality. The reality is children learn best through their environment, when they interact, have a hands on approach.So the aims of the curriculum is the students interest.

Another perspective of the curriculum is epistemology which looks at knowledge. John Dewey refers to it as theory of enquiry, self-guided activity, active manipulation of the environment is involved integrally in the process of learning from the start. The teacher is to allow students to participate in designing lessons that are relevant to their lives and experiences. By doing this schools would become dynamic and flexible and keep up with the rapid change in society. Teaching approaches influence the learning environment of children directly. Ideas concerning the nature of knowledge and the ways in which children learn influence pedagogy, whilst ideology and values about the nature and purpose of education affect both teachers in their approach to teaching and the planners of the curriculum at the national and the school level. Michael Littledyke (1996).

The third perspective is that of axiology which looks at the moral and social problems, for Dewey, are concerned with the guidance of human action to the achievement of socially defined ends that are productive of a satisfying life for individuals within the social context. Morals determine which materials to be used in the curriculum.

Main Proponents’ Pros and Cons

As stated earlier within this paper the leading spokesman for progressivism was the academic philosopher John Dewey. In his writings, Dewey emphasized a generalized problem-solving procedure, which is quite similar to the scientific method. This problem-solving procedure is a means by which we find out what works in a given situation. Dewey saw this problem-solving procedure as one-in-the-same with the process of education. He believed that the procedure could be effectively applied to problems in the physical or biological sciences, or to a social problem or even to a personal problem. This is a guide which therefore could help with the development of the curriculum. He would base his philosophy on the fact that the students are active participants in their own learning. They learn by experiencing and doing things hands on and this would promote children working together and so the students think more critically and problem solve. This lends itself to creativity and imagination and integration of entrepreneurship into education. Students will be able to develop their ideas and work together as a team.

With progressivism as stated by Dewey it is what the students want to learn and when they think best that it will be done. Strong emphasis is placed on problem solving and critical thinking Understanding and action as the goals of learning as opposed to rote knowledge Integrated curriculum focused on thematic units

Critics have said that with this development of curriculum there would be little if any routine and so a specific routine would not be followed which may result in confusion. In contrast, the problem that critics have with this approach to education is that catering to student whims and fancies may ultimately damage the overall curriculum. There maybe educational lags when there is not a specific sequence to be followed since the curriculum would be based on the students feelings and not a planned approach which would be that of content knowledge.

Progressivism believes that there is no particular order in which the curriculum must be taught, that means the sequence of learning is decided on by the learner. Continuity in the curriculum is of no importance. Progressivists believe that only what is important to the learner should be taught and not necessarily what others think that is important. They do not believe a learner should be forced to learn what they have no interest in. They believe that since there is so much knowledge there is bound to be something that the learner has interest in.

Progressives place a heavy emphasis on students working together in the context of a group. This is logical, because several students might be interested in inquiring into the same “problem.” Progressives tend to favour group work as an educational end in itself, because it enables students to be socialized to one another. This experience should serve one well as an adult when we must frequently work with others on the job, at church, on community boards, and committees, etc.

Teach students how to think instead of what to think, In other words, students would acquire a process of thinking and learning which will enable them to inquire into any problem or body of knowledge, both now and in the future. The 'progressive' or 'child centred' ideology emphasises the individual learner and is 'a conception of children's unfolding nature, their interests and their developmental needs' (Skilbeck, 1982,).

Thus the curriculum is seen 'in terms of activity and experience, rather than knowledge to be acquired and facts to be stored'. This view also assumes that discovering and following the developmental needs of children is more important than the cultural transmission of knowledge. Wheatley, 1991 relates this view of learning to science education and shows that: Rather than identifying the set of skills to be gotten in children's heads, attention shifts to establishing learning environments conductive to children constructing their science in social settings.

Progressive education as described by Dewey should include socially engaging learning experiences that are developmentally appropriate for young children (Dewey, 1938).

Learner-centered educators believe that Dewey’s work is supportive of many of their beliefs about how students learn. In learner-centered classrooms, one can see much of John Dewey’s social learning theory and educational beliefs in action. He viewed the classroom as a social entity for children to learn and problem-solve together as a community. Children will be seen learning-by doing in these classrooms and they will be solving problems through hands-on approaches.

As Slaughter (2009) points out “our world today has become the electronic world”. With technology driving the social lives of students, its use is an effective way to promote student engagement, resulting in a passion for lifelong learning.

Through the use of tools such as cell phones, texting, instant messaging, chat rooms, and wikis, teachers can instruct students using the tools that they are already comfortable with, to most effectively disperse information and academic content (Slaughter, 2009).

Conclusion

His philosophy that children, not content, should be the focus of the educational process, has left a lasting impression on educators who share in his beliefs and philosophies about education and how children learn most effectively.

It is fair to say that progressivism now more than ever is needed in our schools. With the many uses of technology and the global connections that are readily available student –centered learning is what is expected to continue. Even within the Jamaican landscape and the change in curriculum we now see the drive for critical thinking, project based activities to be done by the students. Give them the basic thought and they will come up with the ideas. Most time working in groups and carrying through. These bring out their creativity and prepare them to compete well globally.

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Progressivism is alive and well and will carry on way through the 21st century. All principles though must be guided by the teacher who will facilitate the process.

References

  • Barnes, M. (2013).Five steps to create a progressive, student centered classroom: retrieved from http://inservice.ascd.org/five-steps-to-create-a-progressive-student-centered- classroom/
  • Board of Education (1931) Report of the Consultative Committee on the Primary School. (The Hadow Report). London: HMSO.
  • Carey, S. & Evans, R. (1989) 'An experiment is when you try it and see if it works': a study of grade 7 students' understanding of the construction of scientific knowledge, International Journal of Science Education, 11, pp. 514-529.
  • Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Macmillan
  • Essays, UK. (November 2018). Philosophy Of School Curriculum. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/education/philosophy-of-school-curriculum- education-essay.php
  • Internet Encyclopaedia of Psychology A Peer-Reviewed Academic Resource https://www.iep.utm.edu/dewey/retrieved February 23, 2019
  • Michael Littledyke (1996) Ideology, Epistemology, Pedagogy and the National Curriculum for Science: the influence on primary science, Curriculum Studies, 4:1, 119-139, DOI: 10.1080/0965975960040107
  • Schiro, M. S. (2012). Curriculum theory: Conflicting visions and enduring concerns. (2nd Ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications
  • Skilbeck, M. (1982) Three educational ideologies, in T. Horton & P. Raggatt (Eds) Challenge and Change in the Curriculum. Milton Keynes: Open University Pres
  • Slaughter, T. (2009). Creating a successful academic climate for urban students. Techniques, 16- 19.
  • Wheatley, G. H. (1991) Constructivist perspectives on science and mathematics learning, Science Education, 75, pp. 9-21
  • Williams, M.K. (2017). John Dewey in 21st Century: Journal of Inquiry & Action in Education: University of West Florida.

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