Growth of Cognitive Thinking During Adolescence

Growth of Cognitive Thinking During Adolescence Cassie Craft 1) When a child grows from early childhood to adolescence there are some cognitive changes in the brain. They grow faster at times and slows down when they get into adolescence. In the following I will be describing the process of growth from early childhood to adolescence. I personally have watched my daughter go through these changes. She currently is in the beginning stages of adolescence. Puberty has a big impact on brain development. Children have neurons that are more responsive to excitatory neurotransmitters. This makes them react without thinking. There are changes in the brain that affect sleep with children at puberty. This is because of increased neural sensitivity to light. At this time children can go to bed at a later hour than they did when they were younger and sleep good. They still require around 9 hours of sleep a night. When they do not sleep well at night adolescence are cognitively slower at tasks in the early morning. They may also suffer from mood swings and depression from lack of sleep. The brain mass peaks for girls at age 10  ½ and it peaks for boys at age 14  ½. This is due to the continuation of neural pruning. There is growth in â€Å"white matter† around the corpus callosum in the center of the brain. There is myelination of the brain axons connecting to the nerves brain peaks more for girls than boys at this time mainly because of puberty. Hormones effect brain development also, and girls go into puberty before boys. After puberty the brain mass peak begins to decline because pruning reduces unused neurons, and experienced shape synaptic connections. The pruning of neurons pick up in adolescence and level off around age 25. Growth in white matter start to increase and continue well into adulthood. The human brain grows in leaps and bounds with children. Most of the developmental milestones are achieved with the child attending school. Puberty affects each child boy or girl and impacts the whole body developmental wise. Both boys and girls have estrogen and testosterone. Even in adulthood they have these hormones. Without puberty who knows people might not be as smart as they were suppost to be. It is very necessary for growth of brain mass. 2) In the following I will give three characteristics of real world examples of formal operational thinkers. Around age 12 and higher adolescence start to learn to become more formal cognitive thinkers with school assignments. The Formal cognitive development is about scientific reasoning, being able to solve problems, reasoning on variables and outcomes. One example of real world formal cognitive development is giving an oral speech on a subject that moves the person. Recently I watched a video for this class and the girl gave a speech on being made to read a racist book about colored people. She herself is colored. Her speech was very moving and understandable even thought I am white. Another example, would be writing an essay for class about any subject. The person would write examples in the essay of the point they want to get across. The third example would be simple problem solving. Say a student in middle grade school forgets their homework. They remember their mother is home and off today. They then decide a solution to the problem is to call mom and have them bring in the homework. Once this is done problem is solved. Next the limitations with formal cognitive thinkers. Once limitation would be the person has not developed their formal cognitive thinking all the way. For example, a student can’t put together an oral report without help. They may be intimidated and think their answers are wrong. They can have short attention spans which affect their thinking on problem solving. They have grand ideas of how the world should be which are not realistic. Some children do not think rationally and are poor at decision making. Some children could have learning disabilities that affect their decision making process. For all children formal cognitive development is dependent on how well they are doing educational wise in school. It also depends on the child, and if they want to do critical decision making. My child for one is hard just to get her to sit down and study for a test. I always here from her I read the material in the text and I can’t remember all of it. She is not willing to put forth the effort to do better. Her formal cognitive thinking is good at the topics she is interested in, and not good at topics she finds boring. Cognitive formal thinking involves critical decision and reasoning skills on problem solving. This is very helpful to the child being prepared for the real world. Some children are not as good at their formal thinking as others are. Some children are hesitant to initiate input in problem solving because of low self-esteem or they think their answers are wrong. 3) In the theoretical model there are three sections that affect the human intelligence. These are biological, scio-cultural, and psychological, with bio-psychosocial system in the center. Out of all of these I will be explaining what I think is the most important in factor in human intelligence. I will also explain why it is better than the other two. The factor I think that is most important is the psychological section. This section involves relationships with family members, object relationships, personal identity, self-esteem, adaptability. To explain why this is most important I would say it would be most important need. Psychosocial is most important role because it focuses on a person’s basic needs. In order to do well in life a person needs a home, heat, food, family needs met. The psychosocial addresses some of these basic needs. They have relationships with family and friends. They can tell what an object is and why it is there. They develop a personal identity with a good self-esteem. They can adapt to change easily. Basically, I believe they need all three to have a healthy center. Out of all of them the most important is psychological section. The biological section affects the intelligence level to a point. A person can have perfect genetics buy have a bad home life, no relationships with family or friends, bad self-esteem. With having their basic needs met they will want to learn and improve their intelligence. Without, basic needs they don’t care about anything. With the socio culture section is important also for improved intelligence. But again I believe in order to have a good social relationships a person has to have the basic needs met. Without the psychological needs met the person can be not friendly or open to a social relationship. They will refuse to learn, not motivated or care. In conclusion, in order for a child to have good intelligence and care about learning they need the three factors of biological, socio culture, psychological. Out of all of these the most important is the baseline psychological. Without their basic needs met a person will not be motivated and even if they are a genus they will not care about education or problem solving. Having a good home life, personal identity and self-esteem all matter. If a person is not happy they will not have a solid center to stand on.

Violence Will Never Bring Victory Over Terrorism :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Violence Will Never Bring Victory Over Terrorism This has been a very angry year for many of us - the year since September 11, 2001. In a spirit of anger, hate spreads to become hostility. This hostility must be focused on something or someone. Howard Thurman in his book The Growing Edge, states, "If hostility cannot express itself toward anything else, then it is like a boomerang and turns upon its possessor." A key question that all Americans continue to face is how to respond to the death and destruction brought into our lives by the terrorist attacks. One might expect hate and hostility, but the prevailing response has been compassion and heroic efforts to support those who have suffered a loss. Immediately after the attacks of 9/11, President Bush identified the key issues, including the anger and grief of the American people. Bush said, "Grief has turned to anger and our anger to resolution." We are resolute in the goal of victory over terrorism and the defeat of those who harbor terrorist. What does that word "resolute" mean? Firmness, Determination, Pursuing a fixed purpose, unwavering. This fixed purpose continues to seek target s around the world. The glass in the side view mirror of my car cracked last week so I looked in the phone book to find a repair shop. I choose one on Lee Highway. On the right I saw an auto glass repair shop so I pulled in to the parking lot. I had the car with the broken mirror so I asked the lady behind the counter if they could replace the glass. She looked at the car and said they did not stock that piece and could not match the tinting. I pulled out the address and name of the original glass shop that was on down the road and asked her how far it was or if she could recommend any place that would be closer. She stated that Brainerd Glass was closer. I asked which shop she would recommend. She said," Brainerd Glass -- that other shop is run by a man from Saudi Arabia." I responded, "there are good and bad people in Saudi Arabia just as there are good and bad people in Chattanooga." I hope our targets are more directed than at those who are Arab, or practice Islam, or look like a terrorist and board a plane, or have ideas that seem strange.

Sociology of Sport

Many in the community are not aware that the class of Sociology of Sport is offered in the school. Many who do recognize that the class is being offered in the school may also question the value and academic merit of such a course. What people don’t see is that the world of sports is closely linked to the social world. Social attitudes are reflected in the world of sports. These attitudes can be seen in different ways such as the social atmosphere affecting sports, the ways in which we define sports, exempting the world of sports from the world of citizenship and deviance in sports.Through these ways we can see how such a class can enlighten a person on sports and the real world. In this course of the Sociology of Sport, we intend to identify and understand the place of sports. We also underline the world of sports and see how the social atmosphere affects sports and vice versa. With New York City being a predominantly urban area, people who grow up in New York City are almost automatically more into the sport of basketball. The social atmosphere affects the interests of the social world largely. Being that it is an urban area, there is limited space within the city.The space that is available is usually converted into basketball courts due to the limited space and concrete floors. There is not enough space for a large field with grass in New York City. But if you were to go out more east towards Long Island and the Suffolk counties, you will see that the social atmosphere begins to change due to society. Out in Long Island, grass and trees are seen more often than in New York City due to more open spaces for people and their homes. Larger fields and different kinds of fields are seen more often. Due to more open space, a greater interest in lacrosse, soccer, and football is very apparent.Sports such as lacrosse is played in Long Island and never seen within the city. Long Island high school mostly have a lacrosse team while the only city high school to have a lacrosse team is Benjamin Cardozo which happens to be located in Bayside, Queens, the border between Queens and the Long Island counties. Sports participation affects family dynamics as well. The biggest dynamic that the participation of sports affects is time. Through my own experience I was able to see how much the dynamic of time was affected within our family.During high school, I used to have soccer practice every day except for Fridays. I remember getting out of school and running to the train to be able to make soccer practice at 4PM out in Long Island. I would get home, change and wait in the car for my mother to get home from work. My mother didn’t even have the chance to eat anything as my younger brother had to be drooped off at his practice first which was in Bayside then head off to my practice in Long Island at Hofstra University. Practice would be three hours and then it would be another hour of driving to pick up my younger brother and get home.We would arrive home around 9PM and I would have to manage to get my school work done and eat dinner with the family around 10PM. I always thought a sport was a team competition in which both teams compete to meet a goal and therefore a winner is determined. But I learned throughout the course that there are many different kinds of sports such as the ones we saw in the past winter Olympics with sports such as curling, or figure skating that are not always within a group or falls under the team category. Sport is whatever we or society, define it to be. Any organized sport requires money, equipment and time.The rules in each sport differ. The rules change to meet the cultural needs of a society. Rules are arbitrary. For example, when playing a game of tennis there has to be an agreement between the two players or teams that hitting the ball over the net and maintaining the ball within the area of the tennis court is fair play. One player cannot smash the ball out of the court and into the pa rking lot and call it a win because he had the strongest hit, unless there was an agreement between the two. This is why there must be a set of rules agreed upon the two players because they can play the game of tennis differently.A more visible example of rules changing to meet the cultural needs of a society is one that we see in our everyday lives while watching professional baseball or MLB. The Major League Baseball is divided into two leagues which are the National league and the American League. The American League has a designated hitter while the National League does not allow designated hitters within their rules. Rules do not conflict when teams of their respected leagues play against each other but when a team from the National League has to play against a team from the American League, rules conflict. Teams must now play according to home field rules.That means if the American League team happens to be the home team, rules apply for the allowance of a designated hitter. Back in the schoolyard, basketball rules are arbitrary all the time. Rules are less strict in the schoolyard compared to rules in the NBA or in college basketball. Players also cut some slack on less talented players who may constantly commit â€Å"travels† or â€Å"double dribbles†. Sports don’t exist in a cultural vacuum but the world of sports is very much like the world of masculinity. During the course we watched a video of â€Å"Killing Us Softly†, which has to do with the study of gender representation in advertising.It reviews if and how the image of women in advertising has changed over the last 20 years. With over 160 ads and TV commercials, as a viewer we see how women are portrayed and how the idea of masculinity is a never ending philosophy over the years. The images portray violence of women in society, such as a woman and a shadowy figure behind her. There are also ads of woman used as footstools, woman being murdered, and men as perpetrato rs of violence in community. The image of masculinity is deeply linked to violence. This social attitude is reflected into the world of sports with big muscular men and skinny women.The men always want to be the bigger and stronger man on the court whether it is on a basketball court and a player preferring to slam dunk over their opponent rather than a simple lay-up or on the football field and the players creating the most violent tackle of bringing their opponent to the ground and then taunting them. Even women in the WNBA are commercialized with makeup and sexualized in a way. People even say such a great tennis player as Serena Williams looks like a man or women weight lifters being men like or called â€Å"lesbians† for their â€Å"manly† features of having big muscles.Such players as Anna Kournikova who may have not won an important competition within their careers still manage to increase and gain more endorsements than a Serena Williams for their image of bein g attractive and feminine which appeal more to men and the public. Despite the many similarities that reflect from the â€Å"real world† to the world of sports, many of the realities that people would have to deal with in the â€Å"real world† they don’t have to go through in the world of sports. This raises the question of â€Å"what makes the world of sports exempt from the world of citizenship†?An example of this situation is of violence and deviance in sports. Recently during a women’s basketball game, one of the players turned and punched one of her opponents during game play. For this act of violence the player was suspended for two games and had to give an apology to the victim. If this same situation occurred in the â€Å"real world† in the street, that would be considered an assault crime and the aggressor would have gotten sued by the victim for physically hurting someone. Players in professional sports are perceived to perform dev iance when they are discovered to be using steroids for performance enhancing.But what deviance is there in using steroids for performance enhancing if some runners sleep in oxygen tanks the night before a competition? That would also be performance enhancing by receiving large masses of oxygen before a long race. If normal people do what athletes do to their bodies that would be self destructing themselves. Athletes at times force themselves to play on bad conditions and not only that but as I explained before, many professional athletes choose, knowingly, to take and consume steroids.Despite the proven effects, professional players still â€Å"break the rules† of sport and take such a substance to enhance their performances. Many of the social attitudes and atmospheres have proven to provide a great effect on people and the world of sports and the citizenship world. Many deviances and acts of violence show how much a difference the situation is handled in their environments . The realities and consequences of situations are different in the world of sports than to the world of citizenship. With this course I was able to learn how to relate attitudes and situations and analyze how linked both worlds are. Sociology of Sport Many in the community are not aware that the class of Sociology of Sport is offered in the school. Many who do recognize that the class is being offered in the school may also question the value and academic merit of such a course. What people don’t see is that the world of sports is closely linked to the social world. Social attitudes are reflected in the world of sports. These attitudes can be seen in different ways such as the social atmosphere affecting sports, the ways in which we define sports, exempting the world of sports from the world of citizenship and deviance in sports.Through these ways we can see how such a class can enlighten a person on sports and the real world. In this course of the Sociology of Sport, we intend to identify and understand the place of sports. We also underline the world of sports and see how the social atmosphere affects sports and vice versa. With New York City being a predominantly urban area, people who grow up in New York City are almost automatically more into the sport of basketball. The social atmosphere affects the interests of the social world largely. Being that it is an urban area, there is limited space within the city.The space that is available is usually converted into basketball courts due to the limited space and concrete floors. There is not enough space for a large field with grass in New York City. But if you were to go out more east towards Long Island and the Suffolk counties, you will see that the social atmosphere begins to change due to society. Out in Long Island, grass and trees are seen more often than in New York City due to more open spaces for people and their homes. Larger fields and different kinds of fields are seen more often. Due to more open space, a greater interest in lacrosse, soccer, and football is very apparent.Sports such as lacrosse is played in Long Island and never seen within the city. Long Island high school mostly have a lacrosse team while the only city high school to have a lacrosse team is Benjamin Cardozo which happens to be located in Bayside, Queens, the border between Queens and the Long Island counties. Sports participation affects family dynamics as well. The biggest dynamic that the participation of sports affects is time. Through my own experience I was able to see how much the dynamic of time was affected within our family.During high school, I used to have soccer practice every day except for Fridays. I remember getting out of school and running to the train to be able to make soccer practice at 4PM out in Long Island. I would get home, change and wait in the car for my mother to get home from work. My mother didn’t even have the chance to eat anything as my younger brother had to be drooped off at his practice first which was in Bayside then head off to my practice in Long Island at Hofstra University. Practice would be three hours and then it would be another hour of driving to pick up my younger brother and get home.We would arrive home around 9PM and I would have to manage to get my school work done and eat dinner with the family around 10PM. I always thought a sport was a team competition in which both teams compete to meet a goal and therefore a winner is determined. But I learned throughout the course that there are many different kinds of sports such as the ones we saw in the past winter Olympics with sports such as curling, or figure skating that are not always within a group or falls under the team category. Sport is whatever we or society, define it to be. Any organized sport requires money, equipment and time.The rules in each sport differ. The rules change to meet the cultural needs of a society. Rules are arbitrary. For example, when playing a game of tennis there has to be an agreement between the two players or teams that hitting the ball over the net and maintaining the ball within the area of the tennis court is fair play. One player cannot smash the ball out of the court and into the pa rking lot and call it a win because he had the strongest hit, unless there was an agreement between the two. This is why there must be a set of rules agreed upon the two players because they can play the game of tennis differently.A more visible example of rules changing to meet the cultural needs of a society is one that we see in our everyday lives while watching professional baseball or MLB. The Major League Baseball is divided into two leagues which are the National league and the American League. The American League has a designated hitter while the National League does not allow designated hitters within their rules. Rules do not conflict when teams of their respected leagues play against each other but when a team from the National League has to play against a team from the American League, rules conflict. Teams must now play according to home field rules.That means if the American League team happens to be the home team, rules apply for the allowance of a designated hitter. Back in the schoolyard, basketball rules are arbitrary all the time. Rules are less strict in the schoolyard compared to rules in the NBA or in college basketball. Players also cut some slack on less talented players who may constantly commit â€Å"travels† or â€Å"double dribbles†. Sports don’t exist in a cultural vacuum but the world of sports is very much like the world of masculinity. During the course we watched a video of â€Å"Killing Us Softly†, which has to do with the study of gender representation in advertising.It reviews if and how the image of women in advertising has changed over the last 20 years. With over 160 ads and TV commercials, as a viewer we see how women are portrayed and how the idea of masculinity is a never ending philosophy over the years. The images portray violence of women in society, such as a woman and a shadowy figure behind her. There are also ads of woman used as footstools, woman being murdered, and men as perpetrato rs of violence in community. The image of masculinity is deeply linked to violence. This social attitude is reflected into the world of sports with big muscular men and skinny women.The men always want to be the bigger and stronger man on the court whether it is on a basketball court and a player preferring to slam dunk over their opponent rather than a simple lay-up or on the football field and the players creating the most violent tackle of bringing their opponent to the ground and then taunting them. Even women in the WNBA are commercialized with makeup and sexualized in a way. People even say such a great tennis player as Serena Williams looks like a man or women weight lifters being men like or called â€Å"lesbians† for their â€Å"manly† features of having big muscles.Such players as Anna Kournikova who may have not won an important competition within their careers still manage to increase and gain more endorsements than a Serena Williams for their image of bein g attractive and feminine which appeal more to men and the public. Despite the many similarities that reflect from the â€Å"real world† to the world of sports, many of the realities that people would have to deal with in the â€Å"real world† they don’t have to go through in the world of sports. This raises the question of â€Å"what makes the world of sports exempt from the world of citizenship†?An example of this situation is of violence and deviance in sports. Recently during a women’s basketball game, one of the players turned and punched one of her opponents during game play. For this act of violence the player was suspended for two games and had to give an apology to the victim. If this same situation occurred in the â€Å"real world† in the street, that would be considered an assault crime and the aggressor would have gotten sued by the victim for physically hurting someone. Players in professional sports are perceived to perform dev iance when they are discovered to be using steroids for performance enhancing.But what deviance is there in using steroids for performance enhancing if some runners sleep in oxygen tanks the night before a competition? That would also be performance enhancing by receiving large masses of oxygen before a long race. If normal people do what athletes do to their bodies that would be self destructing themselves. Athletes at times force themselves to play on bad conditions and not only that but as I explained before, many professional athletes choose, knowingly, to take and consume steroids.Despite the proven effects, professional players still â€Å"break the rules† of sport and take such a substance to enhance their performances. Many of the social attitudes and atmospheres have proven to provide a great effect on people and the world of sports and the citizenship world. Many deviances and acts of violence show how much a difference the situation is handled in their environments . The realities and consequences of situations are different in the world of sports than to the world of citizenship. With this course I was able to learn how to relate attitudes and situations and analyze how linked both worlds are.

Consumerism Essays - Consumerism, Sociology, Consumer Behaviour

Consumerism Essays - Consumerism, Sociology, Consumer Behaviour Consumerism Consumerism is known for the use of purchasing of goods and services worldwide. Everyone is considered a consumer. People buy products and services on a daily basis especially when it comes to technology or something new to the market. The introduction of the internet has revolutionized the way business is performed and how consumers buy and sell products. Most people that lives in the urban areas tend to buy more products and services therefore production increases. Since the 1980?s our consumption has increased with the introduction of personal computers and credit cards along with a large amount of other products like the flat screen television with bluray or 3d. Many people have become dependent on products like the computer and services such as cable television and cell phone usage. Most of them cannot survive without these material things especially buying clothes. There also has been an increase in building factories and that can pollute the environment including people as well. Other countries such as the united states construct factories so that their country won?t be polluted but studies show that pollution comes right back in the united states. The smoke that comes from the factory goes in the air and causes air pollution also the smoke goes in one direction and travel to other countries causing smog and releases toxic chemicals like carbon dioxide. Take the iphone for example; it was introduced in June 2007 and version 4 was just released in 2010. It is known to have technical issue with the antenna but that didn?t stop consumers from lining up overnight to buy this item. There are many other products that are similar. People buy this item because of how popular it is or someone or a friend told them about it and how cool it is. It is known to be the most updated and hottest thing on the market so consumers didn?t stop to think about the problem they may experience. Consumers want to have the latest product that is in style. They feel that keeping up with society is crucial so they won?t become outdated or teased. Consumerism is ever expanding in developed nations and is even increasing in some emerging countries whose economies are expanding as well. Do we really need everything we buy? Maybe we should look at the good old days of the 50?s and slow down a little. Not only will it help our finances but it will also help the environment. We can help by recycling, stop the cutting down of trees and disposing of garbage more properly by building compost heap and less burning of garbage. Consumerism is a necessity if we want economies to keep going but how much is too much? If consumers keep spending at such a fast pace is anyone really going to benefit from an expanding economy if it is not sustainable? We need to stop being defined by what we have and start being seen for who we are and what we do.

Reforms Of Solon essays

Reforms Of Solon essays The world's first extended experiment in democracy took place in the ancient Greek polis (city-state) of Athens. In 594 B.C.E., Solon, a great statesman and lawgiver, was entrusted with special powers to revise the political, social, and economic structure of Athens. His work began the evolution from rule by an elite aristocratic clique toward a more egalitarian constitution; in short, Solon set Athens firmly on a course toward democracy. He successfully arbitrated a settlement between Athenian aristocrats and commoners and allowed for participation of many more citizens in the political process. In the first of the passages that follow, Plutarch outlines the reforms that Solon undertook and the kinds of opposition that confronted him/ Athens was in danger of violent revolution and tyranny appeared the only course by which to end civil dissension and stabilize the government. Solon first became prominent around 600 BC, when the Athenians were discouraged by ill success in war with their neighbour Megara for possession of the island of Salamis. Athens was in crisis by the sixth century. The peasants were easily driven into debt by bad harvests, resulting to seek loans from the aristocrats. There being no laws to prevent it, many sold their own children or were forced into exile by their creditors. The eupatridae, who owned the best land, turned to produce olive oil and wine for export. The military leadership was unsuccessful causing detrimental raids by Megara. The Eupatridae and the people of Athens recognised and agreed the need for reform, They handed all political power to an aristocrat, Solon. Solon had a reputation for integrity, wisdom and fair treatment of peasants. Solons mission was to reform the government to stem the tide of privation and exploitation and set up a system to assure that Athens did not get in such a bad state again. Solon immediately released all outstanding debts, and freed as many Athenians a ...

How English Became English

How English Became English How English Became English How English Became English By Maeve Maddox Here is a book certain to delight, enlighten, or annoy readers of language blogs like this one: How English Became English, Simon Horobin, OUP, 2016. Horobin, professor of English language and literature at the University of Oxford, has packed a huge amount of information into a 57 format of 175 pages, including bibliography and index. The book contains only seven chapters: 1. What is English? 2. Origins 3. Authorities 4. Standards 5. Varieties 6. Global Englishes 7. Why Do We Care? The first two chapters fulfill the promise of the title, placing English in the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family tree and detailing how it lost its inflexions and acquired a Latinate vocabulary. The chapter Authorities traces the early efforts of a patriarchal elite to fix living English into a straitjacket of long-dead Latin and explores the continuing desire by English speakers to be given unequivocal rulings as to what is correct and what is not. As an example of a rule originating in a period of male dominance that viewed the treatment of masculine gender as a default position as unexceptional, Horobin mentions the objection to using the plural pronoun they with a singular antecedent of uncertain gender. Certainly the male grammarians latched onto the rule and repeated it in their own style guides, but the first grammarian to suggest that he may be understood to include women was a woman: Ann Fisher (1719-1778), author of A New Grammar with Exercises of Bad English (1745). Note: From the time of Chaucer until the present, the use of plural they with a singular antecedent has been and remains common in the written work of respected authors. As an even more extreme example of sexist linguistic prescription, Horobin includes the rule of male precedence based on natural order put forward by one Thomas Wilson in 1553. Heres Wilsons comment on the preposterousness of mentioning a female subject before a male one (spelling modernized): Some will set the cart before the horse, as thus, My mother and my father are both at home, even as though the good man of the house wore no breecheslet us keep a natural order, and set the man before the woman for manners sake. Apart from putting women and the hoi polloi in their place, language critics of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries focused on purifying English and securing it from on-going change. Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift admired the French Academy and wanted something similar to govern the use of English. In Swifts view, It is better a Language should not be wholly perfect, than that it should be perpetually changing. Another eighteenth-century pundit, however- lexicographer Samuel Johnson- was forced to admit the impossibility of trying to embalm language. He may have begun his project thinking, as many speakers still do, that a comprehensive dictionary of English would fix the language and put a stop to those alterations which time and change have hitherto been suffered to make in it without opposition. He discovered that such expectations were as unrealistic as any others that aim to rid human society of its many imperfections. Nevertheless, from the efforts to stop the language from changing emerged the concept of Standard English. In Chapter Four, Horobin explains what a standard dialect is and- more importantly- what it is not. 1. Standard English is NOT inherently superior to all other forms of English. [Standard English] is an agreed norm that is selected in order to facilitate communication. 2. Standard English does NOT exclude colloquial speech or regional accents. Horobin points out that its possible to speak casually, bad words and all, without flouting the grammatical principles of Standard English. As for regional accents, its possible to speak Standard English in any accent, since accent refers only to features of pronunciation. 3. Standard English does NOT exist to serve as a social marker to distinguish snobs from regular people. Standard English is the dialect of government, commerce, and education. Success in the education system and access to the prestigious professions require a competence in the handling of Standard English. Standard English is class-neutral. 4. The teaching of Standard English in the schools is NOT optional. Although Standard English is not inherently superior to other dialects that children grow up speaking at home, schools have a duty to teach Standard English to children, irrespective of their background and linguistic heritage. Home dialects can be acknowledged and respected in the classroom, but, in Horobins words, not to teach it would be a dereliction of duty, since Standard English is an essential tool for enabling children to pass exams, and equipping them for the world of work. In Chapters Five and Six, Horobin discusses the astounding globalization of the language that began as a collection of Germanic dialects spoken by a few thousand people in a confined area 1,500 years ago. English is to the modern world what Latin was to the ancient world at the height of the Roman Empire. In the twenty-first century, an estimated 450 million people speak English as a first language, and 1 to 1.5 billion speak it as a second language in places all over the globe. A language spoken by so many in so many regions will inevitably morph into different dialects. And- like Latin- English may spawn a family of new languages that will be as distinct from their parent as Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, and Catalan are from their ancestral Latin. One of several mixed varieties of English Horobin cites is Spanglish, also called Chicano English, a mix of English and Spanish that is a well-established dialect widely used among the more than 44 million members of Americas Hispanic population. Another is Singlish, a creole that combines English with Malay and is spoken in Singapore. The final chapter, Why Do We Care, explores the reasons speakers feel so strongly about language choices for themselves and others. Modern speakers realize that English has undergone significant change from generation to generation, but that doesnt prevent them from resisting change in their own generation. Its a kind of not in my backyard syndrome. Horobin explains this unwillingness to accept changes taking place in the English of today by the fact that it is impossible for us to take an external stance from which to observe current usage. We all know whats right, either because we remember what our teachers told us when we were children, or because we have a preferred style guide that keeps us on the straight and narrow now that we are adults. How English Became English is a wonderful little book, an information-packed resource that will surely do what Horobin hopes: stimulate and inform the never-ending dialogue between prescriptivists and descriptivists. Related posts: What To Do About Non-Standard English Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Book Reviews category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Religious Terms You Should KnowUse a Dash for Number Ranges30 Words for Small Amounts

Influence Of Slope Aspects On Woodland Ecosystem Of Duhok Dissertation

Influence Of Slope Aspects On Woodland Ecosystem Of Duhok - Dissertation Example Studies have shown that position of a slope in an ecosystem affect the quality of organic material, soil chemistry, and nutrient cycling, largely; it affects the soil quality than even the type of bedrock beneath the soil (Yimer, Sting and Adelkadir 2006, p.95). Research that has been conducted on influence of topographical features on soils in southern Italy clearly demonstrate that soils originating from the same parent material, with the same vegetative covering and climate, with the only difference being the position of the landscape produced different and varied microclimatic conditions (Chen, Hsieh, Jiang, Hsieh and Sun 1997, p.230). In the northern temperate climatic zone, the aspect of a slope was found to be a huge influence of the microclimatic conditions of the area mainly influenced by the temperature levels (Coleman, Crossley and Hendrix 2004, p.312). This is because the amount of solar that area experiences will determine the levels of temperature and water in the soil, the inherent characteristics of the soil will be affected (Fu, Liu, Ma and Zhu 2004, p.48). In the Pinus laricio forests of southern Italy, the north-facing slope receives higher insolation and as a result, there is low moisture content that is also connected to the scanty vegetative cover and insolating effects of small vegetation (Gong, Chen, Fu and Wei 2007, p.1). Differences in the soil microbial activities offer the different type of plant species. These plant species depend on the soil moisture, root activities, temperature and organic matter that return to the soil through the litter that falls from the plants (Gong, Brueck, Giese, Zhang, Sattelmacher and Lin 2008, p.484). Studies have been carried out to determine the effects of climatic conditions on the soil and vegetation properties, however no studies have been carried to determine the influence of aspect in the soil and vegetation properties(Tewksbury and Lloyd 2001, p.426).