The Confucian virtue of Chun Tzu Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

The Confucian virtue of Chun Tzu - Essay Example One aspect in American society that I feel Chun tzu would work especially well is in our current politics. One might assume that Te, or power, would be most closely associated with politics and politicians, but I do not think this is the case in America. We seem to be in a state of perpetual bickering and insults between individual politicians and political parties. I cannot help but notice that all of these individuals seem to be extremely insecure, regardless of how they present themselves to the media and the American people. Chun tzu practiced by the politicians of the United States would change the whole nature of political discourse. Discussion would be elevated above the sniping remarks and one-line zingers that seem to dominate the day. Instead, discourse would focus on ideas, not put-downs. Chun tzu would encourage the mature tolerance of opposing ideas while at the same time inspiring one to present an opposing view in a way that is influential but not confrontation or demeaning. Like the consummate host or hostess, politicians would find plenty to perhaps disagree with, but would refrain from being disagreeable. Another aspect of American culture that would greatly benefit from the virtue of Chun tzu is the writing that drives the interactions between people in our movies and our television shows. So much of what is available seems to focus on making other people uncomfortable as a means of getting a laugh or building drama. After watching shows that are written this way, Americans are a little less sensitive to one another. Coarse language is easier to use and the feelings of others are less important, especially if it makes someone laugh. Chun tzu allows plenty of room for the writing of great dramas and comedies. It does not indicate that there is never conflict between individuals and institutions. It does imply that if there is conflict, however, resolving the conflict is best so relations can be mended. Much of the entertainment in America seems determined to create strife and division between individuals. Especially troubling for Americans at this time is the fact that immature comme nts are not confined to entertainment through the media. Knowing how to behave as a fan at a baseball game or how to enjoy a play without annoying those around you seems to be an art that is being lost. In politics, entertainment and society, a large dose of Chun tzu is necessary so that mature individuals and actions are not looked upon as outside the norm, but are actually the norm for us all. Journal #10 The Taoist term wu wei or water is one that I think could be easily misunderstood in the West. The idea of water does not exactly lend itself to thinking about something powerful in to people in the West. We are full of ideas about water as a natural resource, as a means of transportation. In some ways, Westerners may view water in slightly pejorative terms. Water follows the path of least resistance. Not exactly a show of strength or vigor. Wu wei is a show of force for the Taoist. Not this â€Å"Hey everybody, look at me!† type of force. It is more like a silent, flowing river. There are no rapids to suggest the immense power of erosion the river is exerting on the surface of the Earth. There is no indication of sediment load or chemical interaction with the surrounding bedrock. Yet all of this is happening right before our eyes in a seemingly effortless display of force. Key to this idea of wu wei is the fact that each river finds its own course. It is true that rivers do follow the path of least resistance. Far from making them lazy, this path which the lay of the land and the power of

Private and Public Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Private and Public Education - Essay Example The US public school industry is the one which functions in very much the same way as any other regulated industry. Its weaknesses are also mentioned in the same manner by educational scholars and thinkers. The present state of public education in the United States of America takes high-class criticism in a number of departments. For example, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation is criticized with high volume which gives lowest possible economical support for practical procedures yet asks for complete control on educational budgets of the nation. (Arriaza, et. al, p. 1, 2005). Additionally, according to the author, for the fiscal year of 2005, the country's schools 9.8 billion dollars less than they were promised by the legislation. In this way, the author regards the NCLB legislation as a very sophisticated legislation which with tumultuous policy-making goes well beyond the plans to bring in money for other educational systems such as home schooling, charter schools, or any othe r program that can lead to the privatization of public education system (Arriaza, et. al, p. 1, 2005). ... Today success in gauged not by reduced costs by increased amount of spending. The author also notes that in public education the notion of productivity is now going down. For decades, quality has been flat in spite of enormous spending in this regard: "Labor-intensive production methods are frozen in place by outmoded funding formulas" (p. 217). Monopoly rents is something which is fought by establishment; more importantly, the author claims that in public education, "Investment and effort are directed primarily toward manipulating the political/regulatory mechanism to augment and keep revenues flowing" (Wenders, p, 217, 2005). Now looking at the scenario of the public education, the present writer reaches an opinion that the entire public education of the US must be reevaluated for the loopholes like wastage, sluggish implementation of procedures, and practicality. It is due to the fact that people have concerns about the quality assurance of each policy pushed toward the public education. One such is the NCLB legislature. It has received severe criticism because of fallacies found in the entire process. The most criticized portion of public education (which alerts the present writer) is the involvement of private venture to an extent as to demean the entire public education. US Private Education According to Wenders, (p. 217, 2005), the private education system in the US is a strange one presenting a "schizophrenic market". They private education sector is faced with a competitor which is both supported by tax and is a monopolist practicing all this in predatory pricing fashion (p. 217). The result of this abnormal competition is that private schools have been forced into a kind

Reflection on team working experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflection on team working experience - Essay Example Reflection on Team Working Experience The Belbin theory on self-perception was created to assess how an individual behaves when working in a group setting. Meredith Belbin formulated this theory after studying several teams in session. This theory proved useful in my appraisal of the performance of different team members in this assignment. The following fields were evaluated for every member (Belbin, 1981, p 13). It is crucial for group members not to be passive and wait for the other members to do his or her part. Each group member is expected to contribute to the overall input of the group. (Luthans, 1995, p27). Efficiency is crucial in all tasks. It becomes especially crucial when people are working as a group. When there is a lack of organization, and time management, some members of the group may be overworked, or the work will not be done at all or completed in the expected duration (Katzenbach and Smith, 1999, p7). Individuals should be team players in order to adapt well into a team. For a group to be fruitful, it is crucial for its individuals to have the right attitudes toward teamwork (McCann and Margerison, 1989, p52). Working in a team setting was an interesting experience for me. During this exercise, I interacted with people with different personalities. This made me learn how to be cope with the challenges of working in a team. I believe this was vital in preparing me for my career in midwifery.

Private and Public Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Private and Public Education - Essay Example The US public school industry is the one which functions in very much the same way as any other regulated industry. Its weaknesses are also mentioned in the same manner by educational scholars and thinkers. The present state of public education in the United States of America takes high-class criticism in a number of departments. For example, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation is criticized with high volume which gives lowest possible economical support for practical procedures yet asks for complete control on educational budgets of the nation. (Arriaza, et. al, p. 1, 2005). Additionally, according to the author, for the fiscal year of 2005, the country's schools 9.8 billion dollars less than they were promised by the legislation. In this way, the author regards the NCLB legislation as a very sophisticated legislation which with tumultuous policy-making goes well beyond the plans to bring in money for other educational systems such as home schooling, charter schools, or any othe r program that can lead to the privatization of public education system (Arriaza, et. al, p. 1, 2005). ... Today success in gauged not by reduced costs by increased amount of spending. The author also notes that in public education the notion of productivity is now going down. For decades, quality has been flat in spite of enormous spending in this regard: "Labor-intensive production methods are frozen in place by outmoded funding formulas" (p. 217). Monopoly rents is something which is fought by establishment; more importantly, the author claims that in public education, "Investment and effort are directed primarily toward manipulating the political/regulatory mechanism to augment and keep revenues flowing" (Wenders, p, 217, 2005). Now looking at the scenario of the public education, the present writer reaches an opinion that the entire public education of the US must be reevaluated for the loopholes like wastage, sluggish implementation of procedures, and practicality. It is due to the fact that people have concerns about the quality assurance of each policy pushed toward the public education. One such is the NCLB legislature. It has received severe criticism because of fallacies found in the entire process. The most criticized portion of public education (which alerts the present writer) is the involvement of private venture to an extent as to demean the entire public education. US Private Education According to Wenders, (p. 217, 2005), the private education system in the US is a strange one presenting a "schizophrenic market". They private education sector is faced with a competitor which is both supported by tax and is a monopolist practicing all this in predatory pricing fashion (p. 217). The result of this abnormal competition is that private schools have been forced into a kind

Hinduism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hinduism - Essay Example However, this is depended on the moral quality of the actions in the previous life. According to the reincarnation beliefs, people take one form of life before taking a different form in another life (Somer and CarmitOr-Chen 460). As such, life does not stop at any particular time; rather, life is a process that keeps on evolving continuously. According to their beliefs, argues Burch (76), when one dies as a human being, he could take the form of an animal, which when dies may take the form of an insect. After the insect dies, it may assume the form of a carrot and later a human being again. There is thus no particular time when the life of one particular generation would ever end, concludes Davidson (123). Unlike other religions such as Islam and Christianity, which believe in the end of life after the death of a person, Hinduism holds different views. However, a person does not emerge in the next life as the previous life; he or she assumes this form as a spirit, and as such, point out Hui and Peter (453), people have hope that they will not entirely vanish from the world. Thus, a man who dies before the birth of his daughter could re-emerge in the daughter buy his spirit entering in the daughter. The belief tries to explain the similarities in people’s characteristics, behaviorisms, and mannerisms. Living people could possess characteristics of a long dead person, and thus, Hindus belief that the spirit of the long dead person reincarnated in the new person. Some Hindu cultures, due to the reincarnation belief, do not eat particular kinds of animals or plant’s (Waterhouse 97). To them, these are spiritual, and are the very kinds that people assume through their reincarnation process. Thus, eating such plants and animals would be killing a person. However, even if I were to believe in re incarnation, I would not agree with the argument that some of the animals having a higher likelihood of people reincarnating through them than others. I would a rgue that all animals and plants, just as if they have equal opportunities of life, have equal opportunities of taking part in the reincarnation process. After all, they all will die at some point, and are too have to reincarnate to one particular form. Although the belief has widely spread in other religions and cultural practices, initially, reincarnation was an eastern religions belief, especially within the Hinduism religion (McClelland 15). However, currently, philosophies such as dianetics and channeling appear to embrace the concepts of reincarnation. In the past, the eastern religions did not consider reincarnation as a good thing; instead, to them it was a bad thing. The ancient belief, assuming the state of nirvana in essence, to them was an escape from the wheel of rebirth. Further, the beliefs held that while reincarnating, when the metaphysical devotion of a soul enters the body of a person was an impure rite of passage. Although conceptually closely related to reincarn ation (Almeder 81), I think the new age religions belief in being born again is a mirror concept to reincarnation. To these religion though, being born again is a good thing rather than a bad thing. Being born again, having a perverse goal differentiates it from the original meaning of reincarnation. Being born again prepares a person to what exactly one

Theory Of Career Construction Psychology Essay

Theory Of Career Construction Psychology Essay The purpose of this case study is to apply Savickas Theory of Career Construction to a volunteer client Yelonda J. Complete a narrative interview using the structured interview questions in the Career Style Interview, and employing the six steps. Discuss interpretations, observations and obtain her feedback. The theoretical foundation of Career Construction theory (CCT) has its beginnings from Constructivism, and according to Sharf (2009) Constructivism is a psychological approach that has developed out of a postmodern philosophical position. It has been stated the Postmodernism period was a reaction to modernism, in that it highlighted differences in individual views rather than a one-sided, rational scientific view of modernism. (Sharf 2009) Constructivist saw individuals as creators of their own destiny, and constructivist counselors sought to help clients discover that meaning and resolve any discrepancy. (Sharf 2009) According to (Sharf 2009, p316) the constructivism approach was greatly affected by the changing of the work environments in the 1970s. Employees were no longer staying with one position for their whole work life, as companies were becoming less loyal to employees and watching out for own bottom-line by downsizing their workforce to part-time. Employees soon discovered they needed to take charge of their future and looked to career counselors for help. According to (Busacca, 2007) constructivist career counseling attempts to answer one question how can an individual negotiate a lifetime job changes and not lose a sense of self? Career construction theory (CCT) came about to help individuals develop meaning out of their career choices and actions. CCT address how an individuals career is made from its personal and social constructs. These constructs are not actual real reality, but an individuals representation of that reality. CCT defines career as an objective and subjective construct. Objectively speaking, career is a listing of positions from the past to present. Subjectively, career is the personal meaning or a pattern of experiences form past, present, future. (Savickas, 2005, p43) CCT is made of three distinct perspectives and each seeks to determine how the individual views their life and career working together. (Busacca, 2007) These perspectives also help career counselor see how each individual views, makes adjustments and creates from their life experiences. These perspectives are life theme, career adaptability, and vocational personality. The Purpose and the Suppositions The purpose of CCT is to help the individual discover the subjective meaning in their work. In helping the individual discover this type of meaning, Career construction approach (CCA) stress the importance of the relationship between the individual and the counselor. Life themes In the previous career development theory we covered, Hollands inventories were used to obtain critical information about the individual, and make predictions of a career path and likely hood of success. Career Construction theory takes advantage of individual narrated stories to discover meaning behind the content. (Busacca, 2007) It has been stated pattern is the primary unit of meaning. By consciously organizing and binding together these discrete experiences, a unifying life theme patterns (Savickas 2005, p 58) pattern becomes a fundamental and essential way of being because it provides a way for individuals to see themselves and what is important in the world. (Savickas, 2005 p58) During a session an individual is encouraged to tell of work positions, experiences and develop a story linking career related experiences from the past to the present. The individual becomes the focus of attention as they narrated the counselor through their work and life stories. The counselor plays a less active role and listens for patterns in the individuals stories and life theme should begin to surface. (Busacca, 2007) Career Adaptability Once an individual has discovered a life theme, how they go about coping with the process of connecting with social expectations and how they construct their careers is the next step. (Savickas, 2005) Career counselors begin to ask questions of the individual such as How did you decide on that career? This is an important question to ask, because it relates to how the individual is choosing to cope or react to their social expectations. (Savickas 2005) stated adaptation was the interaction of self and society and it is this interaction where an individual develops their attitudes, beliefs, problem-solving and coping mechanisms. He went on to discuss four stages of adaptation resources. These resources are concern, control, curiosity and confidence. (Savickas, 2005) During the career concern stage, a career counselor focuses on whether an individual was concern about their future. A statement commonly made by individuals in this stage would be Do I have future. A lack of career concern has a likelihood of becoming indifference which usually reflects a feeling of pessimism about the future. Career concern is important because I it helps the individual to relate their current activities to future endeavors. The goal of this stage is the building of continuity of past and future career activities. (Savickas, 2005) (Busacca, 2007) The career control stage, a career counselor focuses on whether the individual feels or believes they are responsible for their careers. A statement commonly made by individuals in this stage would be Who owns my future? The lack of career control has a likelihood of becoming career indecisiveness and can lead to attitudes of indecision. The goal of this stage is deciding by clarifying choices. (Savickas, 2005) (Busacca, 2007) The career curiosity stage, a career counselor focuses on whether the individual discovered fit between self and the world of work. A statement commonly made by individuals in this stage would be What do I want to do with my future? The lack of career curiosity has the likelihood of becoming naÃÆ'Â ¯ve about work options. The goal of this stage is exploration, learning about self and clarifying values. (Savickas, 2005) (Busacca, 2007) The career confidence stage, a career counselor would focuses on whether the individual displayed self esteem, self efficacy and encouragement. A statement commonly made by an individual in this stage would be Can I do it? A lack of career confidence has a likelihood of becoming unmotivated and unwilling to obtain goals. The goal of this stage is increase self acceptance, develop problem solving abilities and encourage the willingness to try even when things look dark. (Busacca, 2007) (Savickas, 2005) Vocational Personality According to (Savickas, 2005) an individuals personality begins in the family, neighborhoods, and school. As that individual grows up, their characteristics are displayed everyday while doing housework, completing hobbies and playing games. CCT views these characteristics possibilities or hypothesis to explore for the discovering meaning. Unlike Hollands RAISEC which use an objective person-environment fit, CCT uses a subjective approach in demonstrating to the individual how they are similar to others in a given field, and share common feelings and ideas about work related activities. Account of Session with Yelonda J. Observations of Yelonda J. Counseling Session with Yelonda J.

The British Writers Voice in Middletons The Lie of the Land :: Language Culture British Papers

The British Writer's Voice in Middleton's The Lie of the Land As I read Hayden Middleton's The Lie of the Land, I became increasingly aware that I was not only hearing the writer's voice coming through, but that it was a distinctly British writer's voice. There were words and phrases that marked the text as being decidedly not American. Yet, as I became accustomed to the writer's voice, I became less and less conscious of the dialect and simply involved with the story. In reading the story a second time, this time paying special attention to these variances, I was surprised at how many differences there actually were. What follows is a list of the words and phrases I found, on which page of The Lie of the Land I first found them (or, in some cases, where I finally decided that they were a result of a British writer's voice rather than just the writer's voice), and what I believed would be an acceptable "American" choice. Where indicated, these "American translations" were confirmed in the book Understanding British English: Bridging the Gap Bet ween the English Language and Its American Counterpart, by Margaret E. Moore (quoted definitions are as found in this resource). In cases where I wasn't sure of the meaning and no "translation" was provided in Moore's book, I consulted Webster's Dictionary. Sometimes I had to guess (these are marked with question marks on either side of the "translation"). A few times I couldn't even give a fair guess: these I left as question marks. At times I also found it difficult to determine whether the choices were due to the author being British, or whether they were simply choices that may have been made regardless of the author's nationality. At those times I was guided by instinct. PAGE British Word/Phrase American Word/Phrase Confirmed? 5 tap faucet yes