The Last Lecture: Dr Randy Pausch

The Last Lecture: Dr Randy Pausch Carnegie Mellon University asked a set of Professors to give a message of a lifetime as if it was their last lecture before their death. Ironically for Dr. Randy Pausch, it was his last lecture because he had learned that he is going to die soon due to Pancreatic Cancer that has spread to his liver. That is what it is we cannot change that, we just have to deal with it. Dr. Pauschs inspirational speech was not about death; it was about life and how to achieve your childhood dreams. His sense of humor and enthusiasm is what triggered the audience to become inspired with his life lessons. Randy Pausch started off his speech by introducing the elephant in the room which he told the audience that he has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and will die soon because of it. He chose to tell them about the cancer at the beginning because he believes that if there are issues distracting your audience, address them sooner rather than later. He says that we have to deal with what we are facing because it is not in our hands to change the future. Therefore, instead of feeling depressed, we should try to enjoy the time that we have left. If I do not seem depressed as I should be, sorry to disappoint you. He makes it clear that he is not in denial of whats going on, he is just dealing with the situation in a positive way. Randy knows that he has ten tumors in his stomach and that he only has six months to live; he chooses to spend them with his family rather than worrying about the future. Pausch uses a couple of techniques in his lecture to inspire the audience with his talk. He knows that the audience might get emotional when they learn that he is doing to die soon due to sickness so he creates a sense of humor throughout his lecture as much as possible. For example, he told the audience that even though he is dying soon, I am in much better shape than most of you, and he starts to make push ups to show that them that he is physically strong; the audience respond with laughter and applause. Pausch laughs, smiles and tells a lot of jokes throughout the lecture instead of feeling depressed and sad. Throughout his speech he gives away his stuffed animals, wears an Alice in Wonderland hat, and wears a football jacket because he believes that audience is more likely to have fun and cherish life if they see you doing so in your speeches. Moreover, he could have used a serious tone for this speech. He could have stressed every word as if it were a matter of life or death; however, that would have drawn more attention to his condition instead of his main messag e and the point of the talk was to learn something out of it instead of feeling sorry for him. Due to these reasons, Pausch told the audience at the beginning of the speech that he will not talk about the cancer, wife, or children because the audience is going to get emotional including himself as they are very sensitive topics to discuss. Randy Pausch introduces the main points of the lecture and what he will exactly talk about. Even though Pausch tries to give the impression that the speech is not personal, to some extent it is as the content of the speech are on the personal lessons Randy Pausch has learned through life, and he illuminates these through personal stories. The first topic he addressed is his own childhood dreams and shows the audience pictures of him as a child smiling and looking happy all the time to reveal that he had a great childhood. He also stated that one of the many great things that his parents allowed him to do is paint his own room as he had the chance to express his creativity. As a child he believed that if a man can land on the moon, anything is possible. As a child he always wanted to become an astronaut but he never did; however, NASA created a competition for college students to design a certain project and the winners would go up in to the air in Vomit Comet, (a plane used by astron auts to practice before traveling to the moon) and experience weightlessness as if they are on the moon. Pausch was so excited that his students won until he learns that faculty members are not allowed to join. He makes this point by explaining that this was like a brick wall in his life and Brick walls are there for a reason, they let us prove how badly we want things. Moreover, he didnt give up and he had to fake as a journalist as they were allowed on the plane. Another dream that Pausch shared is the dream of becoming a professional football player and play for the national team which he never did. I got more out of that dream that I didnt accomplish, more than any other dream that I did accomplish. Also, his coach in school would make him do extra push ups, laps, and practice so Randy thought he was making him practice extra just because he didnt think he was good enough until someone told him when you are screwing up and no one is bothering to tell you anything , thats when they give up on you. Moreover, the critiques in our lives are the ones who basically love you and care about you. Also, Randy tells the audience that even though he never got to play as a professional football player, football is still a part of him and while talking, he wears his football jacket and ball and starts playing with it. Another point that Pausch makes that I personally thought it was important is that almost every thing we learn, we learn indirectly. He e xplains that by saying that when we send our children to play football, we dont actually send them to play football but we actually send them to learn skills like teamwork and sportsmanship. Another dream that Pausch shared is the dream of sharing knowledge with other and he did when he was selected to write an article in Wikipedia. Pausch believes that one of the most significant things in life is to share knowledge and pass it on to others. He expresses his humor by saying that being selected to be an author of Wikipedia, now I know that it is a reliable source that you can use. The next dream he introduced is Being like/ meeting captain Kirk which he intended to write it that way to amuse the audience and make them laugh. It was his childhood dream to be like Captain Kirk because it was a show that taught leadership skills. Even though he wanted to be like Captain Kirk he got to meet the actor. Another dream that Randy talked about is being an imagineer at Disney Land. The first time he went to Disney Land as a kid, instead of saying I want to experience this he said, I want to make stuff like that. One thing Randy learned during his experience that I thought was important is When you are pissed off at somebody, you just have to give them time and they will impress you. I believe that he is right because there is no real reason to be upset at anyone as we are all human beings who make mistakes. Also, life is too short to be upset with loved ones and you never know when your life will end. Moreover, Pausch became one of the imagineers who designed the game of Aladdin and Alice in Wonderland. This experience forever changed him as he learned that artists and engineers can invent great things together. Another important thing that he learned which I also thought was important was that all good things come to an end and you should try to enjoy it as much as you can. Later on, Dr. Pausch taught a course at Carnie Mellon University for ten years about building virtual worlds. When Pausch stopped teaching the course he gave handed it someone better to run this course. When you have something so precious, you should hand it to someone better than you. There are many lessons with certain techniques that he used to persuade the audiences with, which were about life that I thought, are important to mention. Its important to have parents and mentors in your life. In this part of the speech, Pausch showed pictures of his parents on rollercoaster to once more create a sense of humor. Also, he said that it is very important to give up the time to help others as we are blessed to have what weve got and others need our help. Moreover, dont complain, just work harder. He gave an example of a baseball player Jackie Robinson who swore he would not complain if people spat on him. I think he gave this example to imply that people complain too much; he is dying and he chooses not to complain. Also, when he was in school and complaining to his mother, she said I know how you feel, remember when your father was your age he was fighting the Germans. Once again she uses this example to create a sense of positive energy in the atmosphere. Another imp ortant message is Have fun I am dying and I choose to have fun. He believes that he cannot tell other how to have fun; it is like telling a fish how to swim in the sea. Finally, apologize when you screw up. I am sorry, I am wrong, and what can I do to make things better. Pausch believes that many people apologize but they are too egocentric to ask What can I do to make things better? In my opinion one of the most memorable moments in the lecture is when Pausch said focus on others, not you and as an example, he got out a huge birthday cake as its his wifes birthday and the audience started to sing Happy Birthday to his wife. In this moment, Randy reveals his emotional side when he hugged his wife. It is very emotional because although throughout the talk he tried to be as enthusiastic and energetic as possible, when it came to his wife he couldnt resist but give a sad face. Also, showing emotions is one of the best ways for a speaker to connect with an audience. Moreover, throughout the lecture he reveals the dreams that he had as a child and how he fulfilled each dream; but in my opinion, I think he the most important dream of all that he wants to fulfill but cannot is the dream of: to live longer and see his children grow up; unfortunately, he cannot fulfill that dream. Dr. Randy Pausch concluded his lecture in a very strong way by summarizing his key points to get his audience to think about what he said. In addition, he reaches back to one of the concepts introduced earlier which was the head fake and reveals that his entire speech has been a pair of head fakes; which makes the audience rethink the whole speech in their heads. Finally, at the very end he reveals that the whole speech was not for the audience but for his wife and children. As a viewer, I realized that at the end of the lecture that Pausch was seizing every opportunity to make speeches and write a book for his children as they are too young to have memories of their father. Moreover, all the childhood dreams and life lessons he has taught throughout the lecture were talks that he wants his children to one day know about them and follow those life lessons he has talked about. In my opinion, even though Dr. Randy Pausch tried to hide his emotional side throughout the lecture, the lecture was to some extent touching to the audience. The fact that hes dying in a couple of months ,yet giving a lecture on how to achieve your dreams and live your life is somewhat emotional to the audience. In addition, his situation makes the audience feel sorry for him even though if its not his intention to this speech. I believe that the speech wouldnt have been that successful if another person who was not ill would have given the same speech. Besides the skillful techniques Pausch used, the audience wouldnt have been as persuaded as they were by a different person preaching the exact same words because they psychologically feel like the need to listen to him because he is dying and in a way they feel sorry for him. Moreover, I believe this reason is one of the several motives to why Dr. Randy Pausch was listed as one of the hundred most influential people in the world.

Psychology Reflective Essay

Psychology Reflective Essay The psychology is called the science of behavior which means the study of human nature and activities. It is significant as it is involved with the research of actions and psychological procedures and simultaneously, it is also used in many different places of individual lifestyle. The most common approaches in psychology are behavioral, psychoanalytic, cognitive, social/cultural, and physiological. Everything we do is very much related to psychology. It’s relevant in my life because it allows me to comprehend myself better. It also allows me to comprehend other individuals. If you comprehend mindset, you can modify your own actions and help other individuals to modify theirs. You can also estimate how other individuals are going to respond to factors. The people that study the behaviors are called psychologists. Psychologys four main goals are to describe what occurred, explain why it occurred, predict what event is likely to occur next, and to change to prevent unwanted outc omes. Psychologists study the process of thinking, learning, cognition, emotions, motivations, and personalities. According to the psychology knowledge that I’ve been acquiring during my psychology course I notified that as person psychology has helped me to prepare myself for any kind of situation in life: it can help you understand the different behaviors of people and the things around you, which is beneficial to you when you need to make a judgment or take a hard decision ; it can help in your development as a person with individual interaction in places such as school or job settings; It also can help to shape your personality and it can even enhance your individual life: if you know what can cause psychological or psychological problems then you know how to avoid it. In the first place, learning is a change in behavior or in potential behavior that occurs as a result of experience. There are three major types of learning respectively: the classical conditioning which is learning through association, the operant conditioning it’s learning through consequences and the observational learning which is learning through observation. First of all I got the classical conditioning explain by Pavlov’s and Watson’s experiments, from my personal opinion I must confess that I’ve been learned a lot about of associations with several situations that happened during my daily routine, for example I often have problems to control my desire to go to the bathroom when I listen the water noise next to me in any place because I think my brain usually make the association of water noise with the sensation of relief and my body’s automatic response is make a pee. Then I have the operant conditioning by B.F. Skinner says that the behavi or is result of consequences. It’s divided into two aspects namely the reinforcement that increases the likelihood of response being repeated. It can be positive when there’s a strengthening response because something is added and negative when there’s a strengthening response because something is moved/avoid. On the other hand we got punishment that decreases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated, also it can be positive when the behavior decreases by adding an aversive stimulus and negative when the behavior decreases by removing something desirable. On my childhood I remember that I used to be reinforced and punished in several different situations by my parents and sometimes by some teachers that I had. However, the most remarkable situations about reinforced and punishment were with my parents especially with my father because he is an extremely conservative person about the customs and behaviors, so we were almost every time in conflict with id eas, I used to be a person who didn’t like to listen their advices and I took my decisions by myself acting like irresponsible person in some cases. As a consequence of my personality I received more punishment than reinforcement but I believed that it helped me to understand better some situations in life and now I become more flexible and understandable person when I got to take any decision or even accept any life condition. The last one is the observational learning by Albert Bandura, it concerns to learning new behavior by watching others. About this type of learning I think it’s the most common in my life because I’ve learned a lot things in my life by watching the people around me such as using computer, riding on bicycle, and playing guitar. I used to like see my father playing guitar, so I decided to try learn how to play it by myself and It was a great idea because I just watched him and then I went to practice on my bedroom when I realized after one m onth I was playing it. Even though I went through these tree learning process I don’t have any doubt to say that the operant was the one that had more impact on me because of my mentality now. Second, the development describes the growth of humans throughout the lifespan, from conception to death. The scientific study of human development seeks to understand and explain how and why people change throughout life. This includes all aspects of human growth, including physical, emotional, intellectual, social, perceptual, and personality development. There’re four theories in development, the first theory is the theory of cognitive development by Piaget it talks about the nature and development of human intelligence. He divided this theory in four stages: the first stage is the sensorimotor during this stage, babies and youngsters acquire knowledge through neurological encounters and adjusting things. I don’t remember about nothing I did on this stage, my mother always tells me that I cried too much, though. The second stage is the preoperational stage at this stage, children understand through imagine play but still battle with reasoning and taking the perspecti ve of other people. On this stage I got some memories not very clear but one of them is pretty funny I remember that I was struggling with my parents because I didn’t want to share the toys with my brother even if I wasn’t playing with them. The third stage is the concrete operational stage children at this point of growth start to think more rationally, but their considering can also be very firm, they usually battle with subjective and theoretical ideas. This stage is very interesting because during it I started to be very curious about the things around me and I used to make a lot questions for my parents related to every single object or person that I saw in front of me. The last stage is the formal operational includes an increase in thinking, the ability to use deductive thinking, and a knowing of subjective concepts. It’s the easier one to remember because it happened recently, it was marked by my freedom of expression when I needed to take decisions and express my thoughts, and basically I’ve become more independent. The second theory is the Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development where he described the development of ego identity that occurs throughout the lifespan. For that he stated eight psychosocial stages marked by basic conflict between two or more elements. On Erikson’s stages I’m on stage 6 (Intimacy vs Isolation) this stage is all about relationships, so I personally liked this stage for this aspect and the other aspect is because it means that at least I’m already young adult. In fact, the relationship aspect on this stage is crucial for me because I consider myself as a shy person, since I moved to the U.S. this characteristic of my personality has become even more challenging for me because it’s a different culture and people, however I decided to work on it and so far I’ve enjoyed this challenger where I try to building new relationships with people from others cul ture. The third theory is the Ainsworth’s attachment theory it’s focused on the relationships and bonds between individuals, particularly long-term relationships such as those between a mother or father and kid and between loving associates. She identified three main attachment styles, secure, insecure avoidant and insecure ambivalent. Honestly, I’m not pretty sure about my attachment but I think that I’m the secure attachment because of my relationship with others people I usually liked to have a physical contact with the people who are close to me especially now that I’m far from family. This theory also talk about of the three parenting main styles, authoritarian parenting style, authoritative parenting style, and permissive parenting style. My parents fit better with authoritative parenting style even not totally but at least 90 % because they established rules and guidelines for me that were expected to follow. However, they used to be very de mocratic with especially my father we had a lot of conversations to avoid unnecessary situations before they happen. These conversations had a huge impact for me to be who I am today because I can feel that I more happy, capable and mature person. Finally, we got Kohlbergs theory of moral development which is based upon research and interviews with groups of young children. My moral development was shaped in accordance with my parent’s education, it allowed me to create a common sense inside of me that has been advantageous on my relationships now as a young adult. I can say that inside the moral development area I see myself on Level 3 post conventional morality on stage 6 because now I realized that morality is based on principles that transcend mutual benefit and I follow these internalized principles of justice that I believe even if they conflict with law and rules. Afterwards is the personality refers to our enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, which characterize how we adapt to our world. There’re four major psychology theories; the behavioral and social theories suggest that personality is a consequence of interaction between the individual and the environment consist of B. F. Skinner and John B. Watson; the humanist theories highlight the significance of free will and individual experience in the growth of personality include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow; the trait theories, the according to this concept, character is created up of a variety of wide characteristics, and finally the psychodynamic theories that see personality as primarily unconscious, occurring in stages, and being linked to early experiences. The last theories were influenced by Sigmund Freud, he believed that the three components personality were the id which is the only part of personality that is existing from birth, for example as a child my id was cry too much like my mother usually tell me and I just stopped crying when someone took me for a ride. Next is the ego it’s the part of personality that is accountable for dealing with reality, in my case I must confess that I’m an egocentric person it’s good to achieve my goals in life, however, sometimes I try not to be so egocentric because it can induce some conflicts with others people and I just like to avoid them, so I prefer to be an understandable person with others. Even though I’m egocentric, I still care about the others people. The last is the superego the aspect of personality that keeps all of our internalized ethical requirements and values that we obtain from both mother and father and societyour feeling of right and wrong. I personally believe that my superego is the reflection of my ego because I had to prepare myself for the life in society mentally and physically, as a result I became more flexible and reasonable to take decisi ons avoiding follow my impulses. Additionally he talked about defense mechanisms which is a tactic developed by the ego to protect against anxiety. There are nine defense mechanisms but during my life I use to go through the number six defense mechanism which is the sublimation because I believe that the better way to relief your body and mind from your emotions that make you feel furious or mad is doing something constructive. In fact, there are some significant changes in my personality from my childhood until these days, I became more mature, and I started to use the critical thinking to analyze my mistakes and failures to improve my personality. Now I can tell right from wrong. In addition, the stress and health. Overall, the stress is a natural feeling that we all already felt and it may cause some health problems. Thereupon, the stress and health don’t match each other. Similarly with others people my stress is caused by various sources either by everyday situations or even personal life. The most frequent and common sources of stress that I have are usually related to my personal life such as frustrations and charges in the relationship with my parents and my girlfriend. I strongly believe there will be a period of my life that Ill learn to deal with them but I don’t know if they’ll change because I think that they are part of life, so we need to find solutions to cope with them. In order to cope with my stressors I personally like to do several things such as physical actives because I consider myself a healthy person, so I feel comfortable and well when I’m practicing physical exercises; another thing that I like is to hang out with my friends and sometimes with my family it’s a good way to have fun with the people you adore; I also like to play my guitar. Basically, you need to something that make you feel good not necessarily physical activists it can be some kinds of therapies to relax your mind and body. Due the circumstances of my life I’m more likely to use a problem focused strategy, so I created a daily stress journal because it helps me to identify how much stress I’m under, the potential stress triggers and ways to reduce the stress in my life. Im an optimistic person but realistic too. I mean in all situations of my life I always like to be optimistic, however, with my feet on floor, I normally like to use the probability rule because of that I can be both optimistic and realistic. In conclusion, this essay made me realize that psychology is nothing but common sense. Psychology can be used in everyday lifestyle. You can use psychology to get inspired toward whatever objectives you create for yourself. Success stories techniques for yourself, implementing yourself to understand new factors, and fulfilling yourself when you achieve a objective are all uses of psychology. I have discovered a lot about effects of psychology in my lifestyle. Learning psychology has been very significant to me and has given me a better comprehend of my ideas, emotions, and actions. Lastly, I can comprehend who I am and look at activities on a more beneficial part.

Cognitive Enhancer Essay -- Medical Research

Introduction Caffeine is the most widely used stimulant on college campuses. It stimulates the central nervous system as it temporarily combats drowsiness, and restores alertness. Caffeine’s â€Å"powers† are the perfect anecdote for college student’s busy lives, but what if the opposite was true? Whether students barely come into contact with caffeine, and others use it habitually the study researchers whether caffeine has an effect on their cognitive processes. Daily caffeine regulars and sometime users consume it in many different ways, which are coffee, tea, cola drinks, candy bars, cocoa, cold and diet medications, and sleep prevention compounds, and they also consume it in various different doses. Caffeine is in about 100 medications, stimulants like NoDoz, cold preparations, appetite suppressants and mood elevating agents (Addicott, 2009). The psychophysiological effects of the stimulant include alertness, anxiety, heart rate, and these effects can result in a differe nt performance on different task (Acevedo, 1988). The research questions whether the effects of caffeine have a positive or negative impact on student’s cognitive abilities. During tasks that involve memory, and other cognitive processes the research will try to confirm the belief that caffeine is a cognitive enhancer. Whether students are in a withdrawn state, a normal caffeinated state, or just moderately use caffeine it has an effect on their memory, attention, planning, capacity, and psychomotor performance. Along with the effects of caffeine, student’s performance can be influence by other factors such as mood, the time of day, personality, intelligence, age, memory span, education, gender, socioeconomic status, occupation, smoking, expectancy, and/or alcoh... ... Hogervorst, E., Riedel, W.J., Schmitt A. J., Jolles, J. (1998) Caffeine Improves Memory Performance during Distraction in Middle-Aged, But Not in Young or Old Subjects. Human Psychopharmacology, Vol.13, 277-284 Ryan, L., Hatfield, C., Hofstetter, M. (2002). Caffeine Reduces Time of Day Effects on Memory Performance in Older Adults. Psychological Science. Vol.13, no.1, 68-71. Smith A, Sturgess W, Gallagher J. (1999) Effects of a Low Dose of Caffeine Given in Different Drinks on Mood and Performance. Human Psychopharmacology, 14, 473-482 Stafforda, L.D. & Yeomansb, M.R. (2005) Caffeine deprivation state modulates coffee consumption but Not Attentional bias for caffeine-related stimuli, Behavioral Pharmacology, 16,559–571 Warburton, D.M. (1995). Effects of caffeine on cognition and mood without caffeine abstinence, Psychopharmacology, 119, 66-70.

Canterbury Tales - Comparison of the Millers Tale and the Knights Tal

A Comparison of the Miller's Tale and the Knight's Tale  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   It is common when considering The Canterbury Tales to discuss how some tales seem designed to emphasise the themes of others. Two such tales are the Miller's Tale2 and the Knight's Tale3. At first glance these two tales seem an incongruous pairing. The Knight's Tale is told by an eminent person, is an historical romance which barely escapes a tragic ending, and its themes are universal: the relationship of individuals to providence, fortune and free will. The Miller's Tale is told by a drunken "cherl" (MT 3182), is a farcical fabliau, and has "a plot, not themes"4. And yet, in my opinion, there is much to be gained by reading the Miller's Tale with the themes and characters of the Knight's Tale firmly in mind. The juxtaposition of the Miller's Tale to "the Knight's Tale makes its very lack of significance significant"5. These two tales have seemingly opposite doctrines, and yet, it seems to me, both have the same object: to encourage us to survive the misfortunes and uncertainties of life as best we can. The Knight's Tale tells us to "maken vertu of necessitee"(KT 3042) while the Miller's Tale expects "every wight" to "laughen at this stryf"(MT 3849). The Miller's Tale is designed to "quite" (MT 3127) the Knight's Tale. It certainly matches it in quality of composition, but 'repays' the other tale mainly through its use of comedy. Humour throws new light on the characters and actions of the preceeding tale. The folly of the carpenter in the Miller's Tale is by no means the only comic device used by Chaucer to create humour, but it is central in many ways. "He is, in theory, the 'authority figure' of the tale, and it therefore opens with him; ... ...e Chaucer: Third Edition (Oxford: OUP, 1987), The Miller's Tale. All line references to the Miller's Tale will be given in text, preceded by the initials "MT". 3. Larry Benson, The Riverside Chaucer: Third Edition (Oxford: OUP, 1987), The Knight's Tale. All line references to the Knight's Tale will be given in text, preceded by the initials "KT". 4. Helen Cooper, Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (Oxford: OUP, 1989), p. 101. 5. Cooper, p. 101. 6. Cooper, p. 99. 7. Robert Miller, "The Miller's Tale as a Complaint," Chaucer Review, 5 (1970), p. 147-160. This from p. 150. 8. Derek Pearsall, "The Canterbury Tales II: Comedy," In Piero Boitani and Jill Mann (eds), The Cambridge Chaucer Companion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 125-142. This from, p. 131. 9. Cooper, 99. 10. Pearsall, p. 129.      

Educational Literacy in the Context of Environmental Ethics Essay

Educational Literacy in the Context of Environmental Ethics ABSTRACT: I explore the concept of literacy and the role it might play in environmental ethics. One of the goals of environmental ethics is to describe and contribute to the creation of an ecologically responsible culture. The creation of such a culture requires the development of knowledge and abilities that will help sustain such a culture. Since education is one of the key institutions for instilling values and world views, it is important for environmental philosophers to think about the institutionalization of environmental theories in terms of their implications for the environmentally literate person. I argue that attention to literacy is significant for two reasons. First, it provides one way of evaluating the differences between competing environmental philosophies. Second, it raises the important question of what kind of person is required to carry out a particular vision of environmental responsibility. By addressing the issue of education and literacy, philosophers intere sted in environmental ethics can help create a vision of citizens who have democratically internalized and integrated environmental values and priorities rather than having them imposed from above. Environmental ethics presents us with a plurality of different theoretical positions, from sophisticated forms of anthropocentrism to competing views of ecofeminism and social ecology to various versions of biocentrism. The ethical discussions these positions have prompted reveal how difficult it is to extend or revise existing moral traditions in a manner that appears both plausible and socially legitimate to mainstream audiences. Traditional human-centered world views have a strong hold o... ...rz, Ecology as Politics (Boston: South End Press, 1980), p. 17. (2) Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, with Essays from Round River, A Sierra Club/Ballantine Book (Oxford University Press, 1966), p. 246. (3) Lawrence Blum, "Moral Perception and Particularity" in Moral Perception and Particularity (Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 30-56. (4) cf. Justus Buchler, Nature and Judgment (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1955); and Toward a General Theory of Human Judgment, 2nd ed. (New York: Dover Publications, 1951). (5) Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, translated by Myra Bergman Ramus (New York: Continuum, 1983), pp. 27-56. (6) Holmes Rolston III, "Environmental Values in and Duties to the Natural World" in Ecology, Economics, Ethics: The Broken Circle, eds. Herbert Bormann and Stephen Kellert (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991), pp. 82-96.

Described by Dickens Essay

The extended metaphor at the end of the first chapter depicts the children as â€Å"vessels† or jars, to be filled to the top with facts until they are full. The metaphor portrays the children as inanimate objects, which shows the reader the arrogance of Gradgrind:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Vessels then and there arranged in order ready to have imperial gallons of facts poured into them until they were full to the brim.†Ã‚  Dickens describes them as if they are empty and know nothing. Therefore they have to learn facts whether they like it or not. The short sentences and repetition in the sentences of the opening of the second chapter aids the description of Gradgrind as it shows the reader there is no manipulating this man and what you see is what you get. He will never change his mind.  The extended metaphor,† a kind of cannon†¦away† shows the reader Gradgrind’s idea of how children should be properly educated. He believes that imaginations are â€Å"to be stormed away† and children should mature through facts. He is described like a cannon â€Å"loaded to the muzzle with facts† this shows the harshness of his character and the machine-like qualities he holds. Sissy Jupe is described by Dickens as â€Å"dark-eyed and dark-haired† her skin is tanned as Sissy has grown up with the circus she has an interesting background and a creative imagination; she is not just â€Å"filled with facts†. The colour of her eyes and hair reflects her traveller background. Whereas, Bitzer is described by Dickens as â€Å"light-eyed and light-haired.† His skin seems to be white, in contrast to Sissy’s tanned complexion. This description shows the harshness of the Victorian education system, on his appearance. The audience has no sympathy for the coldness of his character even though he is seen as â€Å"a model pupil from a model school† by Gradgrind, who has forced out any imagination Bitzer had and filled him with facts. His description of a horse compared to Sissy’s attempt shows the reader the machine-like almost robotic manner in which he is able to reel off facts: â€Å"Quadruped. Graminivorous.†Ã‚  His character is the opposite of Sissy. Gradgrind refers to her as a number, yet to Bitzer by name, as Sissy has only been at the school for a short time, but is referred to as â€Å"Girl number twenty† as she is new to the school her education is not as Gradgrind would like it to be, this in turn alienates her.  During the fifth chapter, we meet the characters Sissy and Bitzer again as their chase come to a halt when they bump into Gradgrind. After explaining why she was running, Gradgrind comments, as he cannot understand why Sissy should be run after: â€Å"‘Run after?’ repeated Mr Gradgrind. ‘Who would run after you?'†Ã‚  Gradgrind does not know Sissy, and sees her as an outcast. He does not see why she should be run after, and cannot understand why someone would want her. His question is answered when Bitzer enters in the next paragraph. He is described as â€Å"the colourless boy†. This creates lack of empathy in the reader towards Bitzer and how he has been manipulated by Gradgrind and the school. As Bitzer is running after Sissy, although described as without fancy (colourless), he still is a child as he was pulling faces to scare Sissy. Once escorted by Sissy to her home, we see Sissy’s fears of Gradgrind through the way she talks to him. She also seems embarrassed by the state of her home:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"This is it, sir, and – if you wouldn’t mind, sir – this is the house.†Ã‚  Sissy’s politeness to Gradgrind, as well as showing a well-mannered child also show how nervous she is around him, and the fear she has of him. Sissy is frightened of Gradgrind as she sees that as she is from a poor lifestyle, because of the shabbiness of her home, she will not be allowed to continue her studies, as those with a proper education will do better in the future. The audience empathises with Sissy because of this. In conclusion, Gradgrind has a stern manner and is very controlling of his pupils and his children because he is a very hard character he is â€Å"a man of realities.† Bitzer is a machine-like character; his white face reflects the coldness of his life with only facts in it. This contrasts to Sissy’s character, which is imaginative, because she lacks the proper formal education Bitzer has received. â€Å"Hard Times† is based on, and shows, Dickens’s view of rejection, to the callous determination of Victorian greed. The audience empathises with Sissy the most as her character seems to be lost and the most fragile. The audience do not empathise with Gradgrind because of his stern and cold nature, which, as Bitzer becomes a model student, causes the audience to empathise with neither of the two characters.

Counseling theory

Rational-emotive therapy stresses the ability of the clients to think on their own and change by making good judgments and taking action. Rational-emotive therapists believed that the problems of the clients are rooted in childhood and in their belief system, which was formed during childhood. The counseling involves method solving and dealing with emotional problems. The counselor assist the client eliminates self-defeating outlooks and perceive life in a rational manner. According to Patrick PK.(2007) rational emotive therapist believed that cognition, and emotion are not incongruent human aspects but are basically, integrated and holistic. In fact, this aspect is marching with other cognitive-behavioral aspects. Some of the strengths of rational-emotive and its application is its simplicity. Rational-emotive takes into consideration development levels as significant when dealing with patients, moreover, rational-emotive therapy have absence of moral perspectives. Rational-emotive therapy is important for counseling profession.Its effectiveness, short-term aspect and low cost are the reasons for its attractiveness. The reality therapist assist the client controls the world around them and satisfy their individual’s needs. The therapists believe that the client can change their life for the better. The therapy looks at the what and the why actions of the clients. Emotional problem is a result of client’s perception and feelings. Reality therapy is thus based on the aspect that client accept the past and begin to behave in a responsible manner. Reality teaches the client a better ways of living and become more effective in satisfying their needs.2. Existential – humanistic tradition Existential therapy is based on freedom of choice in changing one’s life. The therapists believe that the individuals are responsible in shaping their own life and a need for self- awareness. The therapy focuses at the present and at the future life of an individual. The therapists help the client recognize their freedom and perceive their possibilities of their future. They assist the client recognize their responsiveness of the future events. The therapy is well suited to assist the client make good choices affecting their lives.The theory is based on the following core aspects: contact, open participation of each other and mutual influence; genuineness, to be reliable, harmonious, human and transparent; unconditional positive regard, accepting individual’s being despite of his or her behavior; and empathy; understanding the moment experience of an individual. Other basic aspects of human conditions in existentialist approach include capacity for self-awareness, the freedom and responsibility tension, the identity creation and the establishment of effective relationships and the recognizing distress as living conditions.The existentialists uphold that person ability for self-consciousness provides them freedom possibilities as well as recognizing that they are finite and have limited time. Thus individuals are free to choose the available alternatives in living and have an effective responsibility to shape their personal destinies. The result of our choice is based on the way we live and hence individuals should be responsible in directing their lives. The existential therapy focuses at helping clients to reflect on life, identify alternatives and chose the best alternatives.The therapists aimed at making people become aware of how to acknowledge situations and take control so as to shape their lives by looking for options that can create a meaningful life. 3. Logotherapy and gestalt therapy The main aspects of the logotheraphy are based on its need to consider person in their irreducible wholeness, as subjects endowed with values and presenting existential thematic that cannot be dealt with by purely psychological means. Logotherapy therapy begins with the soul and has a true intuitive consciousness and an invariable internationality towards individual’s values.Hence, during therapy, themes that are relating to the meaning of life are placed at the heart of counseling intervention and human behavior guided to search for meaning and existential truth in all of its diverse manifestations. Therapist therefore contrasts various human forms of irresponsibility and led the clients towards the recognition of various possibilities and freedoms inherent in their choices. The therapy provides specific forms of intervention, which include self-transcendence and self-detachment.Everyone experiences moments in life may be considered normal and not really require any attention. However, individual may cope with this experience by forcing the circumstances but only to become knotted in a mesh. To overcome the situation, this therapy used the dereflection method, based on the intentionality concept. Gestalt therapy conversely incorporates the body and mind aspects, by emphasizing consci ousness and integration. Incorporation of behavior, feelings and perception is main aspect in the Gestalt therapy.Patients are perceived as being able to recognize how the impacts of the previous life could change their life. The therapist assist the client realizes their personal responsibilities, avoiding problems; experience thins in a constructive manner and in a present awareness. The therapy lead the client have awareness of every moment in their life experience and challenge the client to accept to take care of themselves instead of others doing for them. 4. Multicultural therapyMulticultural therapy is counseling that involves clients from differing racial, ethnic, and cultural groups and, thus, multicultural clients refer to clients from minority populations. It is significant to include cultural aspects when dealing with multicultural clients. Incorporating cultural variables in the therapeutic process requires one to be literate in ethnic and cultural information. Eliciti ng cultural information from clients allows the counselor to work with many diverse clients without having to become experts on particular ethnic groups.Hence, counselors must recognize the necessity of ethnic knowledge and cultural information elicited in conversations with clients. Multicultural therapist share common aspects, which include exploring client’s worldview, considering the role of acculturation, and taking additional roles. Exploring clients' worldviews is a fundamental part of multicultural therapy. Therapists must find out the similarity and differences of the client’s value system from the country of origin as well as system in the destination country.Exploration enables counselors to get information concerning how the clients view themselves after being exposed to new cultures. Acculturation is a vital aspect in exploring cultural issues. It is adjustment in which individuals from other culture are subjected to when entering a new culture. Therapist must look at the adaptative strategy that clients are deducing during therapy to assess accurately their level of acculturation. The clients should be encouraged to adjust the old rules for the actual consideration of the current situations.Lastly, when dealing with clients of minority cultures, the counselors are encouraged to take on additional rules. These include changing the idea of counseling as visualized and institutionalized in this county and enfold further styles of intervention. Such addition includes consulting help agencies and elucidating process and laws unusual to the client (Patrick, 2007). Reference: Patrick PK. (2007). Internet counseling: trend, application & ethical issues. In: Patrick PK (ed). Contemporary Issues in therapy. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.