Melting Pot free essay sample

The melting pot has been used metaphorically to describe the dynamics of American social life. In addition to its descriptive uses, it has also been used to describe what should or should not take place in American social life. How did the term originate? How was it used originally? How is it used in contemporary society? What are some problems with the idea of the melting pot? How is public education connected to the idea of the melting pot? How does the melting pot function in American cultural and political ideology? These are some of the questions considered in the following discussion. The Statue of Liberty is by now a universally recognized symbol of American political mythology. She stands at the entrance of New York harbor, wearing a spiked crown representing the light of liberty shining on the seven seas and the seven continents. The statue was a gift to the United States from the people of France in 1884. We will write a custom essay sample on Melting Pot or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is made of riveted copper sheets, only 3/32 of an inch thick, ingeniously attached to a framework designed by Louis Eiffel. Its construction is such that it will not be stressed by high winds or temperature changes (The world Book Encyclopedia, pp. 874-875). The symbolism of the statue is reinforced by Emma Lazarus’poem â€Å"The New Colossus†, which is inscribed on a plaque at the base of the statue. Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of exiles. From her beacon hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. â€Å"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp! † cries she With silent lips. â€Å"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. † (Emma Lazarus, 1883) The Statue of liberty, dedicated in 1886, became a visual symbol of American ideology. Between 1880 and 1930, 27 million people migrated to the United States (www. pbs. org/fmc/timeline/eimmigration. htm). Most of them entered by way of Ellis Island in New York harbor. Most of them would have ended their long six weeks’ journey with by seeing Miss Liberty come into view. These immigrants were about to enter the â€Å"golden door. † What lay behind it? What opportunities were imagined? What kind of life was imagined? How were these turn- of- the- century souls to become part of America? A Brief History of the Common School One powerful social institution that played an important part in the integrative process of immigrants, beginning in about the middle of the 19th century was the common school. Horace Mann, the first state school superintendent in Massachusetts and a strong advocate for a number of social reforms, including a system of public education, articulated the ideology of a common school in his Twelfth Annual Report of the Board of Education in 1849 (Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1849). He says: It (a free school system) knows no distinction of rich and poor, of bond and free, or between those, who, in the imperfect light of this world, are seeking, through different avenues, to reach the gate of heaven. Without money and without price, it throws open its doors, and spreads its table of bounty, for all the children of the State. Like the sun, it shines, not only upon the good, but upon the evil, that they may become good; and like the rain, its blessings descend, not only upon the just, but upon the unjust, that their injustice may depart from them and be known no more. This flowery description of the possibilities inherent in a system of free schools was to become part of American political ideology. Public schooling was seen as having the power to recreate and reform European immigrants into respectable, tractable, productive American citizens. Through a system of common schools, a variety of creeds and cultures could be amalgamated for the social stability and economic good of the country. By the late 1800s the public school movement in America was robust in the Northeast but just gaining momentum in the South. Its progress had been halting, proceeding at different rates under the influence of varying geographic, cultural, and economic circumstances. The common school, as it was first called, was to be tax supported. It was to have a common curriculum, regardless of the social station of its clientele, it was to be open to all, and it was to foster a common set of civic virtues. The public school movement in the Northeast began to gain ground in the early years of the 19th century. It was powerfully influenced and directed by the rise of industrialism, by charismatic reformers such as Horace Mann, by new modes of transportation, and by the contributions of American inventors. The historian S. Alexander Rippa says â€Å" In the history of American education, one of the most significant outcomes of the Industrial Revolution was the gradual emergence of a new, public school- minded working class in the northern cities. Indeed, the rapid growth of manufacturing depended on a readily available source of labor for the new factories† (Rippa, 1984. . 100). The labor force in the northern factories and mills was augmented by European immigrants: Between 1815 and 1845 almost 3 million emigrants had left their home shores for America (p. 101). Significant numbers of immigrants in mid-century America profoundly affected the public school movement. They formed a nucleus for organized labor, whose agenda included an interest in education; and their very presence in such large numbers fueled fears for the fragility of a young nation (p. 102). The common school was seen as an avenue for the assimilation of immigrants into American society. Formal schooling was not systematic in America in the mid-1800s, despite the regional efforts of strong advocates for public education. There were wide regional and cultural differences in attitudes toward the idea of tax-supported, systematic formal schooling based upon a common curriculum. Various religious groups had established schools for the perpetuation of their theology and culture, especially in the mid-Atlantic and Northern states. These groups were fearful of relinquishing responsibility to political authority. In the Southern states, slavery and a strong caste system were impediments to the development of public schools (p. 97). The influx of huge numbers of immigrants exacerbated religious and cultural tensions and engendered conflicts with American workers who were fearful for their jobs. This volatile situation created even more support for systematic public education as a socializing agent. Public education became part of a wider humanitarian movement addressing all kinds of social ills created by urbanization, industrialization, and immigration (p. 105). A diverse group of largely middle class reformers called for action to abolish slavery, to improve the conditions of the poor, to increase the legal rights of women, and to improve the educational opportunities for all classes of people. The social changes of the latter half of the 19th century buttressed a general belief in education as a pragmatic social institution. The South presented a special case, however, especially because of the devastating effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction as well as its long history of slavery. In the South, the integration of masses of newly freed slaves was an enormous task, especially in a decimated economy and in a social milieu that was still strongly class conscious. African Americans were largely illiterate because of a history of legal restrictions against educating them. There was also a â€Å"rising tide of illiteracy among the southern white people† (p147). The Peabody Education Fund, a philanthropic endeavor established by the wealthy financier George Peabody for the purpose of improving southern education, found that from 1862 to 1872 the white population had increased by 13%, but the illiteracy rate had increased by 50 % (p. 147). In the twelve years following the Civil War, the period known as Reconstruction, local government in the South was directed by the Federal government. This was a bitter pill for many white Southerners to swallow. Public education was identified in their minds with the agenda of Northern interlopers. It was further stigmatized in their minds by its association with charity schools. Therefore, the ideological potency of public education as a great equalizer was embraced primarily by a core of black leaders, progressive white leaders such as Walter Hines Page (p. 154), and some northern philanthropists. It would be decades before public education was firmly established in the South. â€Å"While a devastated South fought and struggled to survive, the North, ironically, passed through the tragic years of war and reconstruction more prosperous than ever,† says Alexander Rippa (p. 156). In the 1880s another wave of immigration began, settling primarily in northern urban centers; and these â€Å"new† immigrants, mostly from Eastern Europe, brought with them cultural patterns which differed greatly from native-born Americans and the northern and western European immigrants who preceded them. Between 1890 and 1920, 18 million new citizens debarked in America (Booth, Washington Post). Existing social problems became even more pressing. There was a perception among native-born Americans that the social problems of the cities stemmed from the changing character of the new immigrants (p. 71). There was a new urgency to Americanize these latest groups. This urgency played its part in the general willingness in the northern states to establish systematic public education. The Melting Pot What did it mean to â€Å"Americanize† a non native-born population? It meant much more than teaching English to new citizens. It also meant establishing a loyalty to the United States, instilling a devotion to democracy, and breaking up ethnic and cultural loyalties (p. 171). The public school became directly involved in this social task in the late 1800s. In 1908 a play opened in Washington, D.C. entitled â€Å"The Melting Pot† (Booth, Washington Post). The playwright was Israel Zangwill, a Jewish immigrant from England, and the message of the play was that all immigrants could be transformed into a new alloy in the crucible of â€Å"democracy, freedom, and civic responsibility† (ibid. ). Zangwill believed old cultural hatreds had no place in a new country; he claimed that God â€Å"was using America as a ‘crucible’ to melt the ‘fifty’ barbarian tribes of Europe into a metal from which he can cast Americans† (www. pbs. org). This was not a gentle metaphor. The product of the melting pot would be completely transformed; the original metals would have lost their original identities under the influence of the extreme heat. Zangwill’s chief concern was that the old cultural and religious hatreds of the emigres would be perpetuated in America, but he believed that part of the melting pot effect would be that people would marry across ethnic and religious barriers. Other conceptions of the melting pot focused on acculturation and economic assimilation through deliberate means such as public education and projects such as Jane Addams’ Hull House. The metaphor of a melting pot had idealistic overtones as well as fear of social chaos built in. There was also an element of xenophobia and fear that immigrants would maintain their loyalties to foreign powers. But there was also a genuine desire to help people improve their lives and become economically and culturally successful in their new country. Zangwill himself believed that if immigrants would undergo the melting pot, they would be â€Å"just as American as anyone else† (ibid. ). The melting pot was a quite complicated idea, with regional differences as well. A chief goal of American classrooms, especially in northern cities, was to melt down the distinctive cultural metals into the new American alloy. Compulsory attendance assured that all children would be exposed to this process. By the end of World War I, most states, regardless of geographical differences, had enacted compulsory school laws, although the upper age limits differed (Rippa, p. 172). In 1911 in the major urban centers, over half of the public school population consisted of the children of immigrant parents (p. 173). The melting pot was not a universally accepted social vision of the way America ought to be. An early critic of homogeneity and uniformity was the essayist Randolph Bourne. He envisioned a pluralistic society in which difference would be valued (Fischer, et. al. , 1997, p. 15). In a 1916 essay, Bourne asks â€Å"whether perhaps the time has not come to assert a higher ideal than the ‘melting pot’. . . . America is a unique sociological fabric, and it bespeaks poverty of imagination not to be thrilled at the incalculable potentialities of so novel a union of men† (ibid. pp. 16, 17). Bourne believed that a cosmopolitan society would be creative and would most accurately embody democratic ideals. Some of the harshest rhetoric in this article, first published in the Atlantic Monthly, is reserved for the role of the public school in perpetuating a shallow popular culture: â€Å"This ( a public school education) does not mean that they (immigrants) have actually been changed into New Englanders or Middle Westerners. It does not mean that they have really been Americanized. It means that, letting slip from them whatever native culture they had, they have substituted for it only the most rudimentary America the American culture of the cheap newspaper, the ‘movies,’ the popular song, the ubiquitous automobile. The unthinking who survey this class call them assimilated, Americanized. The great American public school has done its work† (ibid. , p. 16). Although the term â€Å"melting pot† was, and is, generally associated with assimilating European immigrants, especially eastern Europeans in the early years of the 20th century, the issue of assimilation extended beyond this group. In the South, the problem of assimilation included bringing African Americans and poverty stricken white children into the economic mainstream. The south, as a region, had to redefine itself as part of a nation and not as a separate culture. In the southwestern states, assimilation was focused on Native Americans and Mexicans who lived in the territories ceded to the United States by Mexico in 1848. In the western states and territories, the immigrant population of concern was Chinese. What kind of education was provided for the immigrant population? Jacob Riis was a humanitarian reformer, a journalist and photographer who chronicled the lives of New York’s immigrant poor. A representative description comes from Riis’s The Children of the Poor (Best Sidwell, 1967). . . . and the discovery has been made by their teachers that as the crowds pressed harder their school-rooms have marvelously expanded, until they embrace within their walls an unsuspected multitude, even many a slum tenement itself, cellar, â€Å"stoop,† attic, and all. Every lesson of cleanliness, of order, and of English taught at the school is reflected into some wretched home, and rehearsed there as far as the limited opportunities will allow. No demonstration with soap and water upon a dirty little face but widens the sphere of these chief promoters of education in the slums. . . . Naturally the teaching of these children must begin by going backward. The process may be observed in the industrial schools, of which there are twenty-one scattered through the poor tenement districts, with a total enrolment of something over five thousand pupils. . . .Whatever its stamp of nationality, the curriculum is much the same. The start, as often as is necessary, is made with an object lesson soap and water being the elements and the child the object. The alphabet comes second on the list. Later on follow lessons in sewing, cooking, carpentry for the boys, and like practical â€Å"branches† of which the home affords the child no demonstration. . . . Very lately a unique exercise has been added to the course in the schools, that lays hold of the very marrow of the problem with which they deal. It is called â€Å"saluting the flag,† and originated with Colonel George T. Balch, of the Board of Education, who conceived the idea of instilling patriotism into the little future citizens of the Republic in doses to suit their childish minds. To talk about the Union, of which most of them had but the vaguest notion, or of the duty of the citizen, of which they had no notion at all, was nonsense. In the flag it was all found embodied in a central idea which they could grasp. In the morning the star-spangled banner was brought into the school, and the children were taught to salute it with patriotic words. Then the best scholar of the day before was called out of the ranks, and it was given to him or her to keep for the day. The thing took at once and was a tremendous success. Kindergarten also became a popular mode of education for assimilation as it was thought to instill order in the young child (ibid. ). Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois Two of the early twentieth century’s most powerful voices in black America disagreed with each other on matters of assimilation. Their argument echoes in contemporary America. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in Virginia, and was liberated at the age of nine at the end of the Civil War. His rise from humble circumstances into prominence as a nationally recognized educator and spokesperson for African- Americans was chronicled in his autobiography, Up From Slavery (1901). Washington worked in coal mines and salt furnaces before attending Hampton Institute, an industrial school for African-Americans. He later established and administered Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, emulating the model of vocational education he himself received (World Book, vol. 21, pp88-89). Washington stressed vocational education and the social skills that would allow African-Americans to move relatively seamlessly into the economy. It was an incremental approach and â€Å"the schoolhouse† (Best Sidwell, p. 281) was essential, followed by the very best of vocational education. Washington, writing in 1904 in Working With the Hands (Best Sidwell, p. 281) says, â€Å"We must be sure that we shall make our greatest progress by keeping our feet on the earth, and by remembering that an inch of progress is worth a yard of complaint. . . .All the Negro race asks is that the door which rewards industry, thrift, intelligence, and character be left as wide open for him as for the foreigner who constantly comes to our country. More than this, he has no right to request. Less than this, a Republic has no right to vouchsafe† (ibid. , p. 283). Washington’s vision of the assimilation of African-Americans into the mainstream at the turn of the century had much in common with the ideology of the melting pot. At Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, Washington’s system of industrial education was aimed toward creating economically indispensable workers who would have the skills, the work ethic, and the demeanor of the larger society. W. E. B. Du Bois was born in Massachusetts three years after the end of the Civil War. His great grandfather was a white plantation owner in Haiti, and his mother was a free African-American. Du Bois’ childhood and education were much different from Booker T. Washington’s. He attended racially mixed schools, and was encouraged by his high school principal to enroll in the college preparatory curriculum. White benefactors funded his college education at Fisk University. Du Bois eventually earned a Ph. D. rom Harvard University, gaining preeminence as a pioneer in sociological survey methods. He was a political activist, passionately committed to the belief that African-Americans deserved the educational opportunity denied them by a segregated society, including and most especially, the opportunity for university and professional education (Gutek, 1997, pp. 371-392). Education played an enormous role in the personal lives and the visions of both Washington and Du Bois, but t heir educational emphases and methods of assimilation were antagonistic to one another. Du Bois wanted to push the society: Washington believed African-Americans, as a group, had to deal with the harsh realities of a segregated society by first demonstrating that they were indispensable to the economic health of the society. This implied vocational education rather than scholarship and political activism. The interpretation of equal educational opportunity would be re-visited in a serious way in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. The metaphor of the melting pot seems an ironic one for a population which had been deliberately excluded from mainstream culture for hundreds of years on the basis of a salient difference skin color. Zangwill’s notion of ethnic blending through intermarriage did not sit well with southern white society, and was referred to as miscegenation. And yet, Booker T. Washington’s view of assimilation is congruent with the idea of merging, melting, and blending into the economic whole. The ideas of W. E. B. Du Bois, on the other hand, require another metaphor. Du Bois challenges the structure of the society itself. Beyond the Melting Pot In 1963, two sociologists took an in-depth look at the role of ethnicity in the life of New York City. In the preface to their book Beyond the Melting Pot (1963), Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan say, â€Å"The notion that the intense and unprecedented mixture of ethnic and religious groups in American life was soon to blend into a homogeneous end product has outlived its usefulness, and also its credibility. . . . The point about the melting pot, as we see later, is that it did not happen. At least not in New York and, mutatis mutandis, in those parts of America which resemble New York† (p. xcvii). Glazer and Moynihan focus on the third and fourth generations of â€Å"newcomers† (ibid. as represented by five identifiable groups in the city of New York: African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians, and Irish. The title of their book implies both the time and place of their scholarly focus as well as the need for a new metaphor to describe what they see. One of the major conclusions of Beyond the Melting Pot is that â€Å"The ethnic group in America became not a survival from the age of mass immigration but a new social form† (p. 16). Thus, the authors take the melting pot out of the realm of ideology, and see it in its descriptive elements. Essentially the melting pot does not exist except in the imagination, they believe. Glazer and Moynihan are not much interested in the role of education as a social institution. Rather, they are interested in the way social groups form and identify themselves and work toward common interests. They acknowledge that immigrants to America did lose their language and alter their culture, and that several generations ago it did seem reasonable to project that eventually ethnicity would give way to a new national identity. But they note that ethnic groups re-create themselves as something new, which mark them off. And these differences are operative in social policy (ibid. , 12-14). In a sense, ethnicity is as much an interest group as it is a cultural group, so there is a reason to maintain the differences rather than blend them. Getting ahead in the society would depend upon maintaining this interest group and the political power it wields rather than diminishing the difference. In this case, the metaphor of the melting pot would be counter-productive to the actual interests of the â€Å"ethnic† group. In Glazer and Moynihan’s work, we see the immigrant in a new light. The immigrant is not one to whom something must be done or someone who must somehow be brought into the fold or helped in some way. Now the immigrant is spoken of as a political force. Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity The 1960s and 1970s were decades in which the language of assimilation evolved into the language of civil rights and equal opportunity, largely as the result of a group of highly educated African-American legal scholars and charismatic leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. . The melting pot metaphor was left behind, and a language of rights was put in its place. Again, public education became a focus, and for several reasons. The separate but equal system of education in the southern states was a sitting duck for legal challenge. The system was patently unequal, and it took only the doggedness of lawyers such as Charles Hamilton Houston and the legal expertise of the NAACP to mount a challenge to this system. The end result was the Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision, which struck down the separate but equal legal precedent. Public education became the focal point for discourse about how to bring African-Americans into the economic mainstream and how to foster their access to all the opportunities of a democratic society. This was not a melting pot issue because African-Americans themselves were challenging the moral authority of the political system. They were demanding the natural rights that the United States Constitution bestowed on its citizens. They were articulating a theme which had not been fully acknowledged in public discourse about assimilation that certain groups had been deliberately denied the American dream of social mobility and social equality. Public education was seen as an important avenue for social mobility and economic parity. It was, and is, a perceived means to achieve the goals of creating and maintaining a common set of civic virtues and economic and social stability. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids discrimination in any federally funded program, including, of course, public education. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed by the United States Congress in the following year made significant Federal dollars available, thereby enticing school systems to conform to the 1954 Brown vs. Board mandate. The courts and the Congress were challenged in their own terms to respond to the demands of a minority interest group to have the promise of America made good. The legal system and the United States legislature were again used as instrument to address the neglect of other interest groups. Schools were to be venues for promoting equality, in response to legislative and legal mandates, but they were not serving as melting pots. In 1974, the United States Supreme Court ruled that school systems denied students their equal opportunity to receive the benefit of a public education if they did not provide language instruction for children whose primary language was other than English (Rippa, p. 408). Public Law 94-142, signed by then President Gerald Ford in 1975, established the right to a free, public, appropriate, least restrictive education for students with physical and intellectual disabilities (pp. 397-398). This original law has undergone a number of amendments that essentially expanded and refined the original law. It is now best known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act – IDEA. In 1972, Title IX of the education amendments of the 1964 Civil Rights Act made it illegal for anyone to be denied on the basis of sex the benefits of any activity or program receiving Federal funds (p. 277). The melting pot idea has been turned on its head through the efforts of special interest groups who have no desire to be thoroughly assimilated into the dominant culture, but who wish to have equal opportunity for economic and political parity in America. Contemporary Melting Pot Issues In the 21st century, the tension between common national values and pluralism, or multiculturalism, is prominent in national discourse. Some have called this the culture wars, but it is more profound than that: it is a philosophical and psychological tension inherent in democracy. The debate shows up in school matters, for example, when curriculum and instructional decisions have to be made about teaching English as a second language. Should non-native speakers have instruction in their own language as well as learning English? Will they be held back if they are placed in classes designed for non-native speakers of English? Should they be taught to be competent in the grammar and syntax of their native languages as well as English? The larger question might be, â€Å"Can one hold dual citizenship, so to speak, in America and in one’s culture of origin†? The notion of cultural literacy, as articulated by E. D. Hirsch (1987), proposes that there is a common core of cultural knowledge which all Americans should possess if they are to be fully educated, capable citizens. Cultural literacy†, of course begs the question â€Å"Whose culture? † An answer satisfactory to all parties in the debate has not been given. What knowledge should be common to all citizens? What should public schools require as cultural literacy? Again, where is the balance to be struck between maintaining cultural identity and national identity that transcends cultural differences? The push for values education as a part of the formal public school curriculum also embodies an argument concerning which values should be taught as well as who has the authority to make such decisions. A more extreme version of this issue centers around whether to allow faith-based groups to have formal connection with public schools to teach religious values. Tracking, special education, magnet schools, single gender education, and giftedness programs all designed to meet special needs and foster economic stability are not uniformly accepted as good. Do they create strong class barriers of a different kind, or do they ameliorate barriers that prevent particular classes of people from reaching their growth potential? Summary Some careful observers of American culture in the 1700s predicted that in a society of pioneers and emigres, traditional ethnic, religious, and cultural differences would be erased as people adapted to a new society, intermarried, and focused their attention on prospering in a new social order. The idea was that assimilation would be a natural, gradual, somewhat orderly process. J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur, a French essayist who eventually settled in New York State, writes in 1782: What, then, is the new American, this new man? He is neither a European, nor the descendant of a European; hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations. He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new modes of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. He becomes an American by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater. Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world (Crevecoeur, pp. 41-45) In the early 1800s, and again in the years surrounding the century’s turn, the notion of natural, gradual assimilation was challenged by the sheer numbers of new immigrants and by the fact that the later waves of immigration consisted of eastern Europeans, who were much different in culture from the already established groups. Egregious urban social problems and escalating tensions between the new immigrants and established groups created a new urgency for the solution of these problems, which were perceived as threatening the social order. Public schooling assumed a prominent role in assimilation in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Its job was to enculturate the masses of new immigrants, to instill in them a sense of loyalty to the United States, and to make them economically viable. The school as a social institution has been mobilized to effect massive social changes since the mid 1800s. Whether these changes have always been successful is arguable. Schools have been enlisted to reinforce the new Republic, improve the moral character of the society, decrease social class differences, assimilate immigrant groups, teach citizenship skills, provide skills for economic success, meet the needs of individuals for personal growth, improve the nation’s competitive advantage in the world market, provide social mobility, model democratic virtues for the young, and reduce racial and ethnic prejudice. American political and cultural ideology has contained a set of tensions from its earliest articulation. E pluribus unum and diversity are twin American values. The melting pot, as a metaphor and an ideal has its critics. Homogeneity of culture and values is in tension with cosmopolitan vitality; pride in being an American contends with the possible loss of one’s particular cultural identity; an emphasis on economic prosperity as a mundane value competes with more abstract values. And the nature of the process of assimilation has a variety of contentious advocates: there are those who recommend a gradual process through economic productivity, and then there are those who demand immediate recognition and acceptance into the mainstream. The interest groups evolve, but the arguments remain the same. In the 1960s and 1970s there was a renewed interest in assimilation that focused less on ethnicity and cultural differences in defining the discourse of assimilation around the language of equal opportunity and civil rights. Women, African-Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos became vocal as interest groups, and their issues were primarily centered on economic advancement and other social opportunities. Politics became at least as important as education as a means to these ends, although education was still seen as a key to the golden door of opportunity. In contemporary America, the discourse of assimilation includes distinctively educational matters. The structure of schooling, assessment of learning, curriculum content and materials, instructional strategies, special needs of students, school fundingall contain the tensions of the melting pot. The discourse around these issues and others seems to have made a metaphorical shift from â€Å"the melting pot† to the militant â€Å"culture wars† or â€Å"class wars† or â€Å"gender wars† The metaphor of war was being proposed as early as the 1930s and 1940s. Louis Adamic, a widely read and respected novelist and journalist, describes â€Å"a psycho- logical Civil War† in his work Two Way Passage (1941, p. 85). His book explores the growing tensions in American society in the pre-World War II years. He says: Economic and industrial problems, labor, education, trends in writing, the theater, architecture, and other arts were attracting a lot of attention (in the 1930s). They interested me too. But little heed was paid in print and on the platform to the United States as a conglomerate of peoples the result of a great migration. Little attention was directed to the intricacies and maladjustments which grew up in its train. There was little realization that in the process cultures were being shattered. This last fact appeared to me most important. The old-stock American cultural patterns of a hundred years ago clashed with the Old World ways ( as revised by the slum and the factory ) of new-immigrant groups and partially destroyed them. It was a negative business. Many values, both old-American and new-immigrant, were not adjusted to the needs of contemporary America. Nor did they fuse or merge. They were simply ground out, pushed aside, scrapped, without giving rise to new values. They either went down through lack of character, through irresponsibility and vulgarity, or they were clung to desperately, in toto and thus perverted and devitalized. . . . Like the peoples of Europe, we in America have not yet completely synchronized the two-way impulse to homogeneity and diversity. We have experienced both but, as our sporadic psychological civil war with its several fronts demonstrates, we have not achieved a steady, continuous balance between them. When we examine our resemblances we find that one of them is our common against-ness; when we look at our differences, most of them charged with potentialities for good, we see that all too often they function defensively against other differences.Where can this take us? (1941, pp. 87-88). This seems an apt question to ask 60 plus years later. Glazer and Moynihan made direct reference to a metaphorical shift in the title of their 1963 work, Beyond the Melting Pot. They also questioned the reality of the melting pot. This seems to be the abiding tension in the idea of the melting pot finding a balance between pluralism and homogeneity in values in multiple public arenas education, politics, popular culture, social policy, and economics. If cultural metaphors belie true modes of thinking, it should be somewhat disturbing to note the metaphorical shift to â€Å"war†. Wars imply victors and the vanquished, a state of affairs America has not seen since 1865.

Finding the Truth in the Impossible essays

Finding the Truth in the Impossible essays From an early age, we have been taught that honesty is one of the most important things in our lives. "Tell the truth" is one of the phases we hear over and over again when we are little. But, is truth really so important? Is knowing the truth or telling the truth really one of the most important things in our world? Knowing the truth has always been a driving force in our lives. People have always asked for the truth. From the beginning of human history people have always asked question of truth. Questions like, How was the earth created?...is the world flat?...and is there an afterlife? Many different successful people and civilizations lived happily believing different truths to these questions and others. Clearly not all of these answers could possible be correct, but people were able to be successful and happy while constantly being fed false truths. So, my question is this, does the truth really matter, is knowing the truth really so important? I will examine different scenarios to try and determine an answer to this question. First, is an example that would affect a lot of people's lives. Say there was a man who planted a bomb in a city. If the bomb went off hundreds of people would lose their lives. Police catch the man and try to find out where he placed the bomb. If the man tells the truth the police will me able to defuse the bomb and everyone will be saved. If the man lies the bomb will explode and many people will be hurt as a result. This brings me to my first conclusion; if a lie can hurt other people then the truth and honesty are extremely important. I do not believe that there could be any way to look at this situation and think that lying would be the right thing Next, I look into the story of Oedipus. For his entire life he had been told a lie; he had been told the Polybus and Morpe were his parents. This lie greatly affects Oedipus's life. If he had known the ...

Modest Proposal-Satire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Modest Proposal-Satire - Essay Example And even under Obama, the US is still involved in a deadly conflict in Afghanistan, in which many young men and women are dying on a fairly regular basis. Of course, in these situations, it was not just the US presidents who were sending their forces into war: Ho Chi Minh, Saddam Hussein, and Osama Bin Laden have also been there on the other side, sending their own forces (although fewer young women are among them) to die in the name of a politicized, extremist religion. The solution which I propose to the pervasive problem of war between nations is simple and effective, and it is amazing that no one has thought of it before. To fully understand the solution, you must put yourself into the boots of a ground soldier. It is no matter what army they are fighting for; you make take your pick. In every case, they are fighting for someone else. They are fighting because someone is telling them that, for example, Iraq has WMD, or that America is the Great Satan. A lot of them are young men and women with no personal, political, religious, or ideological stake in the war for which they are expected to lay down their lives. My friend Pat from childhood went to Iraq with the Navy; he joined the Navy out of high school as a way to earn extra money for college, and he wanted to buy a sports car, which he was able to do with his signing bonus. Pat did not care about Iraq or WMD: he could not even locate Iraq on a map. He had no personal dealings with, or vendett a against, either Osama Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. For that matter, he didn’t like Bush; he used him as an example of a person who had a â€Å"free ride.† Now that you know Pat, and how much he didn’t care about the issues before he was sent to Iraq to risk his life, you might wonder who should have been sent, and who should have fought. Here is the simple answer: George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein. They are the

Observation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Observation - Essay Example Whole foods are widely recommended for any person any time but in most cases those who consume them want to manage their weights. This is an observation essay about Whole Foods and the people who partake of whole foods (Steve, 2002). Nutritionists and health professionals recommend that foods are best taken in their natural form or when they have been minimally altered to derive maximum benefits from the nutrients. The human body works best with natural foods and consumption of processed foods means that the body has to go the extra mile so as to digest the food. Consumption of such foods means that the body derives maximum nutritional value from the foods which translate to better health. Another reason as why people opt for whole foods is due to health reasons such as vegetarians or heart conditions that could be eliminated by taking the right foods in their natural state. To such people, eating of this group of foods is necessary for their health to keep diseases at bay. Most people who consume whole foods also do so that they could lose weight while at the same time managing it. Different people come in and out Whole Foods depending on their reasons for opting for eating these kinds of foods. In most cases, the main group of people who opt for such foods is those who would like to lose and manage their weight (Steve, 2002). You will notice mostly women who look big and walk as if their weight is a big luggage to them. Others are mostly women who would like to lose their birth weight and consequently being in such a diet ensures that it reduces their chances of craving for junk food which ultimately adds more weight. Similarly, they need to stay healthy for their babies who feed exclusively from their breast milk. The elderly people also opt for this group of foods since their immune system is deteriorating, and they should be at a position to maximize on the nutritional content of everything that they consume. The majority of these people walk into this

The Killer Angels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Killer Angels - Essay Example This book is based on the three days of the Gettysburg war starting from June 29th 1863 and ending on 3rd July 1863. This war from a historical viewpoint is seen as the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. It caused a huge loss to the Confederates, from which they never recovered. The battle of Gettysburg, fought on the Unions own territory, was the bloodiest war in the history of the American civil war. It resulted in the deaths of many soldiers on both sides, in fact, as many as 50000 were dead or were injured or went missing while fighting, during those three days. Shaara through this historical fiction tries to take us through those three days and tries to conjure a picture that describes the emotional conflicts that the generals and other officers on each side of the warring faction had to face as they put up a brave front and fought against friends and relatives. The southern concept of the Gettysburg war is very important as this war proved to be the turning point in the outcomes of the American civil war and is often referred to as the high tide of the Confederacy. Before this particular battle the southern army was faring well in most of the battle outcomes. It was this war which brought the Confederacy very, very close to gaining independence. General Lee, the commander in chief, was the chief inspiration for the Confederates and widely respected amongst all the southerners, carried on the battle right into the enemys territory and attacked them with his entire strength, to finish off the battle once and for all. He knew that if he could destroy the Union forces in their own territory it would be their end. This was the main concept of the battle of Gettysburg from a southern perspective. To achieve this General Lee was completely intent on going ahead and directly attacking the Union army instead of paying heed to Longstreet

The School Community Relationship

The School Community Relationship Education is an important tool in the development of communities and nations at large. The provision and management of quality education lies not only at the heart of central government but remains a shared responsibility of all stakeholders and the building of good working relationship among these stakeholders with particular emphasis on improving the school-community relationship . This stems from the fact point that education is seen as a social enterprise requiring the support of all stakeholders so that its contribution can benefit the entire society. (Addae-Boahene et.al,2001). For the attainment of quality education, there is the need for the community in which the school is situated to work in collaboration and harmony with the school not only in the upbringing and welfare of the pupils but must go beyond that to offer support in the provision and maintenance of the school infrastructure as well as playing a critical supporting role in the effective management and administration of the school. The school, similar to other facilities such as the community market, community borehole, is situated in the community belonging to the entire community members. The community therefore has a role to play in shaping the policies and finances of the school just as the school in turn must function to meet the social needs of the community by turning out a literate population and transmitting culture of the community to the youth. Improving the school-community relationship is key because both bodies are interdependent and failure on the part of either body to play its role can lead to a collapse of the education system with its consequent effect on the society as a whole. Again, though formal education is said to have been introduced in Ghana by the Europeans who provided not only the curricular but the infrastructure inclusive, the schools were not cited initially enough to cover all the communities in Ghana. It is against this background that some communities desirous of having formal education took it upon themselves and established basic schools, willingly recruited teachers and contributed to support them with the resources needed for their work including remuneration. As the process continued these schools were later absorbed into the public school system. (Addae-Boahene, et.al.2001).The management and financing of these schools then shifted from the communities to the central government; this created a situation that witnessed less community involvement in the management of schools, hence the beginning of poor school-community relationship. The Ministry of Education (MOE) and The Ghana Education Service (GES) recognized the importance of reciprocal partnership of school-community leaders and local school authorities in effecting changes in the school. Under the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE), MOE, and GES, who have committed themselves to building a systematic approach assisting community organizations (SMC and PTA) to play a major part in the regeneration of their schools. It is the belief of the MOE and GES that communities have an important role to play in enforcing standards, developing and maintaining school infrastructure, and creating partnership between teachers, pupils and the district authorities to bring about needed changes. In conclusion the school and the community rely on each other for mutual benefit. The need for both to operate on a cooperative atmosphere cannot therefore be overemphasized. (Addae-Boahene, et.al.2001). RESEARCH PROBLEM It is very necessary that in all communities, both the community and the school operate closely and co-operate with each other as the ownership and management of the school is gradually becoming community-based, a situation in which the head teacher and the circuit supervisor should see the members of the community as partners in the educational development of the child. The significance of this relationship includes: The motivation of the school to function with the interest of the wholesome development of the society. Both the school and the community working in the same direction for the proper development of the children and the community supporting the school financially, among others. However, the central government control and management of education delivery system over a long period has had an adverse effect on the relationship between the school and the community. The kind of relationship in which the school and the community exist as separate entities. Both are seen as performing different functions and hence need not interfere with each other. The school officials run the school while the Community look on. What happens by way of development or information flow in the community is not the concern of the school and vice versa. Members of the community do not care to find out what goes on in the school nor does the school develop interest in what goes on in the community. Each of them feels the other has nothing to offer, and no effort is made for cooperation. (Amofa, 1999). This kind of relationship also called the Closed System, is very prevalent in rural areas, (Annoh, 2003). This has contributed to less community involvement and commitment in the quality m anagement of education in Ghana and the Tolon/Kumbungu District of Northern Region in particular. These poor school-community relationships in the Tolon/Kumbungu District manifest itself in several ways including; On August 1, 2009, the head teacher of Gbrumani Primary School was beaten by some community members citing the head teachers effort at settling a quarrel between two pupils in the school as interference in community affairs. May, 2010, Nyankpala community members turned Nyankpala D/A Junior High School classrooms into community toilet facility. Again, Chirifoyili community encroached on the school land, turning it to a farm land in 2008 with the argument that they will not spare their land to the school and suffer insufficient farmland.(circuit supervisors report).These incidents signal to the level of strained relationships that prevails between the school and the community in the district. These acts are impacting negatively on the delivery of education in the district. quality of education continues to fall in the district as reflected in the BECE results released by WAEC year after year. (GES Tolon, 2006,2008,2009). There is high illiteracy rate in the district, coupled with low enrolment and high drop-out rates in the schools. (Tolon/Kumbungu District profile; 2004). It is against this background that the researcher finds the research problem of this study being, the lack of improved school-community relationship in the Tolon/Kumbungu District of Northern Region, as very necessary and worth undertaken. MAIN RESEARCH QUESTION Arising from the research problem stated as, the lack of improved relationship between the school and community, the main research question for the study is; what strategies can be put in place in order to build an improved relationship between the school and the community? SUB RESEARCH QUESTIONS What is the importance of building an improved relationship between the school and community? What is meant by improved school-community relationship? What are the causes of the lack of improved relationship between the school and community? What roles can both the school and the community play towards promoting an improved school-community relationship? What are the principles underlying school community relations? MAIN RESEARCH OBJECTIVE To recommend strategies that can be put in place to promote an improved school-community relationship. SUB RESEARCH OBJECTIVES To highlight the importance of building an improved relationship between the school and community. To explain the concept of improved school-community relationship. To identify the causes of the lack of improved relationship between the school and community. To identify the roles both the school and the community can play towards promoting an improved school-community relationship. To highlight the principles underlying school community relations. LITERATURE REVIEW Conceptual Framework In this study the concepts that will be reviewed include; school, community, the school community, school management, community stakeholders, relationship, and improved relationship. In the research process, the researcher will review literature from secondary sources as this will help the researcher to; Make use of results of existing studies that are closely related to the study being conducted (Croswell, 1998: 20). Locate methodologies previously used to conduct studies in phenomenon similar to this study and to identify contrary findings (Mcmillan, 1992: 44). The researcher will employ the use of literature review in conducting this study since it will provide an understanding of the phenomenon of improved school-community relationship. It will also help to provide an analytical and theoretical framework for analyzing the findings of the research. In this; textbooks, published papers, newspaper publications, containing subjects related to the research problem will be reviewed. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Design This research design is basically qualitative in nature and to achieve the purpose of the study, the following methods have been employed; participant observation, interviewing, focus group discussion, review of secondary literature, interview guide, and purposive sampling. The tools that will be used to facilitate the data collection are field notes, tape recordings and manual recordings. The data analysis will involve the use of coding, transcribing tape recording, and decoding the data transcribed. According to Strauss and Corbin (1990), qualitative research is a type of research whose findings are neither arrived at by means of statistical procedures nor quantitative means. According to Nachmias and Nachmias (1996:28), qualitative approaches facilitates our understanding of behavior through knowing the persons involved and their rituals, beliefs, values, and emotions. Qualitative approach is necessary in this study because it allows the researcher to typically investigate an aspect, thus, the lack of improved relationship between the school and the community, as it pertains to the Tolon/Kumbungu district. Again, Mcmillan and Schumacher (1993), state that qualitative research presents facts in a narrative form with words and also concerned with understanding social phenomenon from the perspective of the participants. Furthermore, the researcher will be able to gain first hand information from the people involved including head teacher/teachers, School Management Committees(SMCs), Parent Teacher Association(PTA), circuit supervisors, chiefs and assembly members, on their knowledge regarding the lack of improved school-community relationship in the district, why there is lack of improved relationship between the school and the community, the role they can play to improve the relationship, and the strategies to put in place to promote and sustain improved school-community relationship. The use of multi-method strategies in gathering data is very necessary in qualitative research. For the purpose of this study, the methods to employ in gathering data are; interactive methods and non-interactive methods. A combination of these two approaches presents to the researcher an advantage of systematically observing, interviewing, and recording processes as they take place naturally. The appropriateness of these activities to the researcher emerges from the point as explained by Miles and Huberman (1994), that they are carried out in close proximity to the local setting for a sustained period of time. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH METHODS TO USE FOR THE STUDY Participant Observation In participant observation, researchers join the group they intend to study and observe it from inside (Legewie, 1991). Subjects usually change their behaviors when they know that they are being observed, so researchers may take measures to prevent them realizing that they are being studies, and hence eliminate the effects of reactivity (sarantakos, 2005; 221) Unstructured observation will be used in the study. Unstructured observation is loosely organized and the process of observation is largely left up to the observer. Participant observation will be used in this study. The researcher will visit the community schools in the Tolon/Kumbungu District and participate in both school ceremonies and community ceremonies and note all issues that reveal the lack of improved relationship between the school and the community, including; SMC/PTA meetings. The school annual open day ceremony . The celebration of the annual Damba and Fire festival. This approach will provide an opportunity for open discussion during which certain challenging issues will emerge. Interviewing In the perspective of Maykut and Morehouse (1994;80), an interview refers to a discourse shaped and organized through the asking of questions and the supply of answers, through which the interviewer and the interviewee are able to talk about the study focus; and this brings out thoughts and perceptions. On the other hand, Gillham (2000; 1) describes interview as a conversation that usually goes on between two people, the interviewer asks questions and seeks response from the interviewee. Interviews can be conducted face-to-face, through the telephone, or other means, but according to Gillham (2000: 62), the overwhelming strength of face-to-face interview is its possibility of making the communication rich. Interviews, according to Bogdan and Bilklen (1992:96) are used to gather descriptive data in the subjects own words. Through this, the researcher is able to develop insights on how subjects interpret some piece of the world. The researcher will employ semi-structured interview method for this study. Semi-Structured Interviews This method has been chosen for use for a number of good reasons. According to Borg and Gall (1989; 452), semi-structured interview facilitates a more thorough understanding of the respondents opinion and the reasons behind such opinions than what could be achieved if mailed questionnaire is used. Also, this method is good because it makes it possible for the expression of opinions by the interviewees. Again Robson (1993;231) states that, when using semi-structured method, the interviewer has the advantage of being able to modify the order of questions based upon the context of the conversation, change the wording of the question, give explanations and can avoid particular questions that appear inappropriate with a particular interviewee. Semi-structured interview has been chosen by the researcher because it has the ability to provide in-depth, objective information that account for the lack of improved school-community relationship. Though semi-structured interview will be used, the interview guide will still be used to keep the interviewer and interviewee on focus. Focus Group Discussions Focus group research can best be described as a loosely constructed discussion with a group of people brought together for the purpose of the study, guided by the research and addressed as a group. Due to the use of interviewing techniques, it is also referred to as focus group interviewing (as e.g. Bergaddresses it because and ;( ­ 1995, the group rather then specific members, it is also known as group discussion, (H. Kruger, 1983). Given that more then one group is usually included in the study, and each group constitute a separate sample of respondents, focus group can be seen as a multi-sample study. In most common application, this method entails, first the selection of people with a particular interest, expertise or position in the community, second, the formation of the group by bringing these people together in the same venue; third, the introduction of the discussion topic by the researcher, who acts as a facilitator and arbitrator, fourth, guiding the discussion so as to address the research topic, fifth, encouraging discussion among the members of the group rather than between them and the researcher, and sixth, observing and recording the discussion (sarantakos, 2005): The focus group method appears in two forms, the unstructured or semi-structured form and the structured form, which are employed by qualitative and quantitative researchers respectively (Stewart and shamdasani, 1990). Focus group discussing is employed to bring about changes in the group and its members, as a result of the direction and intensity of the discussion. It can further provide valuable information about group processes, attitude changes and manipulation, the attitudes and opinions of group members, the group or public, the effectiveness of certain methods and so on. It can also enable the testing of group strategies in solving problems (flick, 1998). Finally, the study of focus group can generate diversity and differences either within or between groups, and so revealà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. the dilemmatic nature of everyday arguments; (Lunt and Livingstone, 1996:96) This approach will be used to promote brainstorming and debate among the participants on key issues affecting school-community relationship in the district. Again focus group discussions promote the sharing and learning of new ideas among participants. The researcher will be part of the group discussion and moderating the process as well to keep the discussion on track. A total of 30 focus groups made of 15 people each will be engaged in the study (these are the PTA and SMC members of the 30 selected schools). How To Collect The Data For the purpose of data collection, the researcher will use the following tools; Interview Guide, Field Notes, and Recording. Interview Guide This will be very useful in this study. According to Borg and Gall (1989; 451), interview guide is a list containing questions mostly asked in a desired manner in the interview process. It serves as a guideline to the researcher on what to say, as the interview commences and ends. It is regarded as a checklist of topics to be covered by Dooley (1990:288), and it includes reminders of researchers interest arranged in an orderly manner to promote intercourse. In general terms, it is a guide but allowing actual questions to be framed during the interview to fit the natural tone of the intercourse between the interviewer and the interviewee. This helps to ensure that the interviewee remains unbiased in responses given. This also allows the researcher to select topics in advance but determines the sequence and wording of the questions during the interview process. (Mcmillan and Schumacher, 1993:426). The guide equally enables the researcher not to rigidly control the interview content such that the interviewee will not be able to tell the story in his own words. (Bogdan and Biklen,1992;97). For the purpose of this study, the researcher will promote flexibility by allowing the respondents to explain issues in their own words and language. Again, there will be instances in this study that the interviewer will not follow a specific order of the questions, but will rather link one response to another question not necessarily next in order as the need arises. Field Notes This will be used for noting information that may not be captured by the tape recording. This will serve as a buffer to remind the researcher during data analysis. According to Mcmillan and Schumacher (1993; 418), field notes are written at the end of each observation and describes in details the settings and activities of each subject. This will only be used for the participant observation. RECORDIING The most common methods of recording are: writing down information verbatim, in summary or in key words; tape recording conversations; video recording events; taking photographs, (sarantakoss,2006:229). For the purpose of this study tape recording, manual recording and coding will be used Tape Recording Tape recordings will also be used. Tape recordings are easier and certainly more efficient. The tapes can be listened to as many times as required, using more then one observer if desired, and this produces more accurate and more valid records (Sarandakos, 2005:229) The researcher will employ tape recordings during the interview process to record the intercourse that occurs between the interviewer and interviewee. The recordings will be played back later and the words transcribed for the purpose of data analysis. The interviewees permission will be sought by the interviewer before the use of tape recordings. The use of tape recording will help minimize possible errors that may result from forgetfulness on the part of the interviewer during the interview process. It can equally minimize the time spent in the interview. Manual RECORDIING Manual recording will equally be used, whereby two leaders will be used, with each of them taking notes in turn or one recording the data and the other acting as facilitator (sarantakos,2005). This will be transcribed later. Where circumstances do not allow for note taking, the observer will write down key words or phrases as a guide, and complete the notes after observation. CODING Codes serves as symbols, a shorthand recording, where actions and behaviors are replaced by numerals or keywords. This makes recording easier, particularly when there are many items to be recorded and many people to be observed. (sarantakos, 2005:230). SAMPLING Under qualitative designs for example where unstructured or participant observation is employed, the subjects are often chosen by means of purpose or theoretical sampling (sarantakos, 2005:224) The researcher acknowledges that the problem under study may be prevailing in other districts in the Northern Region; however the study will be limited to the Tolon/Kumbungu District of the Northern Region because there is high illiteracy rate in the district, coupled with low enrolment and high drop-out rates in the schools. (Tolon/Kumbungu District profile; 2004). Sampling is used for the study because the district has a large population size of 132,338 inhabitants (2000 population and housing census), therefore a focus on a small distinct group of participants (SMC, PTA, head teachers, circuit supervisors, chiefs, and assembly members), will enable the researcher to get an in-depth understanding of the problem of lack of improved school-community relationship in the Tolon/Kumbungu district. Purposive sampling will be the main sampling technique to use in the study. It is also the expectation of the researcher that the selected participants will be information-rich, because they are knowledgeable in terms of the phenomenon being studied. Purposive Sampling The researcher will select and interview community stakeholders in education such as PTA and SMC members, head teachers, circuit supervisors, chiefs, and assembly members. Responses and contributions of these people can form a good basis for carrying out analysis and stating findings of study in the district. There has been consensus by Gillham (2000); Mcmillan and Schumacher (1993:378); and Patton (1990:169) that purposive sampling involves selecting people with in-depth knowledge of the problem being studied, while keeping the number of interviews to a minimum for adequate representation. The people that will be selected for this study should have good ideas regarding the problem being studied. (Mcmillan and Schumacher, 1993; 378). Sample Size The district has 150 basic schools (Tolon/Kumbungu District Profile, 2004). A total of 70 people will be interviewed. This includes; 30 head teachers drawn from 30 schools out of a total of 150 basic schools in the district, 30 assembly members of the communities where these schools are located and 10 circuit supervisors supervising these schools .Study Area Tolon/Kumbungu district is chosen as the study area. The district covers a land area of 2,741 square kilometers and forms about 3.9% of the total land area of Northern Region. The district is one of the 45 new districts created by the erstwhile Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) Law 207 in 1988 and has Tolon as the Capital. The district is characterized by high illiteracy rate, coupled with low enrolment rates and high drop-out rate in schools. (Tolon/Kumbungu District Profile, 2004). DATA ANALYSIS Unlike quantitative research, where analysis is conducted after data collection, in qualitative research the timing of analysis varies. In some cases it follows the same path as in quantitative research, but in most cases it is conducted during data collection. A combination of both models is also possible (sarantakos, 2005:344) For the purpose of this research, data analysis will be done both, during and after data collection. While collecting data, the researcher will conduct some basic analysis, record the data, and further intensify data analysis after completing the study and focusing on more specific aspects of the research question as contained in the research. In a number of cases, analysis during data collection serves to guide research in the right direction, and to facilitate a more effective treatment and coverage of the research topic. The actual analysis is conducted after data gathering is completed (sarantakos, 2005:346). Computer-Aided Data analysis (CADA) will be used to analyze data. Computers can be, and are being used in qualitative research in the context of both pure qualitative research, where analysis is done the traditional way, and the so-called enriched qualitative research (contrad and Reinharz, 1984; Fielding and Lee, 1998; Fisher, 1997, Richards, 1986; Richards and Richards, 1987,1994; Weitzman and Miles, 1994). Computer aided data analysis (CADA) is used in many forms and allows the qualitative research to process data in a way parallel to that in quantitative research (Huber, 1991; Madron, Tate and Brookshire 1987; Ragin, 1987), (Sarantakos, 2005:357) A major data analysis instrument that will be employed in this study is concepts and indicators. Indicators are concrete data, such as behavior patterns and social events, which are observed or described in documents or interview texts. They indicate the presence of a concept which the researcher develops, at first provisionally and then with more confidence. (Sarantakos, 2005:347). Analysis will be done by thoroughly examining the field notes of what will be observed by the researcher and the responses of every participant that will be interviewed. In line with Maykut and Morehouse (1994: 135), the following data analysis steps will be adopted for the study; Recording the interview conducted, making a reflection of the process, and carrying out further observations and writing notes, comments, as well as memos. Transcribing what has been recorded in the exact words. This will be done immediately after the interviews of the day. All additional comments will be placed in brackets. Reading through the data that has been transcribed and stating clearly in writing, the meaning of the transcribed data. Coding the data and identifying the code meanings in line with research question. All key items or categories (the main ideas, words,or phrases) will be listed. The researcher will then go through the literature to find out whether responses of interviewees bear common grounds with the research topic as well as other respondents conclusions in similar research works. This is done for the purpose of testing the validity of the study. Data presentation Certainly, tables and graphs are useful tools of presentation in qualitative research, but the structure of presentation does not seem to adhere to any strict rules and procedures. TIME FRAME The researcher plans to spend a period of 5 months in carrying out the study including the compilation and presentation of the report.

The Crimes of Crime and Punishment :: Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment

The Crimes of Crime and Punishment Our topic for this paper is Crime and Punishmet, by Fyodor Dostoevsky   . There are several different issues on this subject.   We chose three main points to talk about: The Crimes, the People who solved them, and the different types of punishments.   These are the topics we chose for our report.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Crime in the nineteeth century was rapid though out London.   But because of all of the poverty and sickness in the streets, crime was the only way to survive.   Most of the crimes that took place in London were crimes that involved stealing.   Pickpocket gangs and street gamblers were a regular sight when walking down a major London street.   Prostitution was also a big money maker on the streets, done by both girls and boys.   But crimes though out the middle class and rich were mostly property crimes and disputes which made up 90% of all crimes committed by the upper-class.   In Victorian England and like   today there a two categories which crimes fall under.   "Indictable" which is the same as our felony crimes that make up all of the major crimes.   These crimes consist of: Murder,   armed robbery, burglary, larceny, rape, and assaults on the police.   The next called category is called " Summery " crimes which is equal to our misdemeanor crimes. Summery crimes were all minor crimes such as: Property crimes, Vagrancy, Drunkenness, Prostitution, Minor Larceny , and all other minor offenses.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Probably the most famous criminal in the Victorian period was " Jack the Ripper ". Jack the Ripper was " the first modern sexual serial killer" ( Sugden, pg.2) Jack's trademark was the killing of female prostitutes.   But not only did he kill them, he would surgically remove organs and intrails and place them near the dead body. "Jack the Ripper" wasn't his only nickname, he was also called " the Whitechaple murder " because   the body's were found near the Whitechapel Road, and " The Leather Apron" because of a man that would come by and beat up the prostitutes for no reason.   Jack the Ripper is credited for 9 killings, but police think that he might be responsible for more.   All of the killing accrued with in one square mile.   Jack is described as carrying a long knife in which he would cut open his victims, and a black Gladstone bag, the contents of   which is unknown.