Nothing Good Ever Comes from Violence

The twentieth century was the century of discovery for life . Dreadful diseases like diphtheria and leprosy were halted; sterile women have been given children; handicapped people were made a part of society. Numerous vaccines have been found to stop the most dangerous diseases. New technologies have enabled the creation of better conditions for life. International humanitarian organizations were felt all over the world where living conditions were not acceptable. Humanitarian aid have been sent many times where they were needed: Africa, Haiti, Pakistan, etc..Under these conditions, feeding his superego with illusions, man has become complacent. He is gracious and fair. He is, finally, human. However, what ultimately is not understood is that violence, which has its roots deep infiltrated in human consciousness , cancels all these developments. For each cured disease , hundreds of ways to return it are invented. For every child saved in high-tech hospitals there are another hundred k illed innocent children. Not a virus manages to disappear as we rush to replace it with another. Violence is everywhere.In this situation , the following idea needs to be understood : violence , in the common perception of this word, destroys everything we dream for. In this essay I will try to argue my thesis, demonstrating why each type of violence in part must be avoided. In the beginning, I’m obliged to clarify the essence of the term violence. Violence is the expression of physical and / or verbal force of one person against himself or another person / group of persons ,that brings the pain to whom it is addressed. There are several forms of violence : Physical, Sexual, Emotional, Psychological, Spiritual, Cultural, Verbal, Financial.Each one is a tragedy for one against whom it is directed. Violence is a primal part of human nature. Since ancient times, it has governed human acts. His destructive tendencies and self-defense were the ones that have characterized all his actions. However, for some time, the state claims, for better or worse, a monopoly on violence practiced within the confines of a specific territory ( Max Weber) ,realised by law and education, to impose the man to conform himself to cooperation and group working, whitch is much more effective and productive than the free violence.Violence is everywere. In families were husbands abuse their wives and children we speak about domestic violence. Domestic violence' is a specific form of violence in which physical, psychological, or sexual abuse is perpetuated by one spouse upon another, or by both partners upon each other. It is caused by many factors , including : the pure impuls control , lack of education,social stress, need of power and control, mental illnesses , etc. Domestic violence has a lot of negative results. Broken bones, head injuries ,internal bleeding are some of the acute effects .Hundreds of thousands of dead women and children annually: it is the result of domestic vi olence. And those who survive have a nightmare during all their life. A life marked by depresion, stress, fear, and anxiety. These symptoms are generally experienced for a long span of time after the victim has left the dangerous situation. But problems do not stop there. If victims can escape the abusers, they are tortured by the society. They don’t have money , they don’t have the ability to get money, they don’t have friends that can help them†¦ This leads many times to the suicide.For children, domestic violence can become an enormous psychological trauma that will change the perception of the world. For example, Hitler was physically abused by his father in childhood. Because of this, he became a sociopath and did what he did. Franz Kafka was educated under the moral domination of his father, which made him one of the biggest pessimists in the history of mankind. So, the domestic violence pursues its victims till the grave. War is another manifestation of violence on a very large scale. It is thought to be the key of solving of the territorial, ideological and resources problems.During the war, violence is encouraged in the highest level. After the Industrial Revolution, that is percepted as a very good event, the number of war victims has grown. For example, World War I has caused 40 mln victims and World War II – 70 mln. New technologies are constantly developed to ensure the governments of all countries with weapons to bring as many victims as possible. From the machinegun to the atomic bomb, every discovery is greeted with applause. Death smiles at us and we applaud. Then we go home, satisfied of ourselves, and criticize the politicians.We applaud, but then we close our eyes in front of terror victims. Do you think that after Hitler has caused 50 million victims in his war people haven’t made new weapons? Do you think that after Hiroshima and Nagasaki haven’t appeared new types of atomic bombs? We applaud them all. Every year on May 9, Russia shows its military force one the Red Square. And we applaud, proud of what we’ve created. While we’re applauding, millions of Africans die in civil wars, progress in the black continent can not be put on wheels, people dying of hunger because of civil wars.And we applaud. Much more horrible are the conflicts caused by religious, racial and national hate. During the middle age, near 300  000 people ( especially women ) were killed because of their religion. The Jews were killed and chased all other the Europe. The Crusades against Muslim have caused a lot of human and material prejudice. Interracial hatred, maintained by Ku Klux Klan in America, which has started since the late 19th century and continue fruitful so far, does not allow free evolution of American democracy, as well as the evolution of democracy all other the world.Thousands of people are killed in Russia, according to race. The new national-socialist organization a re growing rapidly . In a world where the Hungarian National Socialist Party gain 9% in the elections, progress is a castle on sand. Well†¦ This is our world – a world of violence. It surrounds us , wispers sweet words to our ears , decieve our eyes, feed our egos by illusions, and continues its very productive work. Millions of people die from violence.Is not it enough that we die because of pollution and unhealthy way of life? Should we help nature in the murder? Is it not time that the understanding between people to become the engine of a better life? We arrived at times when the slightest mistake could cost us a lot. We are on an unstable platform and only on us depens our future. A future soaked in the blood of violence or dried by the Sun of welfare. It’s our turn to choose now. Listen Read phonetically Listen Read phonetically

A & P versus The Widow of Ephesus

Women have always been playing catch up with men. Society has always portrayed women in a manner that revolves around them being shallow, materialistic, licentious, and willing to do anything to appeal to the opposite sex. In the stories of â€Å"A & P† and â€Å"The Widow of Ephesus,† it is no different. In fact the notion is accentuated in both stories. Women are portrayed as pathetic beings with explanatory yet unjustified backgrounds about their incompetence to resist attention or a handsome man. The female genre is perceived as one wit a shallow demeanor and weakness because of their inability to resist desires and lack the maturity to act sensibly. + Women continuously seek out the attention of men. In â€Å"The Widow of Ephesus†, through the character of a widow, women are portrayed as beings who cannot resist a handsome man. Her fidelity â€Å"was so famous that women came from far and near just to get a glimpse of her†(paragraph 2), and even after her husband died, she stayed by his side. However, the author's true feelings about women were revealed when a handsome soldier was brought into the picture. After bringing food down to the widow in her husband's tomb for some time, â€Å"this woman stopped resisting, and she accepted the young soldier's love just as she had accepted his food† (paragraph 11). In â€Å"A & P†, the young girl's were first portrayed as people who were somewhat questionable when it came to their innocence, which is the exact opposite depiction as in â€Å"The Widow of Ephesus†. They are looked down upon for their lack of clothing and illustrated as creatures that were only visually intriguing. The guy in the store is obviously an experienced girl-watcher because he said the â€Å"whole store was like a pinball machine and I didn't know which tunnel they'd come out of† (paragraph 12). So, he was unmistakably interested in the fact that they were wearing bating suits. In the end however, Sammy sticks up for the innocence that all girl's delineate and quits his job at the store after his boss embarrasses the girls by yelling at them for their outfits. He is depicted as heroic for his ways and will respect girls, now that he has seen what it does not to respect them. The social world's described in each story present an enlightening background for the behavior of each character. In the â€Å"Widow of Ephesus,† the woman is one of faith and loyalty to a man whom she had loved for her entire life. She was so in love with this man that she â€Å"accompanied the dead body right into the tomb, and after the coffin was placed in the vault†¦ she began a vigil†¦ weeping and wailing day and night† (paragraph 2). This gives the effect of how shallow women are to the author when, in one short period of time, this woman sleeps with another man because of his looks. When referring to â€Å"A & P†, these three girl's live by the beach, so wearing a bathing suit is perfectly normal. However, when the girls are dismissed from the store in front of strangers, they are embarrassed and made to feel inferior. A man made a woman feel like she was inferior because of how she was dressed. And, although Sammy was going to be looked down upon, he decided that him quitting his job was the necessary thing to do because when â€Å"you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it† (paragraph 31). The embarrassment that the widow and the three girl's felt after they were condemned for their behavior warrants sympathy. The Widow was a woman who spent her entire life with one man and her grieving was well known throughout many different places. She lost the one man that she had ever loved and she couldn't bear to live with that compassion and sense of security that her husband brought to her. To have such a feeling of security and safety and then lose it, is a heartache that sanctions sympathy and pity. In â€Å"A & P,† the three teenagers were looked down upon for what they are wearing and how they are presenting themselves. They are embarrassed in front of customers whom they have never even met by a man who also a complete stranger because they are displaying themselves in an inappropriate manner. They are made to feel as if they are doing something wrong, in a rude and ignorant way, which results in commiseration by the reader. Women are constantly looked down upon for their actions and outward appearances. It is obvious that the author of â€Å"The Widow of Ephesus† thinks very lowly of women through his portraying of the entire female gender as shallow, trifling people who base things only on what they see. It is also clear that the author of â€Å"A & P† is one who thinks somewhat better about women than the other author, but still characterizes them as people who use their looks to get attention and then when they get the wrong attention, girls say that guys are the pigs. It's all a matter of the battle of the sexes, and in the future, there might quite possibly never be a winner.

The Dangers of Radio Isotopes

Dangers of Radioisotopes: when radlatlon collides with molecules In living cells It can damage them. If the DNA In the nucleus of a cell is damaged, the cell may become cancerous. The cell then goes out of control, divides rapidly and causes serious health problems. Radiation warning symbol The greater the dose of radiation a cell gets. the greater the chance that the cell will become cancerous. However, very high doses of radiation can kill the cell completely. We use this property of radiation to kill cancer cells, and also harmful bacteria and other micro-organisms.The hazard symbol Is shown on containers of radioactive substances to warn of the danger. Alpha. beta and gamma radiation The degree to which each different type of radiation is most dangerous to the body depends on whether the source is outside or inside the body. If the radioactive source Is Inside the body, perhaps after being swallowed or breathed In: Alpha radiation is the most dangerous because it is easily absorb ed by cells. Beta and gamma radiation are not as dangerous because they are less likely to be absorbed by a cell and will usually just pass right through it.If the radioactive source is outside the body: Alpha radiation is not as dangerous because it Is unlikely to reach living cells inside the body. Beta and gamma radiation are the most dangerous sources because they can penetrate the skin and damage the cells inside. Radioactive rays are penetrating and ionizing and can therefore destroy living cells. Small does of radiation over an extended period may cause cancer and eventually death. strong does can kill Instantly. Marle curle and Enrico Fermi died due to exposure to radiation. Several precautions should be observed while handling adioisotopes. Some of these are listed in the following:- 1 .No radioactive substance should be handled with bare hands. Alpha and beta emitters can be handled using thick gloves. Gamma ray emitters must be handled only by remote control that is by me chanical means Gamma rays are the most dangerous and over exposure can lead to serious biological damage. 2. Radioactive materials must be stored In thick lead containers. 3. Reactor and laboratories dealing with and conducting experiments with radioactive metals must be surrounded with thick concrete lined with lead. . People working with radioactive Isotopes must wear protective clothing which Is left in the laboratory.The workers must be checked regularly with dosimeters. and appropriate measures should be taken in cases of overdose. 5. Radioactive waste must be sealed and buried deep in the ground. ‘Of3 LOCK ra010actlve stock materlals ana sealed sources In a secured contalner or a secured storage area when not in use. A stock material is radioactive material as provided by the vendor and does not include material withdrawn from the original stock for experimental use. Do not leave radioactive materials unsecured in an unattended lab, even for a short time, unless the lab is locked.Supervise visitors to the lab. When visitors who are not accompanied by authorized lab personnel enter the lab, find out who they are and why they are there. If you discover that radioactive material is missing or lost and cannot be accounted for, notify EHS no later than the next business day. Keeping Radiation Exposure ALARA (top) The acronym ALARA, which stands for As Low As Reasonably Achievable, means that radiation workers should make every reasonable effort to keep radiation exposures s far below regulatory dose limits as practical.Adhering to the following practices can help keep radiation doses ALARA. Be familiar with the properties of the radioisotope to be used and with any precautions and concerns specific to that radioisotope and material. (See Appendix B for detailed information about the radioisotopes most commonly used at the University). Unfamiliar radioisotope procedures should be rehearsed before radioactive material is actually used. Wear protective clo thing. Wear radiation monitor badges when appropriate. Have all the necessary materials and equipment available and ready at the start of a procedure.For those radioisotopes with significant external radiation levels, use remote handling tools, such as tongs, to limit direct handling of stock and sample vials. Survey frequently and extensively. Don't assume that contamination will only be found on the bench top. Clean up contamination in the work area promptly. Change gloves and lab coats as they become contaminated. Work in a hood during procedures using volatile materials such as 1-125 or millicurie amounts of S-35 methionine/cysteine. Cover radioactive waste cans at all times and store waste cans away from areas in which people spend substantial amounts of time.Provide shielding for waste cans with significant external radiation levels. Do not store contaminated materials, including gels, at any desk area. Survey yourself and your clothing when radioisotope work is finished and b efore leaving the lab. Protective Clothing (top) Lab accidents often involve spills or splashes which can readily contaminate exposed wrists, legs and feet. For any work with an open radioactive source, wear: gloves (the ongest length available) a full-length lab coat (worn closed with sleeves rolled down) close-toed shoes.

Strengths and Weaknesses of YouTube in India Essay

Strengths and Weaknesses of YouTube in India - Essay Example It also contains different kinds of localized contents, from videos to all genres of music from all over the world to suit the growing musical and entertainment needs. The user interface is easy to understand and use. It enjoys copyright privileges and hence, the rights of the artists are protected. One is able to learn a lot from Google from the do it yourself tutorials. On the other hand, there are some competitions that people make money from sharing the content with friends; hence this may be a source of income for those who spend loads of their time on the site (J.M, 2007). On Opportunities, YouTube has some experts that have provided the people with a platform to showcase their creativity through the tutorials, movies, and music. They are therefore able to get potential clientele from the same. YouTube allows one to be the shareholder; this is done by uploading some videos with no copyright issues. They may then give you a share of the revenue collected depending on the views and the interest spurred among the audience. The weaknesses of YouTube are that: it has week parental advisory features; hence, minors often view explicit content. This encourages addictions to pornography, drug abuse and violent contents that lead to vices in the communities. Through video tutorials, minors may also learn bad behavior if they are not monitored. It may also be the entry of cheap counterfeit videos in the market as everyone may upload mediocre content (Botscher, 2011). The Threats that YouTube normally faces is that, with no copyright licenses, musicians and actors/actresses often face losses as their videos are often downloaded and hence, a slump in their sales. There are arguments that some YouTube posts can tarnish a good image or reputations of people or organizations. Institutions like universities have banned their students from accessing the site in the School Computer centers.

The Consequences of Stratification Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Consequences of Stratification - Essay Example The end of acquisition and accumulation is conventionally held to be the consumption of the goods accumulated--whether it is consumption directly by the owner of the goods or by the household attached to him and for this purpose identified with him in theory. This is at least felt to be the economically legitimate end of acquisition, which alone it is incumbent on the theory to take account of. Such consumption may of course be conceived to serve the consumer's physical wants--his physical comfort--or his so-called higher wants--spiritual, Ã ¦sthetic, intellectual, or what not; the latter class of wants being served indirectly by an expenditure of goods, after the fashion familiar to all economic readers (Grusky, 1994). It is of course not to be overlooked that in a community where nearly all goods are private property the necessity of earning a livelihood is a powerful and ever-present incentive for the poorer members of the community. The need of subsistence and of an increase of physical comfort may for a time be the dominant motive of acquisition for those classes who are habitually employed at manual labor, whose subsistence is on a precarious footing, who possess little and ordinarily accumulate little; but it will appear in the course of the discussion that even in the case of these impecunious classes the predominance of the motive of physical want is not so decided as has sometimes been assumed. On the other hand, so far as regards those members and classes of the community who are chiefly concerned in the accumulation of wealth, the incentive of subsistence or of physical comfort never plays a considerable part. Ownership began and grew into a human institution on grounds unrelated to the subsistence minimum. The dominant incentive was from the outset the invidious distinction attaching to wealth and, save

Powerpoint is Evil Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Powerpoint is Evil - Assignment Example PowerPoint, just like any other piece of technology, helps enhance learning and how students relate with their teachers and interact with content. Teacher-centered uses of technology are not as effective as student-centered ones. Student centered technology allows students to be more creative and view content in new ways. For example, in the NPR program, one of the teachers notes that PowerPoint has enabled her students to retell the story in new perspectives. With teacher-centered technology, the teacher is still in charge of learning, and this does not really change it from the traditional teacher-centric classroom. One of the most important aspects of the student-centered uses of technology is that it allows the learner to organize his activities, thereby making the student responsible for his own learning. PowerPoint, for instance, can help students organize their information in new and exciting ways that are appreciated by both the student himself and the teacher. Through student-centered technology, learners will be in a position to build connections with the various materials that have been covered in class. As noted in the NPR program for instance, PowerPoint allows students to bring together information from a variety of sources. Student-centered use of technology is thus

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 18

History - Essay Example Death because the bubonic strain is typified by â€Å"large, inflamed lymph nodes around the neck, groin and armpits† that would turn black with the progression of the disease (Hayden, â€Å"History of The Black Death†). The spread of the disease was fast and crossed countries and continents within months as rat fleas feeding on infected black rats, causing the fleas to hunger for more sources of blood, were transported through ships that sailed from the East to the West (Hayden, â€Å"History of The Black Death†). Combined with the unsanitary conditions of the cities back then and contagion became inevitable. â€Å"The violence of this disease was such that the sick communicated it to the healthy who came near them, just as a fire catches anything dry or oily near it† (â€Å"The Black Death, 1348†). This was evidenced by black flags that were hung on villages and towns that were infected by the plague; almost everywhere these black flags were seen flying in the air (Butler, â€Å"The Black Death and its Impact (c.1300-1450)†). The rapid devastation of village and city populations created an aura of doom and fear—experiences that were never forgotten and gotten over with. Entire families died; survivors did not even have time to mourn their loved ones as the fear of contacting the disease was all-consuming (Holmes 249). People were forced to throw their loved ones in mass graves of ditches without a proper burial ceremony and even a hastened prayer (Holmes 249; James, â€Å"Black Death: The lasting impact†). â€Å"And there were those who had been so poorly covered with earth that dogs dragged them from there and through the city and fed on corpses† (qtd. in Holmes 249). Experiences like this are etched into the memory of the people and has inadvertently affected the psyche and morale of not only the individual, but of populations worldwide. This has resulted to a change in the way of living, especially for the peasants who were affected greatly as they did not have the

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

Phil - Essay Example Based on Bacon’s idea we could substantially deduce the thought that initiating experiments is a must in order to learn something more about the nature’s secret. In fact, we learned more about genetic engineering and its associated human benefits for instance because scientists were able to initiate studies or experiments and are still on the continuing process of doing them, which according to Bacon’s discourse are form or means of disturbing or annoying nature just to unearth potential deeper learning or understanding about it. Descartes’ assertion on the other hand is focused on separting from the natural world and so to make precise measurement possible. It is about modifying physical process from one system of constraints to another (Descartes and Gaukroger 8). Just like Bacon, Descartes could still be referring to the inclusion of experimental process in order to make certain of the nature’s essential hidden information. It is only this way th at humans would be able to come up with a definite or precise explanation how everything is going on in the physical world. 2. What is the goal of Bacon’s and Descartes’ new science? Articulate the goal itself, and why it is necessary human goal. Articulate how the goal shapes the new way of inquiry and its new starting point. The goal of Bacon’s and Descartes’ new science is to uncover the secret of the nature. For them, this is a necessary human goal because it will lead to the betterment of life. The advancement of technology for instance has been made possible through consistent and existing scientific inquiry. Various technologies are able to give life’s comfort and even improvement of the humans’ way of living and this is because of the continuing quest to inquire the world and uncover the very secret that every human being should understand. Concerning this goal, Bacon and Descartes might be implying the fact that we need to be more a ggressive with our inquiry in order to promote the remarkable way of understanding the nature and even extend our power and dominion over the universe. Today, the new way of inquiry might have a strong relevance with the ideas of Bacon and Descartes. As the human technology advances, many things that are kept hidden before us from the past are momentarily revealed right before our eyes today. Science and technology are combined together in order to promote more dynamic output in the process of scientific inquiry. Research designs are formulated from time to time just to be able to acquire relevant information that would make sense prior to acquiring the appropriate inference. In other words, though the basic foundation implied from the ideas of Bacon and Descartes remains, what is very obvious is the fact that there are dynamic improvements or changes in the inquiry and its new starting point is revealed through the allocation of existing information and developed technologies. 3. F or Locke, what is the state of nature? How are liberty, equality and law found in the state of nature? In what way does Locke expect his reader to find his natural law teaching in this state â€Å"a strong doctrine†? Locke’s idea of the state of nature concerns with men who can reach order without being controlled by someone else. It is therefore a state of perfect freedom and equality, as every one lives together according to reason under the law of nature (McDowell 146). Under Locke’

The Finance and Six Sigma Quality Connection Research Paper

The Finance and Six Sigma Quality Connection - Research Paper Example According to the study conducted while operations management was being carefully studied to play the efficient, enabling function to other business functions, the field had been enabled by several highly-interrelated business functions. Pursuant to any operational implementation, cost analyses, which are tasked to the financial department, are used to assess the implementations’ â€Å"financial spin-offs†. Operation management’s Six Sigma Quality was not exempted from these analyses. Businesses planning to employ or implement the Six Sigma Quality have to set an acceptable cost reduction ratio, estimate the incurring implementation costs and resultant cost-savings, and reconcile these figures to postulate or invalidate the operational implementation. Collectively, the organization does not just want to see the improvement in operational efficiency, quality, or quantity; it also wants to make sure that Six Sigma Quality’s implementation is cost-wise and a s ignificant cost-saver. The recent craze in adopting the Six Sigma Quality on other business functions, such as financial management, is rapidly progressing. For instance, Ansari et al.’s â€Å"Application of Six-Sigma in Finance: A Case Study† explored the nature of the applicability of Six Sigma Quality to the five core processes of defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling. In the financial process of department-based financial reporting, the define phase implicates the necessity and importance of a ‘standardized process’ that is cleared of ‘non-value added steps.... cost and financial planning for all business divisions,† and â€Å"identifying all non–value added and confusing steps to reduce reporting cycle time and cost† (5-6). In other words, in the financial process of department-based financial reporting, the define phase implicates the necessity and importance of a ‘standardized process’ that is cleared of ‘non-value added steps.’ Measure. In this phase, it is crucial that a clear documenting and consistent monitoring covers the department-based financial reporting process to avert from providing â€Å"opportunities for non–value added activities such as errors, excess movement, additional IT training and maintenance costs, inconsistent data, and waiting time† from decrementing the process value (Ansari et al. 6). Thus, the documentation and monitoring of the financial process safeguards the whole process through providing substantial data or figures to measure progress and conduc t the next analysis phase. Analysis. This phase should be able to pinpoint the probable operational inefficiencies in the financial process. These inefficiencies may include but are not limited to the â€Å"lack of complete firm cost and financial plans,† as well as the existing, â€Å"multiple sources of data and databases† (Ansari et al. 7). Overall, this phase should be sufficient in enlightening the finance department the nature of the inefficiencies involved, the inherent levels of impact, the sector most affected by the impact, as well as specific process-parts for improvement. As soon as these things are shed light and well-understood, the phase makes room for the next phase, the improvement phase. Improve. This phase is relatively a two-fold phase; while it looks at the direct or actual improvements conceived out of the previous

Pet Wonderland Services (PWS) Essay Example for Free

Pet Wonderland Services (PWS) Essay Introduction to the organization Pet Wonderland Services (PWS) is a new business in pets industry. PWS first shop was at Shah Alam section 13. Although there are several pets shop in Shah Alam, PWS wil brings new services to the animal lovers communities as. Vision To serve the best quality, friendly and effective service and fulfill customer satisfaction. Mission To be one of the top pet shop that brings the most high quality and effective services in the Malaysia. â€Å"Your pets is our responsible too† Objective The main objective of this service is to ease community that they would not have to bring their pet to our shop but we will go to their house and give the services that they wanted to. In our services, we only provide the best pets product and we will consult with the owner about their pets first so that we can use an appropriate an suitable pet’s product to their pets. We want to deliver a quality services so that customer will believe in us. We are not just gaining profit, we are also gaining trust to our customer and love to the animal.

Extracting DNA From Living Samples

Extracting DNA From Living Samples Karen Stevenson Introduction Collecting DNA samples from animals is often difficult and stressful for the animal, so non-invasive methods of collection are needed. Extracting DNA from animals usually involves one of three methods: Destructive sampling involves the organism having to be killed to get the tissues needed for genetic analysis.  Non-destructive or invasive methods require a tissue biopsy or blood sample. These are the most ethically acceptable and humane ways to extract DNA from living organisms as they do not destroy the animal or its habitat and often any DNA from feathers, hair, skin, droppings, etc. can be used, although DNA samples do degrade over time which will subsequently decrease the accuracy of test results. Freeland (2005) discusses a number of processes for DNA preservation including the method we used in the class experiment which is described in this report. High quality DNA shows up in bright contrasting bands on the electrophoresis gel but poor quality DNA displays a blurred or smudged look. Gender will show up as either one or two separate bands. Unlike in mammals where the heterogametic male (XY) will show up as two bands and the homogametic female (XX) will show up on the gel as one band, with birds, this is the opposite and the male is the homogametic and his ZZ genotype shows up as one distinct band while the heterogametic female ZW genotype shows up as two distinct bands on the gel. It is very difficult to determine the gender of very young chicks because there are no visible dimorphisms yet and poultry producers need to determine the sexes well before the animals begin to mature. Modern molecular genetic methods mean we can profile for individual genomes from very small amounts of DNA, whereas historically much larger samples were needed to get accurate results. In this experiment we followed procedures outlined by Hogan, Loke Sherman (2012) in our Prac manual to extract DNA from three tissue types of a domestic chicken to determine the sex of the sample and also to compare the quality and amount of DNA from the three samples. Materials and Methods Tissue Samples. Feathers, muscle tissue and blood samples were supplied by the technicians in the lab. The tissues were taken from a domestic chicken Gallus gallus domesticus. DNA Extraction from Blood, Feather and Muscle Samples We extracted our Our DNA with the Quiagen DNA purification kit DNeasy Blood Tissue Kit (2012). PCR is a faster and more sensitive method of amplifying DNA than cloning, and it produces similar results. We used bird sexing primers to build up the gender-specific loci CHD1W and CHD1Z, which allowed us to determine the gender of the chicken from a method developed by Fridolfsson and Ellegren (1999) using universal avian sexing primers 2250F and 2718R. The class results were collected and graphed so that our individual results could be compared. Negative control, male and female controls were used to conclude whether our hypothesis that Blood and tissue samples would yield a better quality of DNA than feather even though these methods are more invasive than extracting DNA from the blood spot in a feather shaft. In this experiment we extracted DNA from a blood clot in the feather as in the Horvath, Martinez-Cruz, Negro and Goday (2005) procedure, which showed that this was more successful than using material from the tip and this blood clot sample took longer to deteriorate than the tip sample. We did not know how old the feathers were, nor the age of the bird. DNA extraction procedures work by lysing cells, which causes the cell membrane to break free from the cell. Proteinase K can be added to detach the proteins and RNA can be removed with the RNAse. The DNA is then precipitated out using ethanol and further improved using PCR methods and visualized using the electrophoresis procedure. The Section containing the blood spot was cut out using a sharp pair of scissors and cut into tiny pieces and added to 180 µL of Buffer ATL before digestion with Proteinase K (180 µL pipetted into a sterile 1.5 mL microfuge tube) was then incubated at 56ËÅ ¡C for 30 minutes (briefly mixed in the vortex every 10 minutes), after which the cells had been lysed. To precipitate the DNA we added 200 µL of 95% ethanol (AR grade) and mixed in the vortex for a further 15 seconds. The lysed DNA was then pipetted into the DNeasy Mini spin column and centrifuged at 8000 rpm (6000 x g) for 1 minute, binding the DNA to the membrane in the spin column, ready for washing. The spin column was placed in a new microfuge collection tube in which 500 µL Buffer AW1 was pipetted, centrifuged for 1 minute at 6000 x g (8000rpm) and the flow-through was discarded. Again the DNeasy spin column was placed into a new collection tube, 500 µL of Buffer AW2 added and centrifuged for 3 minutes at maxi mum speed (13 – 14,000 rpm), removed from the flow-through (which was discarded in hazardous waste receptacle), placed back into the collection tube and centrifuged again at maximum speed for a further minute to remove any ethanol. The spin column was then removed from the tube (which was discarded). After placing the spin column into a clean 1.5mL collection tube it was labelled appropriately and 100 µL of Buffer AE was pipetted straight onto the centre of the DNeasy membrane and incubated at room temperature for 1 minute, centrifuged for 1 minute at 6000 x g (8000 rpm) to elute it. The DNA was now pelleted in the bottom of the tube, so the spin column was discarded and the pellet stored in its tube in a cold box at -20ËÅ ¡C. Electrophoresis Method During electrophoresis, the negatively charged DNA fragments travelled towards the positive cathode causing the smaller protein fragments to move quicker than larger particles. The DNA was visualized as bright bands on the gel, which had been stained with GelRed which is a chemical used to increase mutation rates, multiplies the product and is assumed to be carcinogenic. The agar gel and TAE buffer had been prepared earlier in the microwave and allowing the gel to cool to 50 °C. GelRed was carefully added to 150mL of gel for a final concentration of 0.5 µL mL-1.The casting tray was carefully put into the gel tank with the black moulding gates at both ends. The comb was inserted after the gel had been poured into the tray inserted, then left for 30 minutes at room temperature to set. 10 µL of the DNA chicken feather sample we extracted previously was mixed with the 6x loading dye into a fresh microfuge tube. Wearing rubber gloves, we removed the black casting plates and the comb and then added the TAE buffer until the entire gel was submerged by 5mm. The first and last wells had molecular weight markers ÃŽ »HindIIIand 2-log ladder added and our DNA samples were pipetted into an empty well, noting the position. We applied the cover and connected to the power unit and ran it for 60 minutes at 120V. The DNA proceeded to float from the negative cathode (black cable) to the positive anode (red cable). When finished, we removed the gel tray and transferred it on a plastic container to the Gel Doc System for visualizing the images. PCR method We used the Polymerase Chain Reaction method to expand the DNA so that it could be viewed using electrophoresis. The PCR procedure involved cycles of heating then cooling the DNA which enabled the helix to unwind and bind. We prepared the Mastermix negative and positive controls using 40 µL of the PCR Mastermix and 10 µL of the DNA sample mixed into a 0.2mL PCR tube. Each group had individually calculated amounts using the chart in the Prac manual. We prepared tubes for male control, female control and one negative control (these were provided by the lab). We then placed the tubes into a thermo-cycler and initiated the program which had been perfected to augment the CHD1W and CHD1Z genes using the primers. When this was done, the DNA was then put on a 1% agar gel comb (that had been microwaved and cooled to 50ËÅ ¡C) in a 1 x SB buffer solution for 20 minutes. Wearing gloves, we added 15 µL of 3 x GelRed solution to 150mL of agar gel. We prepared the DNA samples by mixing 10 µL of PCR with 2 µL of 6x loading dye, pipetted it into the gel combined with 5 µL of a 100bp molecular weight marker. The sample was pipetted into an empty well in the gel, location documented and after closing and securing the lid, the electrophoresis unit was run at 300V for 20 minutes. When the gel had finished running the power was turned off, gel removed carefully and put into a plastic container and transported to the Gel Doc unit. The bands were then visualised using the Gel Doc System. Results The class groups successfully extracted DNA from all three types of tissue. Due to incorrect or absent labelling of DNA samples, we were unable to use some of the gel images in our report. Figure 1 shows the Gel electrophoresis from a co-operative class Muscle and Blood DNA extraction using Qiagen 2012, DNeasy Blood Tissue Kit, with blood showing up in more distinctive bands, muscle failing to show clear bands and feather samples extracted (on a separate gel image) displayed poorly using electrophoresis. Hogan, Loke Sherman (2012) explain how the DNA concentrations are measured by comparing the brightness of the sample to the 2log Molecular Weight Marker over the amount of DNA pipetted into the well. Figure 1: Blood muscle DNA extraction using (Qiagen 2012, DNeasy Blood Tissue Kit) Figure 2: Feather DNA extraction using (Qiagen 2012, DNeasy Blood Tissue Kit) After extraction and visualization using electrophoresis, our samples were diluted give comparable concentrations. If the band was too faint or not even visible we left it undiluted but most of muscle and blood samples were dilute. Figure 2 shows the Gel electrophoresis from our feather DNA extraction sample with no discernible results. This was expected. Table 1: Mean nucleic acid concentrations muscle, blood and feather DNA extraction using nanodrop technique From table 1, results show us the average DNA concentration of the three tissue types and reveals that compared to feather, muscle samples provided the best quality of extracted DNA, followed closely by the blood samples. Our test yielded 5 muscle samples, 6 feather samples and 8 blood samples as well as the 2 unspecified class samples. Because 1 feather sample and 1 blood sample failed to clearly show any visible DNA (see figures 1 2), they influence the averages. In the face of this, however, the resulting average sample DNA concentrations reveal that muscle still produced the highest class of extracted DNA in comparison to the blood samples. The feather sample still showed the poorest DNA quality, which related with our expected outcomes. Ladder Male control Female control Negative control Jack’s sample DNA Sample DNA Karen Feather DNA Sample Negative control Female control Male control Ladder Figure 3 shows the Gel electrophoresis from our feather DNA extraction sample with the male, female and negative controls. DNA had been amplified from the extraction and visualized using electrophoresis to determine the sex of the bird that our sample was taken from. Results successfully indicate that sexes were able to be determined. Our PCR result matched the expected result and we determined our sample to be ZW female and Jack’s sample to be ZZ male. This experiment matched the Fridolfsson and Ellegren (1999) procedure except that we used a 1% agar gel to visualize the DNA fragments via electrophoresis and Fridolfsson and Ellegren used a 3% gel as well as our use of a commercial kit (Quiagen 2012). Discussion The quality of DNA extracted varied between our different tissue samples although all we were able to amplify all of them using the non-invasive technique PCR. Extracting DNA from a blood clot of a feather is an option when alternative methods (blood or muscle) are not suitable. The destructive muscle samples provided a better class and measure of DNA in comparison to the feather samples, however destructive methods of DNA extraction necessitate the slaughter of the organism and is not typically ethically acceptable particularly when endangered species are involved. Invasive blood sampling provided a high quality of DNA in terms of results and should be used in preference to destructive methods if non-invasive methods are not possible. The disadvantage of blood sampling is that if the procedure is done in the field, it necessitates the capture of the organism to extract the blood sample as well as the storage while out in the field as DNA deteriorates over time. Although DNA from fea ther samples gives a lower quality than the other two methods discussed, they are usually easier to obtain in the field because capture, plucking and release are far less invasive that taking blood or killing the animal for muscle tissue (Mundy et al. 1997) and usually can be collected from nests or off the ground without having to involve capturing the animal at all. This experiment was conducted over a number of weeks. DNA deteriorates over time and storage is therefore very important. Freeland (2005) discusses the importance of preserving DNA to circumvent DNA molecules from re-arranging and so affect the results when amplified by the PCR technique. We froze the DNA at -20 °C to preserve the samples in between both practical sessions. While performing the practical sessions, our DNA was generally kept at room temperature which could possibly have caused some deterioration but this is not very likely to cause large variations of DNA quality as all our samples were exposed to the same conditions. Cold-boxes were used to store the DNA samples but all products including the DNA were kept at room temperature for the duration of both practical’s and this could easily have been avoided by asking the students to me mindful of the importance of preserving the DNA in order to get better quality DNA for extraction. References Freeland, J (2005).  Molecular Ecology. Wiley. Chichester. Fridolfsson, A and Ellegren, H. (1999). A simple and universal method for molecular sexing of non-ratite birds. Journal of Avian Biology. 30, 116 – 121. Hogan, F., Loke, S., and Sherman, C. (2012)  SLE254 Genetics: Practical Manual 2012~ Sex Determination of the Domestic Chicken (Gallus Gallus).Deakin University. Burwood. 1-46. Horvath, M. Martinez-Cruz, B. Negro, J. Kalmar, L and Goday, J. (2005). An overlooked DNA source for non-invasive genetic analysis in birds. Journal of Avian Biology. 36, 84-88. Mundy, N. Unitt, P., and Woodruff, D. (1997). Skin from feet of museum specimens as a non-destructive source of DNA for avian genotyping. Auk 114, 126-129. Qiagen. (2012).  Sample Assay Technologies: DNeasy Blood Tissue Kit.Retrieved September, 11th2012 Taberlet, P. Waits, L. and Luikart, G. (1999). Noninvasive genetic sampling: look before you leap. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 14, 323 – 327.

Gender inequality in Education

Gender inequality in Education This report has been written because the main aim of this research project is to investigate if there is a gender gap between boys and girls achievement in schools. Whether the education system was biased to one gender? If so what are the factors which cause this? Are there any possible solutions that can be used to solve this? The reasons behind why boys do not achieve as well as girls in school. The objectives of this report are to discuss, to discover and investigate why there is gender gap also why boys lack behind girls. This report examines to discuss the causes of this gender gap in schools for girls and boys. The issues that will be discussed in this report are as follows: the history behind the gender gap in achievement in schools because boys were once doing better than girls. The reason for this was that girls had to stay home has housewives also girls had to gain more marks in 11 plus exams than boys. Another aspect that will be looked at are schools too feminised which m ay give an advantage to girls. Other ideas which will be argued are how the curriculum is implemented and how subjects are assessed in schools. Other factors that may affect boys achievement in schools are peer pressure from friends if they worked hard in school they may be stereotyped as a geek also learning styles may affect attainment. But does social class and ethnicity affect the achievement of children in schools. However there are subjects that favour boys than girls and vice a versa such as boys do better than girls in maths and science but on the other hand girls do better in English. This report will evaluate factors that can improve this gap by having single sex classes and single sex schools. The report will contrast the for and the against arguments of having single sex classes and single sex schools. Definitions of the word gender differences Literature review There has been a lot of work done on boys and girls achievement in schools: narrowing down the gap. In 1960 young boys were 21 times more likely to attend university than girls. It can be suggested that the changing world is having an impact on boys achievement in terms of boys attainment in schools and that of girls success in schools. It was suggested that the equal pay act and that of the sex discrimination act (1970) changed the emphases of education policy and that can be noted as a key period of history that changed the objectives of girls in terms of careers and attainment. Girls had to achieve higher marks in their 11 plus examination than boys. Elwood J et al (1998, p.5) states that 11 plus examination à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ children used to be selected for secondary schooling, were deliberately skewed so that girls had t achieve better results than boys. The period 1950-1960 found the reasons behind this was because boys matured later than girls which would not have been fair to l eave out boys from attending grammar schools. But in 1990 their was concern over boys achievement in schools. It has been suggested that in societies such as the UK the socialisation process as it operated at least up to the 1970s meant that many parents socialised their daughters to show dependence, obedience, conformity and domesticity whereas boys were encouraged to be dominant, competitive and self-reliant. Also when young children saw their parents acting out traditional gender roles many would perceive these roles as natural and inevitable leading girls and boys to imagine their futures as fulltime housewives and mothers and as fulltime paid employees respectively. In schools teachers praised girls for feminine qualities and boys for masculine qualities; boys and girls were encouraged to opt for traditional male and female subjects and then for traditional male and female careers. Furthermore in certain sections of the mass media [and especially perhaps in teenage magazines] girls were encouraged to recognize the all importance of finding Mr. Right and settling down to a life of blissf ul domesticity in their traditional housewife-mother roles. Cole (2006, p.26) suggests that even before children go to school their parents will treat a boy and girl very different. Even in society throughout history this has occurred. A lot of research has gone into this; your gender is an issue from the minute you are born. Automatically society will say how a girl will behave and how a boy will behave. If it is a boy, oh hes like that because hes a boy and boys always take longer to grasp it. Girls, even in the late 1960s were more likely than boys to gain 5 or more GCE Ordinary Level pass grades. From the 1960s to the 1980s the percentages of girls and boys gaining 5 or more GCE Ordinary Level pass grades gradually increased but the so-called gender gap in educational attainment increased especially once the GCSE was introduced primarily because girls have maintained their traditional higher attainment levels in Arts and Humanities subjects but also reduced [and in some years overturned] the traditional attainment gaps in favour of boys in Mathematics and Science subjects. The GCSE was introduced in 1988 and from then onwards the female- male gender difference in educational achievement at GCSE level widened as differences between the [ higher] female pass rates and the male pass rates in Arts and Humanities widened and females narrowed or sometimes reversed the traditional higher male pass rates in Mathematics and science subjects. It has been claimed that the relative improvement of female educational achievements can be explained partly by the nature of the new GCSE courses .This has been disputed, however, on the grounds that several factors have contributed to these trends. By the late 1980s females were more likely than males to gain two or more Advanced Level passes and during the course of the 1990s they also became more likely to gain 3 or more A level passes. Females also soon became more likely than males to gain A grades in almost all Advanced Level subjects Nevertheless gender differences in examination performance at Advanced level are smaller than at GCSE level. In 2007-2008 69.3% of girls and 60.1% of boys achieved 5 or more GCSE Grade A*-C passes; 51.3% of girls and 42.0% of boys achieved 5 or more GCSE Grade A*-C passes including English and Maths. The gender difference in examination success varies considerably from subject to subject. For example girls in 2007-2008 girls outperformed boys by 14% in English, 16% in Design and Technology, 9% in Modern Foreign Languages, 17% in Art and Design and 12 % in English Literature but by only 1% in Mathematics, 2% in Core Sciences, 1% in Chemistry and 2% in Classical Studies. Although the data are not presented here Girls are now more likely to gain A* and A grades in most but not all GCSE subjects. Other areas the research will focus on are schools too feminised, advantage for girls but disadvantage for boys. Hutchings (2002) states the phrase feminisation is used simply to refer to the fact that there are more female teachers than male, especially in the primary sector. (Biddulph, 1997 cited in Skelton et el, 2007) state that the current situation is often presented as one which is detrimental to the educational experiences and opportunities of boys with the implication that boys do better when taught by men teachers. (Skelton et el, 2007) suggest that Another use of the phrase feminisation of schools is in relation to the idea that the predominance of females has led to the delivery of the curriculum, assessment practices and the management and organisation of the classroom becoming more feminine in nature. Female teachers are more lenient on boys than male teachers also male teachers can be role models for pupils which will enable the child to be motivated to learn and succe ed in education. Findings have suggested that it is vital to keep the subjects taught in curriculum interesting for children to learn about in class. This may enable children to be motivated to learn and gets rid of the label of boringness of lessons. Jackson (2006, p.127) states that if students find the curriculum boring, it provides little incentive for them to counter the uncool to work discourse. Methods of assessment have been identified particularly frequently as a key factor in this bias against boys. An increased amount of assessed coursework has been suggested to explain boys doing less well at GCSE and A levels, with the argument being that boys do less well at coursework because of their preferred learning styles (Skelton et al, 2007). Girls do less well at sudden death exams (timed exams previously unseen by the candidate) which rely on last-minute revision and require self-confidence. This latter form of assessment has been argued to favour boys, and was the basis for O level exams (the exams that preceded GCSEs in Britain). Bleach, 1998, cited in Skelton et al, 2007 In fact, however, girls results were already improving before the GCSE assessment model was introduced. And further, Arnot et al. (1999) discuss how a reduction in the coursework component in public examinations in the 1990s did little to alter the pattern of gender achievement (Skelton et al, 2007). Another issue could be masculinity peer pressure from friends Jackson (2006, p.74) states that the uncool to work this statement is suggesting that if boys work hard at school they will not be cool. (Jackson, 2006, p.84) Those who seem to be most disadvantaged as a result of the discourse are those who attempt to balance academic work and popularity but can not manage to do both successfully. This is a powerful predictor in a lot of schools, this is seen as social status of pupils needs to be popular and be part of a group. A lot of pupils will feel being unpopular is not as good as anything else. Also it will lead to negative impact. Both girls and boys have to act as they are chilled, relaxed, laid back when it comes to the academic side of work. As the relative rate of female educational improvement increased it came to be argued that this might be explained to some extent by biological factors. Experiments investigating the brain activities of male and female babies suggested that differences in the structures of female and male brains respectively may mean that females have genetically determined linguistic advantages which would explain females especial facility with language based subjects. It was also suggested that girls earlier maturity means that they can concentrate more effectively and are better organised especially in relation to course work. This was considered to be a significant point because the relative improvement in female GCSE results was associated especially with the introduction of coursework-based assessments which had been absent from the GCE Ordinary Level examinations which the GCSE replaced. However in relation to these theories it should be noted that male-female differences in Advanced level lan guage examination results are small, that the relationships between physical and intellectual maturity are uncertain and that gender differences in examination results cannot be explained only by the presence or absence of coursework. Other factors that may affect attainment are different learning styles, both boys and girls learn differently, but we need to be careful we do not stereotype on gender. When looking at the gender debate it has been suggested by Coffield (2004) that consideration to learning styles is important when establishing the link as to why there is a gap between boys and girls due to peer pressure for the boys what their friends may think if they achieved well in school, the way boys are assessed in schools for instance boys do better in exams than coursework. Examples of these could be boys would prefer to learn kinaesthetically by doing things such as experiments or activities and girls would learn well visually by seeing. Interest in learning styles has grown rapidly in recent years and perceived differences in the learning styles of boys and girls are one of the most frequently expressed explanations for the gender gap in achievement. This argument is also based on the presumption that if boys are naturally different to girls because of their biological make-up, then it follows that they will have different approaches to learning (Noble and Bradford, 2000; Gurian, 2002). Studies have shown that the vast majority of boys and girls prioritise a teachers individual ability as a teacher, and their level of care for their students, rather than a teachers gender. Skelton et al (2009), Francis et al (2008). Boys to better in maths than girls research by Hargreaves et al into pupils stereotypical attitudes to mathematics and English has shown that stereotypes succeed among pupils, with most believing that maths is a boys subject where boys do better, and English a girls subject where girls do better. DfES (2007, p. 3) Boys outperform girls in Maths at Key Stage 2, and continue to outnumber girls at higher level maths. But there is a large gender gap favouring girls in English. On the other hand girls do better in English than boys On the other hand women do better on reading comprehension and vocabulary than men do. APA report state that some verbal tasks show substantial mean differences favouring females. Whitepaper on gender differences in achievement Social class and ethnicity according to Cole (2006, p.29) states that Gender is not the strongest predictor of attainment. Social class attainment gap at key stage 4 is three times as wide as gender gap. DfES (2007, p.3) Analysis of the attainment data shows that other factors or a combination of factors, such as ethnicity and social class, have a greater bearing on educational achievement than gender considered on its own. Gender differences in educational achievement are far smaller than social class differences in educational achievement. Students of both sexes who are eligible for free school meals are far less likely than students of both sexes ineligible to be successful at both levels of the education system. Some ethnic differences in educational achievement are also greater than gender differences in educational achievement. Statistics on the gender gap between boys and girls Attainment at each end of the distribution of grades also varies by gender. Girls are more likely than boys to gain an A* grade at GCSE. Boys are a little more likely to gain a G grade at GCSE or to gain no GCSEs at all. The largest gender differences (a female advantage of more than ten percentage points on those gaining an A*-C GCSE) are for the Humanities, the Arts and Languages. Smaller gender differences (a female advantage of five percentage points or less) tend to be in Science and Maths subjects. Some of these achievement patterns have been relatively stable over six decades of exam results, particularly in English Language and Literature, French, Art and Design and Religious Studies. There have been changing patterns over the years. In Maths, there has been a shift from a male advantage averaging 4 percentage points prior to 1991 to a slim female advantage of 1-2 percentage points in recent years. In Geography, there has be en a widening of the gap in girls favour, and in History, there has been variation but with girls now doing much better than boys. This research will explore possible solutions we can use to solve this gap such as single sex schools which may help girls to speak out. Times online (2004) Girls in mixed classrooms refrain from speaking up and answering questions. Another way of solving the gender gap is by having single sex classes in mixed schools so that teachers can meet different learning styles for boys. Research has shown that girls obtain better results in single sex schools in comparison to mixed schools Curtis (2009). Odone (2004) conversely, that boys do not want to study foreign languages or shine in English literature in case they are mocked as poofs. Garner (2008) Differences in how male and female brains work mean single-sex schooling will make a comeback leading head mistress in the Independent. However the disadvantages of sex schools Blair (2006) Girls schools feature highly in the league tables because they are highly selective, their children come from particular social backgrounds and they hav e excellent teachers. BBC News (2006) While both single-sex and co-education have passionate advocates, half a century of research has so far revealed no striking or consistent differences one way or the other. Odone (2004) Children, will inhabit a mixed society later, so let them start young, with mixed classes. Younger et al (2005, p.89) found that boys and girls may feel more at ease in single sex classes, feel more able to interact with learning and feel free to show interest in the lesson without inhibition. It was felt that there can be positive effects on achievement for boys in modern languages and girls in science and maths. (Dcfs (2007) Methodology The methods that will be used to gather research for this project will be as follows: the use of books to get information on issues affecting gender differences in achievement at schools and what theorist have already found around this agenda. The internet will be useful for this research project because you can research recent and up to date statistical information on the gender gap and get government published on this debate. Journals will be useful for the research project to collect recent data and changes in the debate around boys and girls achievement in schools and narrowing down the gap. These methods of researching are called secondary research. Secondary research is the use of material, which has been researched by someone else. The different research methods for secondary research are as follows: technology based research is to do with researching from the computer to get your information, which has a lot of benefits such as the internet provides online libraries; e-books, journals and encyclopaedias such as infed. The main electronic databases that will be used for this research are as follows education research complete, education online and SwetsWise. The key read that will be used will be based on gender differences and achievement in school also how the search found a number of journals, but some were irrelevant, to the research topic. Search engines help you through the mass of information on the internet two most popular search engines are Bing, google advanced search and google scholar also on the internet you can search for newspaper articles. However web sources may not always be reliable so researchers need to find out how accurate the information there are number of ways to assess the accuracy of the sites. According to Walliman and Buckler (2008, p.92) compare the data with other sources and is it biased many use the web to promote ideas. The reasons for choosing to do the research project as a desk study were as follows: to find out what has already been researched in this field and arguments that have already been produced around this agenda. However the reasons for not choosing the fieldwork approach method were because it will be time consuming and availability of schools to carry out the research is limited and difficult to get a place in schools to do observations. The advantages of the desk study approach are as follows; able to collect, understand and interpret data also to limit costs such as travelling costs. The disadvantages of desk study may be the availability of books from the library In contrast the advantages of the interview approach (structure and unstructured) advantages of structured interviews are time management can be controlled, results are simple to gather and the questions are securely set in advance. the disadvantages of structured interviews are there might be other questions to ask and you cant develop on questions. The advantages of unstructured interviews are there is a lot of time, you can develop questions and it is a relaxed method. Disadvantages of the interview approach are as follows: The disadvantages of unstructured interviews are the interview can simply be a chat, not all the participants are asked the same questions and only some of the questions are asked. Indirect observation is when a participant gets their information from viewing from far. Direct observation is when a participant obtains information by combining with the circumstances they are watching. Advantages of the observation approach (direct and indirect) the advantages of observations are actions can be seen in the normal surroundings and observations can both be direct or indirect. Disadvantages of the observation approach (direct and indirect) the disadvantages of observations are they are lengthy and not consistent. Qualitative vs. quantitative Analysis There was clear evidence that in the era of the 11+ pass marks were set higher for girls than for boys so as to prevent girls from taking a disproportionate share of Grammar School places. From the early 1950s until the late 1960s girls were less likely than boys to be entered for GCE Ordinary Level examinations. In any case in the 1950s and early 1960s many pupils left school at age 15 having taken no official national examinations. The candidate pass rate in GCE O Level examinations was higher for girls than for boys from the early 50s to the late 1960s so that despite the higher entry rates for males the percentages of male and female school leavers actually passing 5 or more GCE O levels were fairly similar although females did usually outperform males by 1-2% each year. This overall statistic masked the facts that girls outperformed boys by considerable margins in Arts and Humanities subjects and that boys usually outperformed girls but by smaller margins in Mathematics and Scie nce subjects. In order to analyse the relative educational improvement from the 1980s onwards we must distinguish between factors accelerating the rate of female improvement and factors restricting the rate of male improvement. Females and males educational achievements have improved but the rate of female improvement has been faster and this widened the female-male achievement gap especially at GCSE level. Remember, however, that gender, social class and ethnicity are interconnected. Girls are more successful than boys in all ethnic groups but middle class boys are still more educationally successful than working class girls in all ethnic groups. Gender differences in educational achievement are smaller than social class differences in educational achievement and some ethnic differences in educational achievement. Research has shown that Of the 71,286 girls who sat GCSEs in single-sex schools over the three-year period, on average all did better than predicted on the basis of their end of primary SATS results. By comparison, of the 647,942 who took exams in mixed-sex schools, 20% did worse than expected. This means that girls in single sex schools can be expected to do better in their school, in comparison to girls in mixed schools. Studies have shown that girls in mixed sex classes tend to refrain from speaking up and boys dont want to study English to avoid being mocked as poofs', therefore single sex schools would help to resolve this issue as they will remove this pressure between the genders and allow both boys and girls to participate freely. Also Single sex schools will benefit students as male and female brains work differently. Girls can relate to emotions more and are seen as caring and talkative they can sit and talk about emotions whereas boys are more likely to do practical things instead of talking of emotions, hence why boys fail in English. So perhaps, as this leading head mistress, quoted in the Independent suggests, single sex classes need to be implemented to meet the learning strategies of the different sexes. Mainly English and foreign languages is where I believe that pupils need a gender based curriculum as was suggested by the DFES (2007) report it remarks that of the core subjects, the gender gap is widest in English; overall, the differences in language and literacy skills are given as the main cause of the gender gap in attainment. It is suggested that there is around 10% children leaving education with 5 Cs and above girls since 1968 have been slowly achieving better than boys according to Dcfs report into gender. It is a step towards the well researched idea that genders learn differently therefore it is possible to suggest that gender specific learning amongst boys and girls will close the statistical gap of attainment. Although the dfes report suggest that is no substantial evidence to back this up I believe that children will benefit from this approach. Another issue that I found is that boys tend to do better on spatial skills; they find mathematics and science more interesting to learn about. But on the other hand girls to better on verbal, comprehension and vocabulary skills than boys do. This table shows the gap in 1989 was just 6% but 10yrs later it had increased to 10%. It is suggested by S. Ball (2008) that this gap is an overall statistic and not subject specific he suggests that in 2004 the deviations of this gap was just 1% and that in some subjects boys achieve better results than girls therefore it is not valid to say that all boys or all girls achieve less in GCSE levels Conclusions In conclusion doing this research project on boys and girls achievement in schools and narrowing down the gap. The research found that there is not as big as a gap as people thought. The main factors that affect boys achievement are peer pressure and schools too feminised. The research also found that single sex schools and classes do not make that much difference but it found that girls have more confidence to participate in class discussion. In conclusion, the history of the gender gap shows that the gender gap itself has always been present in education, but was hidden by the advantage given to boys in 1960s, and it was often harder for girls to progress into further education, since it was not expected of them, therefore affecting the gender gap in the sense that there were lower numbers of girls then boys progressing. Over the years boys have improved and so have girls, maintaining the gender gap but showing that boys are adapting to the changes and are working harder to keep up. The gender differences in boys and girls does show that they learn in different ways, and these differences are, now more then ever, taken into account in teaching methods, lesson planning and assessment methods, and there is evidence showing that Boys are fighting back at A levels, with their results improving more rapidly than girls (BBC, 2004),however, it is important to recognise that there are girls and boys who wont fit into these gendered patterns and therefore focus should still be placed on the individual and not the biologically predisposed expectations, (Phoenix, 2004, pg 34). We could also conclude that this improvement could be the first sign that boys are now realising they will have to fight to maintain their place in the workforce, as history shows women have been seen as servants to the state (Steedman, 1 985, cited in Arnot and Ghaill, 2006, pg 19). This oppression of women, like other cases where parts of society have been repressed (e.g. repression of the afro-Caribbean population), resulted in women fighting or rebelling for their place in society, which is not something the male population has had to do. Therefore acting as a source of motivation for women to make sure they are treated as equals and to progress in life, where as men have missed out on this and until recently, have lacked the motivation to fight for their place. Now men are in a place of competition with women and are now beginning to see that its not particularly clever to under-achieve (BBC, 2004).

Julia Child: Master Chef and TV Star Essay -- Biographies Cooking Pape

Julia Child: Master Chef and TV Star O Julia, Julia, Cook and nifty wench, Whose unsurpassed quenelles and hot soufflà ©s, Whose English, Norse and German, and whose French, Are all beyond my piteous powers to praise- Whose sweetly-rounded bottom and whose legs, Whose gracious face, whose nature temperate, Are only equaled by her scrambled eggs: Accept from me, your ever-loving mate, This acclamation shaped in fourteen lines Whose inner truth belies its outer sight; For never were there foods, nor were there wines, Whose flavor equals yours for sheer delight. O luscious dish! O gustatory pleasure! You satisfy my taste-buds beyond measure. - Paul Child Julia Child is a creative genius who changed the culinary world with her energetic personality and fine cooking skills. She is a fine example of the gusto-olfactory intelligence with special accents of visual spatial and interpersonal intelligence’s. There were many chefs that could fall in this intelligence category, including Escoffier, Beard, and Farmer . I chose Julia because she is a woman who broke new ground in the world of cooking. She empowered America by encouraging them to cook and enjoy food. The gusto olfactory intelligence is really a matter of taste and smell. A gusto olfactory intelligent person is able to create a specific taste, to create their own additions to recipes, and to bring something new to the sense called taste. Childhood and Heritage Julia Carolyn McWilliams was born in Pasadena, California, on August 15, 1921 to her proud parents John and Caro McWilliams. Caro, as she was called, was an energetic woman who wanted to see the world before settling down. When she finally married John McWilliams she maintained her independent free s... ...and mind. As Gardner expected it took a great deal of time and steady work at her discipline to master it. Julia Child cast off in new directions never explored before. She fought the battle of being a woman in a male dominated field and world, along her way. She found the tools and status quo of her field unsatisfactory and began work on a new way of thinking about food. Julia, however, did not follow Gardner’s concept of Faustian bargain, but rather had good interpersonal relationships. Julia’s creative genius allowed her to succeed in a critical world. Bibliography Child, Julia. The Way To Cook. Knopf Inc. Canada, 1989. Cooper, Ann. A woman’s Place is in the Kitchen. Reinhold, 1998. Fitch, Noel Riley. Appetite For Life. Doubleday, NY. 1997. Internet sources: www.sallys-place.com www.foodwine.com www.iacp-online.org www.unknown.nu/Julia/

The Gay Science,by Friedrich Nietzsche :: The Gay Science, Friedrich Nietzsche

1) Nietzsche could have written The Gay Science differently. What justifies the style of composition he chose? More importantly, is his style of writing effective? What relation do you see between the style of his writing and the content of thought it expresses? Nietzsche's style of writing was a deliberate stylistic choice meant to hide the meaning of his work and philosophy from those who would not be able to understand it, and through there misunderstanding would abuse it. This writing style was also meant to help support and give meaning to Nietzsche's arguments on the nature of language and how language is, at its root a metaphor describing an object that is disconnected from us. Nietzsche's work broke down language to its metaphorical roots and explored the nature of how our language is disconnected from the objective reality around us. Nietzsche uses the metaphorical roots of our language to show that words and language our fundamentally disconnected because of the subjective nature of language. Nietzsche shows these metaphorical roots by showing how simple words and phrases that we use in our everyday life are really disconnected or at least removed by the barrier of language. Language is a serious of metaphor's all describing ho w an object subjectively appears to the individual. No language can describe what it is like to "be" that object, nor properly describe what it is that makes the object what it is. All language can do is provide a vehicle through which man can communicate what he is subjectively experiencing and relate it via a metaphor to another individual who will only get a idea of what is being described rather than an actual concrete description. 2) In sections 124, 343, and 377, Nietzsche claims that, following the death of God, human beings find themselves "in the horizon of the infinite," on the "open sea," and "homeless." What are the consequences of the death of God? With reference to section 347, discuss the ambiguity of this new found freedom. How might it terrify some people and empower others? The consequences for the death of god are far reaching and and many in Nietzsche's work. Christianity sparked the death of God as most of us know him through the actions of Martin Luther. Luther's desire to give the common man the ability to understand and read the bible brought a end to the churches monopoly on morality and brought the "divine" to the common man making the common man "divine".

Is Your College Degree Worth Incurring Essay

Such? as? the? question? â€Å"Is? your? college? degree? worth? incurring? significant? debt†. For? several? years,? students? ask? its? a? college? degree? worth? incurring? significant? debt? for? real? and? they? have? many? questions? about? that. But? today? we? are? going? to? talk? about? some? point? to? this? question? who? students? have? been? asking? and? most? students? who? prepare? their? plan? for? college.? ? First? I? will? answer? the? question? by? â€Å"YES†.? Because? you? can? not? start? saying,? after? High? School? I’m? going? to? college? to? study,? for?example? Nurse? Anesthesia? and? you? don’t? even? know? how? much? cost? they? classes.? Indeed? you? should? have? an? idea? about? the? tuition? of? what? you? going? to? learn? and? what? is? the? best? college? or? university? around? you? to? start.? ? In? addition? everybody? know? go? to? college? is? more? extra? than? a? simple? education. And? when? you? go? to? college? you? got? a? degree? you? have? a? better? JOB.? CORRESPONDINGLY? WHEN? YOU? HAVE? A? BETTER? JOB? YOU? CAN? MAKE? MORE? MONEY.? TOGETHER? WITH,? YOU? HAVE? A? BETTER? LIFE.? ? SO? THAT’S? WHY? MANY? TIMES? STUDENTS? WANT? TO? DO? THEIR? BEST,? TO? HAVE? A? HIGHER? DEGREE? COLLEGE.? IT’S? LIKE? A? BETTER? LIFE,? BUT? THEY? SAID? THEY? CAN’T? JUST? THINKING? ABOUT? THAT,? BECAUSE? WHEN? THEY? TRY? TO? HAVE? A? HIGHER? DEGREE? COLLEGE? IT? WILL? BE? MORE? EXPENSIVE? FOR? THEM. ? ?FOR? EXAMPLE,? WITH? A? DOCTORATE? DEGREE? THEY? THINK,? THEY? SHOULD? PAY? 200,000$? WITH? AN? ALONE? SO? THEY? HAVE? LIKE? 20? YEARS? TO? PAY? ALL? OF? THAT? MONEY.? SO? MANY? OF? THEM? SAID? ITS? BETTER? TO? TAKE? A? NORMAL? DEGREE? LIKE? 20,000? $? OR? 30,000? $?.? SO? THEY? AREN’T? GOING? TO? WORTH? INCURRING? SIGNIFICANT? DEBT.? ? IN? MY? FINAL? ANALYSIS? AND? IN? CONCLUSION,? I? THINK? THEY? HAVE? IN? THEIR? HEAD? HOW? THEY GOING? TO? MAKE? ALL? OF? THIS? MONEY.? ALTHOUGH? THIS? MAY? BE? TRUE,? BUT? THEY? FORGET? WITH? A? HIGHER? DEGREE,? THEY? HAVE? GOOD? JOB? SECURITY? IS? WORTH? ALL? THE? DEBT. ? ? ? ? ? ?

Economic Development of India Essay

The capital market is the market for securities, where Companies and governments can raise long-term funds. It is a market in which money is lent for periods longer than a year. A nation’s capital market includes such financial institutions as banks, insurance companies, and stock exchanges that channel long-term investment funds to commercial and industrial borrowers. Unlike the money market, on which lending is ordinarily short term, the capital market typically finances fixed investments like those in buildings and machinery. Nature and Constituents: The capital market consists of number of individuals and institutions (including the government) that canalize the supply and demand for longterm capital and claims on capital. The stock exchange, commercial banks, co-operative banks, saving banks, development banks, insurance companies, investment trust or companies, etc., are important constituents of the capital markets. The capital market, like the money market, has three important Components, namely the suppliers of loanable funds, the borrowers and the Intermediaries who deal with the leaders on the one hand and the Borrowers on the other. ï  ® The demand for capital comes mostly from agriculture, industry, trade The government. The predominant form of industrial organization developed Capital Market becomes a necessary infrastructure for fast industrialization,and hence its important for the economy because india is a land if agriculture where more than 70 % of population depends upon agriculture and as India is also an developing nation so,industrialization is must necessary In this topic we have discussed that the development of stock market must contributes to economic growth both directly and indirectly. Hence stock market plays an important role in the economy of a country. Following the direct channel, we show that market liquidity has a positive impact on growth and indirectly market size affects investments which must affect growth of the country. Security markets also play a crucial role in economic growth and financial stability. The primary purpose of security markets is to serve as a mechanism for the transformation of savings into financing for the real sector, and hence constituting an alternative to bank financing. Recent local and global studies show that there is a positive correlation between the developments of stock markets and economic growth. Stock markets must be very efficient in the allocation of capital to its highest-value users. These markets also help to increase savings and investment, which are essential for economic development. If an equity market is informationally inefficient then investors face difficulties in choosing the optimal investment, because information on corporate performance is slow. Role of Securities Markets in Economic Development The increasing stringency of terms on both domestic and international loans, the urgency of mobilizing domestic resources by means other than dent finance has been greatly identified. The alternative to debt finance, of course is equity market. Capital market refers to the market for long and medium term funds for the business enterprise. It can be divided into securities and non-securities market. Securities market in turn may be divided unto the markets for primary issues and markets for secondary trading of the issued securities. In the secondary market, the existing securities change from the investor to another. There is no additional flow of funds for investment purposes in a secondary market; it only provides liquidity and marketability to the existing securities. A secondary market is very essential for a new issue market to develop. The secondary market can play most crucial functions in the pace of economic development by the promotion of savings and investment and efficient allocation of finds among the users. The securities market offers both investors and issues a broad spectrum of investment alternatives, which can help increase the level of both savings and investment. An efficient capital market can play the crucial role in mobilizing domestic savings for the purpose of investment

Modern Definition of Rule of Law

Introduction to the Rule of Law & the modern definition. Rule of Law in the layman perspective is the principle that nobody is above the law and that every man’s act is subject to the law. The law referred, in our context, is the Malaysian Constitution which embodies the definition, expressly in many of its provisions. The constitution has the absolute power as against the arbitrariness and discretionary power of the government. This concept is commonly practiced in democratic countries.Rule of Law and Rule by Law should be distinguished as the latter is merely a government’s tool for the purpose of ruling and governing only. It is not a good approach as compared to the Rule of Law because law is made by the people, for the people. The concept used under Rule by Law could lead to abuse of power and unfairness especially in the context of human rights. The countries practicing Rule by Law are mostly the autocratic countries where the law is followed because they are forced to, not because they respect the supremacy of the law.According to De Smith, the concept of Rule of Law is one of open texture with wide range of interpretation, or in other words, flexible. Dicey propounded 3 principles of Rule of law in his writings, ‘Law of the Constitution’. However Dicey’s ideas are no longer in use as modern democratic society has emerged. It is only a fashion now to insert Dicey’s to retain the basic values of Rule of Law but it must be interpreted according to our modern needs of society. Dicey’s ideas on ROL includes that; – 1) Absolute supremacy of regular law. ) Equality before the law 3) The Rule of Law includes the results of judicial decisions determining the rights of private persons. Internationally, the Rule of Law was even stated in the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948; where it was laid in the third paragraph that if the government does not want the people to revo lt as their last resort to overcome tyranny by government, then it is important for the fundamental liberties of the people to be defended. The way to defend their liberties is through the Rule of Law. The UDHR has 30 articles which upholds human rights.An international meeting to discuss and make declaration on the fundamental principle of rule of law was held in 1959 named the International Commission of Jurists(ICJ). The ICJ is the modern revelation of Rule of Law that fits the present circumstances. They declared that the rule of law implies certain rights and freedom to create a conducive social, economic, education and cultural norms to achieve human dignity. Joseph Raz, in his writing, â€Å"Rule of Law & It’s Virtues† had outlined a set of characteristics, a total number of 13 virtues of rule of law.The most basic aspect is that the people must be protected by the rule of law, and nothing can happen without the sanction and permission of the law. Others inc lude that the law must be prospective rather than retrospective; the law must be stable and certain and not changeable; the independence of judiciary has to be assured; the law must be fair, just and reasonable; the people should have the access to the courts; principles of natural justice concerning the right to be heard and the judge must not be bias should be observed and many other important characteristics.All 13 virtues should be complied and applied to make sure that the rule of law exists in a country practicing it. Ingredients of The Federal Constitution The Rule of Law is interrelated with the principles of human’s rights and dignity and these can be seen in our own Federal Constitution. Part II of the Federal Constitution enumerates a number of fundamental liberties which devotes 9 articles altogether. Few are: 1)Liberty of the person 2)Protection against retrospective criminal laws and repeated trials 3)Equality 4)Freedom of speech, assembly, association 5) Freedo m of religion and few more.The Parliament has made extensive use of emergency powers, sanctioned by the Constitution. Part XI with regards to emergency powers must be read together with the Fundamental Liberties. By Article 149, it permits the suspension of the Fundamental Liberties, since it validates any legislation otherwise outside the legislative power of Parliament. The Proclamation of Emergency provided in Article 150 permits Parliament and YdPA to override all provisions of the Constitution. This is not to say rule of law is not stable, but that the regular law operates alongside a system of emergency law which is much more draconian.An example is the powers of preventive detention, or International Security Act, which will be discussed further. Constitutionalism Crisis: International Security Act The International Security Act or more commonly known as ISA is an old and inhumane law which is against with the principle of Rule of Law. ISA is a cruel and harsh law and has alw ays been an issue which has yet to be solved in satisfaction. Proposals for the ISA to be reviewed and subsequently, be abolished has been made since Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s times as Prime Minister, and once again, now made by our present Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.It has been 50 years since the ISA came into force but the government has still yet to take any actions in viewing this problem. The ISA made it seems as though the Rule of Law does not exist in Malaysia or less effective. The ISA is a preventive detention law that allows the force to detain a person without trial or criminal charges under lawful circumstances and he will be detained by the police for up to a maximum period of 60 days or the full period. It seems like that the ISA either does not understand or does not believe in the Rule of Law or the Human Rights.Under an ordinary law, every person has his own rights and chance to stand trial if he has committed an offence. When I SA first came into force in 1960, it was made based on the promised made by our first Prime Minister that the law will be used rationally and only against government’s enemies, which was then the communists. Nowadays ISA is used on reasons to deal problems relating sensitive issues like conflicts in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-cultural society. The essence of ISA is to allow detention without trial which goes against the right of a person to fair hearing.Therefore, does this means that the ISA is against the human rights? Accordingly, is it contrary to the rule of law and thus does the principle rule of law exist in our country? In answering the first question, detention without trial is a blatant act and against citizen’s rights. The ISA reflects that the State has failed to uphold its responsibility this right. The judiciary is excluded from ensuring that those detained under ISA are treated according with the human rights. Not a person should be held in d etention without fair trial because it violates the human rights.Human rights and Rule of law are interconnected and so if ISA is contrary to human rights then it acts the same to the rule of law. This makes us question whether the rule of law still does exist in Malaysia. Any country subscribing to the rule of law, will never allow the abuse of power to detain a person without trial. This draconian legislation should be reviewed and repealed if the government still has the intention in making the rule of law as one of the general principles of the constitution. 1988 Constitutional Crisis Other constitutional crisis relating the rule of law follows the withdrawal of Tun Salleh Abas as a judge.This case was also known the 1988 Constitutional Crisis. In 1988, Tun Salleh Abas was brought before a tribunal on grounds of bias as a judge. The Prime Minister then, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, explained that he took an action against Tun Salleh under Article 125 of the constitution, on ground s of his behavior and being unable to perform his function as the Lord President. The tribunal concluded that â€Å"the respondent has been guilty of not only ‘misbehavious’, but also misconduct which falls within the ambit of ‘other cause’ in article 125, which renders him unfit to discharge properly the functions of his office†.The 1988 Constitutional Crisis is related to Joseph Raz’s minimum standards on rule of law. Joseph Raz included one of the virtues (among others as mentioned earlier) that the natural justice should be reviewed. The natural justice said concerned; i)the right to be heard â€Å"audi altera partem† and ii)a judge must not be bias â€Å"nemo judex in cause sua†. The latter part has a deep connection to what discussed in the suspension of Tun Salleh Abas. Stephen Kalong Ningkan (1966)In 1966, Stephen Kalong Ningkan was dismissed from being the Chief Minister when the State Governor showed a letter signed by 21 members of assembly saying that they longer had no confidence in him to continue his duty. He was asked to resign himself which he refused to do so. He alleged that the letter did not tantamount to a vote of no-confidence. He was then dismissed by the Head of State by publishing a declaration in the Gazette that Stephen Kalong Ningkan had ceased to hold the office of Chief Minister. However his dismissal was an unconstitutional one.It was held by the court that the law under Sarawak Constitution, a Chief Minister can only vacate his office by his resignation and not by dismissal. There were no authorities stating that the Head of State has the power to dismiss a Chief Minister. Therefore looking through a rule of law’s view, it could be said that the unlawful dismissal of Stephen Kalong Ningkan by the Head of State was contrary to the principles of Rule of Law. Perak Crisis (2009) The constitutional crisis which happened in Perak is similar to what happened in 1966 in the case of Stephen Kalong Ningkan.The crisis began in February 2009 when four assemblymen of Pakatan Rakyat withdrew from the party. Pakatan Rakyat was then the ruling party in Perak, and their withdrawal from the party resulted a loss of majority representatives. Nasaruddin Hashim, was the Chief Minister of Perak before the crisis started was one of the assemblymen whom cross-floored Pakatan Rakyat. The consequence was that the Sultan of Perak, used his discretion under Art 18(2)(b) of the State Constitution, and commanded Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin to dismiss himself from the position of First Minister. The Sultan of Perak then appointed Dr.Zambry Abdul Kadir from Barisan Nasional to fill in the vacant position and be the next Chief Minister. Nizar claimed that there should be a fair free election since this country practices democracy, and for that announced he refused to resign and therefore, the appointment of Dr. Zambry was null and void. The High Court held that the dismissal and appointment made by the Sultan of Perak was unlawful and an unconstitutional one and that Nizar has always been the rightful head of government. The Court of Appeal however held that the action taken by the Sultan was legally valid and certainly followed the State Constitution.According to the Perak Constitution, the Sultan has two options in settling a conflict of lost confidence; which is either to dissolve the state assembly or appoint a new Chief Minister. The Sultan in this case did the latter. Such discretion is a Royal Prerogative. The Sultan is not subject to recommendation or approval of any other person while making the new appointment of Chief Minister. The difference between the Perak Crisis and Stephen Kalong Ningkan case is, the Perak Constitution has no exact statement of means of vote of confidence, which makes the action taken by the Sultan is constitutional and valid while the appointment of Dr.Zambry is also valid and Mohd Nizar must tender resignation. This woul d also mean that it follows the definition of Rule of Law on absolute supremacy of the law on grounds the dismissal was lawful. Conclusion With all the definitions and constitutional crisis discussed, it all comes down to one question; to what extent does Rule of Law exists in Malaysia? It is with no doubt that our country is a democratic country which is against arbitrariness and upholds the supremacy of our constitution. However with constitutional crisis that has happened, this shows that the Rule of Law xists merely on the surface of it. Our judges need to be prepared to enter the fray in the struggle of persevering the human rights and fundamental liberties. Only then we can say Malaysia is grounded on Rule of Law. Without justice, the democracy we practiced would mean nothing but just a concept. There is a need for all Malaysians to understand and appreciate the importance of the rule of law and to be vigilant that it prevails in this country. Without the rule of law, there ca n be no justice.