The story of my life, Helen Keller Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The story of my life, Helen Keller - Essay Example She had a teacher named as Miss Sullivan who supported her in her learning extensively. Miss Sullivan not only taught her to spell the words, but also to understand feelings and express them. Her educational years were beautified because of Miss Sullivan’s presence. Her life was never static, but always moving because of her learning attached to her motion. She narrates many incidents of her life that give her different kinds of lessons. She also travelled to many places with Miss Sullivan who was very much interested to facilitate Helen in all kinds of learning. Her vocabulary and learning got enriched because of all the incidents and travelling. She was able to complete her graduation based on her continued learning and support from Miss Sullivan. Although, she faced many difficulties in the way, but achieved at the end. She regarded her books as her friends. She seems happy with her supporters’ efforts in leading her life as a privileged life. She had many deprivations, but was able to achieve because she was made

Mark Twain Short Stories Essay Essay Example for Free

Mark Twain Short Stories Essay Essay Mark Twain has composed a myriad of short stories over a long period of time. Twain writes with the passion to charm and amuse the reader. Every single sentence he writes makes one want to keep reading on to see what happens next. His stories also offer a comment on human nature and Twain often questions conventional wisdom. Just because someone’s life did not attach to with what many people see normal, Twain seems to be asking if that makes them lucky when they don’t fail. He responds to that question and challenges the reader to think twice in his short stories. Mark Twain’s stories seem to never be lacking hilariousness. In Luck, for example, he brings out the subject, Lieutenant-General Lord Arthur Scoresby, as a dignified and decorated soldier but then makes a quick turn by quoting the town Reverend saying, â€Å"Privately – he’s an absolute fool† (Twain 265). This blunt change allows Twain the chance to recount the tale told by the Reverend concerning Scoresby’s many failures in battle. Additionally, he sets up the reader in The Story of the Bad Little Boy by painting a dreary picture as to what could happen to the main character. Twain then excitedly breaks the ice with an amusing reveal of what actually happened. Twain writes, â€Å"Is it right to disobey my mother? Isn’t it sinful to do this? Where do bad little boys go who gobble up their good kind mother’s jam?† and then he didn’t kneel down all alone and promise to never to be wicked any more, no that is the way with all other bad boys in the books†¦ He ate that jam, and said it was bully; and he put in the tar, and said that was bully, also, and laughed, and observed that the old woman would get up and snort† (11). This process of creating a sullen circumstance and then flamboyantly reversing course is depicted in most of Twain’s stories and was used to have a great effect. Mark Twain used humor to thrill the reader, which he did effectively and consistently, but he also used it make a clear point. The most frequent point he was trying to make was that society is too uptight. In The Story of the Bad Little Boy, he underlines a wide range of â€Å"bad† things that the main character does but wraps it up that it had little bearing on him when he became a man. Twain writes, â€Å"And he grew up and married, and raised a large family, and brained them all with an ax one night, and got wealthy by all manner of cheating and rascality; and now he is the infernalest wickedest  scoundrel in his native village, and is universally respected, and belongs to the legislature† (13). This was Twain’s way of getting at the notion that a naughty child will always be a bad person. He does this again in Science vs. Luck in which he pokes fun at the over-the-top laws against gambling and games of chance. Twain does this through the main character, a nifty attorney, who argues that the game of seven-up is actually a game of science rather than chance so should not be considered gambling. Twain writes, â€Å"We, the jury in the case do hereby unanimously decide that the game commonly known as old sledge or seven-up is eminently a game of science and not chance†¦ In demonstration where of it is hereby and herein stated, iterated, reiterated, set forth and made manifest that, during the entire night, the â€Å"chance† men never won a game† (73). By using humor to sink in the message, Twain was able to poke fun at the conservative folks that ruled his day, and ours. Conservative thinking includes the presumption that people who succeed while acting in an unconventional manner must be lucky. Twain also poked fun at that thinking as well. The hero in Luck, Lieutenant-General Lord Arthur Scoresby, was privately thought to be a fool and the luckiest man on earth to survive in the military for decades. Twain then brings up nearly a dozen events in which Scoresby went against conventional wisdom and managed to live, leaving the reader to wonder the question, â€Å"Was it really luck or was Scoresby just good at what he did?† He also attains a familiar and similar goal in The Story of the Bad Little Boy in which the main character survives many near-fatal events to become a pillar of society. Twain seems to ask, â€Å"Was the boy really lucky to survive his childhood or was society too uptight?† Finally, in Science vs. Luck, Twain points out that games of â€Å"chance† are nothing more than complicated science or math problems. Once again, Twain intrigues the reader to consider whether the conservative view is the one and only view. Mark Twain wrote short stories with strong intent. He had a critical yet comical perspective that allowed him to see the humor in serious matters. Twain wrote about them in a way that was entertaining while also serving to share his perspective on his literature. For those readers who took themselves too seriously, they probably only saw the humor part. To those who chose to read between the lines laughed, but also probably stopped to reflect on the message. In his unique way, Mark Twain may have changed the course of human nature and society with his writings. Works Cited Twain, Mark. The Complete Short Stories. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. Print.

Reflective Essay on the US Healthcare System

Reflective Essay on the US Healthcare System What is right with the U.S. Health Care System Marina Bukhrashvili The national strategy presented in The Affordable Care Act (ACA) seeks to fund prevention and public health. This is an important goal in our nation’s health care system. Prevention services, which include wellness, research, health screening, educational campaigns for preventive benefits and immunization programs, may have a positive effect on decreasing health care costs. To me, this first mandatory fund, also known as the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF), is very important since as I am planning a career path that involves public health and the health of the community. Seventy-six percent of the U.S. health care expenditure are spent on treating preventable chronic diseases (The Hasting Center, 2010). By law, the Prevention Public Health Fund must be used to provide for expanded and sustained national investment in prevention and public health programs to improve health and help restrain the rate of growth in private and public health care costs. (American Public Health Association, 2010). I work in a skilled nursing facility which provides acute rehabilitation services to an elderly population following hospitalization. During an intake interview last winter, I asked an 82 year old female about her immunization history and she reported that â€Å"she never took a flu shot in her life.† And she doesn’t remember ever taking any type of vaccinations. She said that she was afraid that a vaccination would infect her and make her sick and that her sister â€Å"got sick from the flu vaccine.† It has been my experience that a great majority of our patients receive important immunizations for the first time during their stay at our facility. This finding is in line with research that shows that less than 50 percent of adults’ age 65 years or older were up-to-date with immunizations regardless of regular checkups (Department of Human Health Services, 2010). This is the case even though these services are paid for by almost all insurance plans, includ ing Medicare and Medicaid, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) (2011). Based on this experience, I feel that the PPHF maybe providing the necessary resources to promote the health of communities and contain health care costs that would arise from treating acute infections. Even though influenza and pneumonia are the fifth major causes of deaths in the country (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013), the immunization rates are still moderate. Despite all efforts to control health care across, racial, gender and age, the differences in influenza coverage persist. As the focus of health care shifts from post-diagnostic treatment to preventive medicine, making immunizations a part of every person’s health care plan is an essential first step in achieving this goal. Doctors’ offices that treat adult population seem to be a good choice for promoting vaccination but this strategy is not effective in increasing immunization rates for adults since most physicians have busy practices which mainly focus on treating acute illness versus seeing healthy patients for preventive medicine. In addition, according to Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2009), the leading causes for low immunization rates in the last few years were the high cost of screening, insufficient funds to cover the co-payment or deductibles; lack of knowledge of what health insurance would cover; and lack of health insurance. In addition, many older adults may not have a regular doctor or do not go for a check up on a regular basis. The prohibitive cost was addressed for Medicare beneficiaries by the ACA (2010) to some extent, which broadens the Medicare coverage for preventive services suggested by the USPSTF and eliminates out-of-pocket costs. There is no payment for influenza, pneumococcal and hepatitis B vaccines (Cassidy 2010). Although compliance with influenza vaccination has increased dramatically after Medicare began paying for influenza vaccines for the nation’s older and disabled population and after health reform in 2010, the proportion of older persons receiving this vaccine is still considerably low in elderly populations (CDC, 2013). According to the research (Eurich et al., 2008) some patients benefited from receiving influenza vaccination before they were hospitalized for pneumonia. As a result of passage of Affordable Care Act, most health insurance now covers co-payments for recommended clinical preventive services, which reduces financial cost to beneficiaries, however, the challenge remains to make older adults aware of the value of preventive services and encourage them to get the services they need. All efforts should be made to expand awareness in the community about clinical preventive services and benefits. . Nurses could send reminders to the health care providers to notify patients when the vaccinations are due. Such reminders could be issued on seasonal basis to educate patients about importance about vaccinations during patient encounters such as the registration interview. Educational Seminars can be conducted across various community centers before immunization season begins. Interactions focusing on different ethnic groups may help to find and address their misconceptions about immunizations, if there are any. Nurses will play a key part in the f ulfillment of the mandate of ACA and their expending scope of practice is already shaping the future of healthcare. References Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. National Healthcare Disparities Report 2008. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 2009. Available at: www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr08/nhdr08.pdf American Public Health Association (2010). Prevention of Public Health Fund. Available at: www.apha.org/advocacy/Health+Reform/PH+Fund/ Cassidy 2010: Cassidy A., Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Health Policy Brief: Preventive Services Without Cost Sharing, Health Affairs, December 28, 2010. Available at: www.healthaffairs.org/healthpolicybriefs/brief.php?brief_id=37 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The State of Aging and Health in America 2013. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Dept of Health and Human Services; 2013. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2020, Older Adult Section, December 2010. Available at: www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=31 Eurich, D. C., Marrie, T. J., J, J., M, S. R. (2008). Mortality reduction with Influenza vaccine in patients with Pneumonia outside â€Å"flu† season. American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine, 178, 527-533 The Hasting Center. Health Care Cost Monitor. Projected Costs of Chronic Diseases, January 22, 2010. Available at: http://healthcarecostmonitor.thehastingscenter.org/kimberlyswartz/projected-costs-of- chronic-diseases/ The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Section 4002: Prevention and Public Health Fund. 111th Congress. Enacted March 23, 2010. Available at: http://housedocs.house.gov/energycommerce/ppacacon.pdf U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. USPSTF A and B Recommendations. Available at: www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspsabrecs.htm

Good and Evil in Goethes Faust :: Faust Essays

Good and Evil in Faust In Faust Goethe shows many of his opinions about good, evil, and religion. Goethe uses characters like The Lord and Gretchen in the early part of the play to set examples of goodness. Goethe uses characters like Mephistopheles to stand for evil. Throughout the play Goethe also uses examples of the church to show how he feels the church works. The concept of good for Goethe is that everyone has the ability to be good and that errors in judgment are what make people bad but if a person keeps striving these mistakes will bring them closer to righteousness. As long as a person continues to keep moving and doing things they will most likely achieve righteousness. This is shown in the bet between Faust and Mephistopheles. Faust says that if at any time he says, "Linger a while! Thou art so fair!" that will be when Faust dies and serves Mephistopheles. This shows that if Faust were to stop wanting to do anything it would be a horrible sin. The Lord which many perceive to stand for God stands for the perfection that Faust is trying to accomplish with his life. Gretchen in the early part of the play stands for perfection because she is inexperienced and knows nothing else until Faust starts to seduce her. The concept of bad for Goethe can be seen most in the character of Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles is believed to stand for the devil. When he first introduces himself he describes himself as "a part of that Power which always wills evil, always procures good.....the Spirit which always denies." Mephistopheles actions such as talking Faust into taking advantage of Gretchen and then telling him to leave her are seen as evil actions. The fact that Mephistopheles spends time with witches which most people see as evil shows that he is also evil. Goethe believes that all people sin sometimes and God forgives us. This is shown when Gretchen is in prison and after all the sin she has done a voice from heaven grants her salvation. Even though she did sin, most of her sin was because of inexperience and she was not purposely sinning. Goethe feels that the church and religion are both useless. When Faust leaves Gretchen the first jewels, her mother takes them to the church. The church takes them saying that they are trying to help, but this can be seen as the church just trying to get money out of them.

Exchange Rates Volatility and Risks Essay

There are a number of factors that could change the value of a currency with respect to another. If the inflation rate in a country is low with respect to the inflation rate in other countries, the prices of goods and services in the country with the low inflation rate become attractive for foreigners. However, increases in demand for the goods and services in the country with a low inflation rate are expected to appreciate the value of the country’s currency (Ana, FS 2004). Changes in interest rates tend to have a similar affect on exchange rates. Foreigners would like to invest in countries where the rates of return on investment are high. As the demand for investment in a particular country increases – because it enjoys a high interest rate in comparison with other countries – the value of its currency is expected to appreciate (Ana, FS). The exchange rates at a given time are also dependent on differences between the current account balances of countries. If a country is running a current account deficit, it generally means that the country is importing more than it is exporting, so therefore investments in the country may not be considered lucrative. A country with a current account surplus, on the other hand, is considered attractive for investment. As a matter of fact, the currency of this country is as attractive to foreigners as its products and services. By increasing their demand for the country’s products and services, foreigners are expected to appreciate its currency’s value. As its currency’s value appreciates, however, investing in the country becomes less affordable (Ana, FS). When a country is experiencing a current deficit, its government may decide to borrow money to finance the self same deficit. Inflation may ensue. Moreover, if the lenders believe that there is a default risk, they may decide to sell off the debt on the open market. In the United States, treasury securities may be used for this reason. In any case, the selling of the debt on the open market is expected to exert downward pressure on the foreign exchange rate (Ana, FS). Exchange rates are also affected by the political climate of a country at any given time. Political disturbance in a country may result in a loss of investor confidence in its currency. Conversely, countries that enjoy relatively stable political climates are able to attract investment and experience appreciations in the values of their currencies (Bergen, JA 2007). Undoubtedly, a firm must be able to manage the different kinds of political risks that it may have to face by investing in a particular country. There are three main types of political risks: firm-specific risks, country-specific risks, and global-specific risks. Of the three types of political risks, firm-specific risks include the volatility of exchange rates. These risks are expected to affect the multinational enterprise at the corporate and/or project level (Frenkel, M, Karman, A, & Scholtens, B 2004). For this reason, an exchange rate risk or currency risk – from the perspective of an American investor – is defined as follows: The risk that a business’ operations or an investment’s value will be affected by changes in exchange rates. For example, if money must be converted into a different currency to make a certain investment, changes in the value of the currency relative to the American dollar will affect the total loss or gain on the investment when the money is converted back. This risk usually affects businesses, but it can also affect individual investors who make international investments (Exchange Rate Risk 2007). There are three types of exposure to exchange rate volatility that an investor may have to confront. The firm faces translation exposure when its reported accounting profits must be adjusted as a result of foreign exchange rate fluctuations. Transaction exposure is the result of the firm’s agreement to undertake certain â€Å"foreign exchange transactions during the current period (Bolster, P 2006). † As an example, an importer may sign an agreement to purchase a specific quantity of goods from Country A and pay a certain amount of money to the country in ninety days. Through this agreement the importer is obligated to pay Country A by purchasing the units of Country A’s currency in ninety days. Seeing that the exchange rate may change in ninety days, the importer is exposed to currency risk (Bolster, P). Lastly, investors may have to face economic exposure to exchange rate volatility. This type of exposure to exchange rates volatility results from the need of the firm to conduct business activities in another country in future. Bolster, P describes economic exposure as â€Å"the need for foreign exchange transactions and exposure to exchange rate fluctuations that results from future business activities. † The experience of Toyota in the U. S. utomobile market helps to explain this type of exposure to exchange rate volatility. The company had managed to attain a sizeable market share in the United States. But, when the Japanese yen started to appreciate in relation to the U. S. dollar, the revenues of the company dropped significantly (Bolster, P). The good news is that it is possible for investors to manage the political risks, including the firm-specific risks that they may be exposed to. â€Å"Limiting, diversifying, and hedging† are all viable methods of managing political risks (Frenkel, M, Karman, A, & Scholtens, B p. 20). †

Human Development Theories

Human Development Theories Introduction Cherry (2010) asserts that a child development which arises from the time of birth to adulthood was greatly overlooked throughout a great deal of the history of mankind. Essentially, children were appreciated as mare small version of adults and minimal concern was focused on the many improvements in their cognitive abilities, physical growth and language mastery.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Human Development Theories specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Moreover, interest in child development started to crop up the early 20th century, and was aimed at elucidating abnormal behaviors. The proceeding paragraphs, describes just two of the theories on child development. Stages of cognitive growth based on Piaget’s theory of development. (Atherton, 2010) 1. The sensory-motor stage (birth – 2 yrs): According to Piaget, a normal newly born baby will reach a point where it will start to distinguish self from objects. This implies that the infant will begin to appreciate self as the mediator of an action, and start acting deliberately. For instance, shaking a rattle to produce a noise or pulling a cord to set an itinerant in motion. At some level, it attains object permanence whereby it starts realizing that things persist even when they are no more conscious of them. 2. The pre-operational stage (2 7 yrs): At the pre-operational stage, the child learns to exercise language and to characterize things by words and images. At this phase, thinking is still egocentric in the sense that he/she has problems with accommodating others’ views. Also, classification of things is by one feature; for instance, grouping all rectangle blocks in spite of color or all blue blocks in spite of their shapes. 3. The concrete operational stage ( 7 – 11 yrs):Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More By this period, the child is able to think rationally concerning events and objects. He/she attains conservation of number, mass, and weight; at age 6, 7 and 9, respectively. Also, he/she classifies objects based on several features and can sequence them depending on a single characteristics such as size. 4. The formal operational stage (11 yrs and above): In this period, the child can think logically concerning abstract intentions, and examine hypothesis methodically. Also, she/he becomes apprehensive of ideological, hypothetical, and the future problems. Stages of cognitive growth based on Freud’s theory of psychosexual development Freud held the opinion that the development process of individuals constitutes five stages. However, Freud claims that many people fail to complete these stages because they tied up their libido at one stage, thereby hindering them from utilizing the energy at a later stage. Libido, in this context was used by Freud to signify sexua l and spiritual energy. These stages include; a. Oral phase stage (from birth up to 1 year): At this stage, the mouth acts as the center of attraction of a child’s libido. This stage is characterized by frustration for dependence on someone for something (Crain, 2005). Obsession at this phase may present as an abuse of oral stimulations such as eating, drinking or smoking. b. The anal phase of development (2-3 yrs):Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Human Development Theories specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The individual are introduced to rules and regulations for the first time since they were familiarized with toilet instruction (Crain, 2005). This familiarity period helps determine the person’s future responses to rules and regulations. At this stage of development, the anus acts as the centre of attraction of the libido. In addition, the child is in the process of discovering novel complex motor. F urthermore, frustrations could result; from cognitive responses. Obsession during this stage translates to orderliness, stinginess, messiness, or stubbornness. Fundamental behaviors characterized by preservation and expulsion may be connected to the experiences during this stage. c. The phallic phase of development (4-5 yrs): Several developmentally crucial events, unique to boys and girls, happen during this phase. Below is a description of the aforementioned events: The Oedipus conflict: the occurrence of this conflict begins at a time when the boy child starts to feel sexually attracted to his mother. As a result, he views his father as an enemy, because he is also competing for the attention of the mother. He starts to dread the father’s suspicion about his lust for the mother and the imminent penalty by him for the lust. Spontaneously, the dreaded penalty is that of castration. The castration anxiety: this anxiety drives the boy child to the conclusion that the father h ates him, and may ultimately become excruciating leading to his renouncing of the feelings, and decision to compromise to his father hoping that one day he will develop affection with a different woman just like between his parents. Despite the similarity in the oral and anal phases of growth for both boy and girl (center of attention and affection being the mother), deviation in the focus occurs when the baby girl realizes her lack of penis, a phenomenon referred to as penis envy.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This causes her to despise her mother on realizing the lack of penis on her mother, while she becomes attracted to her father on the ground of his possession of the penis. Similarly, girls start to be suspicious of her mother’s (same sexuality) knowledge of her attraction towards her father and that the mother hates her for that. These feelings persist for sometimes until it reaches a point where she resents her feeling and chooses to side with the mother. d. The latency phase (7 yrs puberty): This period encroaches following the resolution of the Oedipus conflict and suppression of the feeling that developed during that episode. This phase is characterized by rest devoid of any developmental incidences. e. The genital phase: This phase of development starts from puberty and is characterized by development of the genitals and adaptation of libido to its true sexual purpose. Nevertheless, the feelings for the inverse sex cause anxiety since they remind them of the undesirable feelings they possessed towards their parents and the distress associated with them. Contrast and comparison between Piaget’s and Freud’s developmental theories Piaget’s theory describes a child development from the cognitive view point. He proposes that children patterns of thought differ from those of an adult. This he described in his stage theory on cognitive development. On the other hand Freud’s theory explains the child developmental stages from a psychosexual analytic perspective. Based on this theory a child development is explained as sequence of psychosexual phases; oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. Every stage concerns the satisfaction of a libido and later determines the adult’s individuality (Cherry, 2010). A Piagetian –based education syllabus emphasizes a learner centered educational philosophy, which does not fit with the contemporary American school educational system including programmed instruction, teaching mach ines, tutor lectures, audio visual presentation, and demonstration. On the contrary Piaget advocates dynamic discovery learning atmosphere in education system. According to the theorist, children should be allowed to search out answers for themselves through questions, experiments, manipulation, and exploration (Wanda, 1988). Nevertheless, children should not be left to do as they please, instead teachers should be in position to evaluate the child’s current cognitive progress, including their strength and weakness. This theory commends for the personalization of the instructions for each student and the opportunity to debate and argue problems. He perceived tutors as the facilitators of knowledge by guiding and motivating the learners. The tutor should provide the students with resources, situations and occasion which help them to discern novel knowledge. Eventually, the teacher should express confidence in the child’s capability to learn by self (1988). According to Cherry (2010), Sigmund Freud’s theory produced shocking reactions following its introduction, and it continues to create debate and controversy particularly on the discipline of art, literature, psychology, anthropology and sociology. The terminology psychoanalysis refers to various aspects of Freud’s research and work including the Freudian therapy, and the methods he employed in his studies. Conclusion These theories sometimes are not a perfect match of the real life experiences a child passes. Besides, they do not sometimes accurately describe the exact events which happen in children lives. For instance according to a2zpsychology.com (2006), some limitations to Freud’s psychosexual development theory exist. The theory cannot be tested with ease, and the evidence collected to proof it is invalid. Additionally, the crucial events such as how the libido is applied lack makers and are not measurable. Again, a long period between the onset of the underlying stimu lus and the supposed consequence; weakness and inconsistency between early events and the future traits undermines the theory. Finally, the theory was developed from the studies of psychotic persons while not from studying children. Similarly, gathered evidence on Piaget’s theory depicts it as overly rigid, since many children have been proven to attain actual operations earlier than theorized, and some individuals completely may fail to attain recognized operations. However, Piaget’s theory forms the foundation for the school of cognitive constructivism where it seem more relevant (Atherton, 2010). Reference List Atherton, J. S (2010). Learning and Teaching; Piagets developmental theory Piagets Developmental Theory. Cherry, K. (2010). Child development theories: major theories of child development. Crain, W. (2005). Theories of development: Concepts and application (5th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Freud’s theory of psychosexual development, (2010). Stevens on, D. B. (2001). Freud’s psychosexual stages of Development. October 19, 2010, from The Victorian web; literature, history, culture in the age of  Victoria Wanda, G .Y. (1988). Jean Piaget’s –Intellectual development.