Harrison Bergeron Essay Example for Free

Harrison Bergeron Essay In the short story, â€Å"Harrison Bergeron†, Kurt Vonnegut portrays a society in which â€Å"everyone is equal†. Through the efforts of the Handicapper General, all persons who were endowed with anything more than moderate talents are forced to wear various devices meant to make everyone equal, intellectually and physically. Through showing his audience what a truly â€Å"equal† society could be, as well as how government could regulate equality, Kurt Vonnegut clearly makes the point that truly equality leads to a loss of true individuality within a society. Each person in society has talents that another does not, which is what creates diversity in our communities and careers. By removing this diversity from society by making every person equal, the government is inviting its own demise. The first example of how idealistic equality creates a lack of individuality is in the scene where George and Hazel Bergeron are watching ballerinas on television. George notes, â€Å"They weren’t really very good – no better than anybody else would have been, anyway†. By leveling the playing field, and forcing ballerinas to wear weights and masks to hide their talent and beauty, the Handicapper General has taken away from the dancers their unique talents for dancing and eliminating any competition between ballerinas. If all dancers must be equal, this eliminates the need for any one ballerina to spend extra time practicing, or trying to be a better ballerina. This, in turn, could create a less than desirable work ethic, as the ballerinas do not have to work as hard to be competitive. As Philip Fetzer explains, â€Å"†¦ even if it were possible to create a society based on equality of ability, it would not be desirable to do so. A society without differences of ability would generate no leaders, no great works of art or literature, no new ideas. The society would quickly stagnate†. The second instance in which Vonnegut shows his readers the impact of an equal society is when George and Hazel are talking about what society would be like without handicaps to make everyone equal. George cannot think for more than a few seconds at a time because of the handicap that he must wear in his ear, to distract him from his thoughts by blaring loud noises at random. All people who have above â€Å"average† intelligence are required to wear such a device to eliminate any unfair intellectual advantage over others. However, by scaring off the thoughts of truly intelligent people, the government is also creating a society in which nothing will ever change. Without the truly intelligent men and women in any society, there are no new inventions or new ideas that, in the past, have revolutionized a society. By making all people intellectually equal, the government and the society itself will remain unchanged and unadvanced. Ironically, George believes that without handicaps to keep everyone equal, â€Å"pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else†. However, without competition, society would revert to the dark ages, unable to compete with other societies and develop new technology and innovation. As Christopher Alexion points out, human beings must be careful with creating equality, because of the risk of taking it â€Å"to extremes that eventually destroy whatever it was we were trying to protect. Thats why our efforts toward equality need vitally to be guided by a love of liberty. Naked equality is just another name for tyranny – for if everyones going to be equal in all aspects, then no one can really be free†. The final example of the effect of a truly equal society occurs when Harrison Bergeron appears on television with all of his clanking weights and extreme handicaps. Harrison is athletic and intelligent, and has an obscene amount of handicaps because of this. Harrison attempts to overthrow the government, by declaring himself â€Å"the Emperor†, and removing all of his handicaps, as well as those of his chosen Empress. By having independent thoughts and beliefs, Harrison leads his own revolution in an attempt to change society for the better. Harrison sees that the constant equality means that people are no longer competitive, and he decides to try to change that. However, he is killed by the government in the process, and any dreams of change die with him. As Steven Saus notes, â€Å"The maximization of human potential and the potential of society can only be achieved by allowing all individuals to have the best opportunity to succeed within the limits of their primary characteristics†. Any person who has new ideas or tries to initiate change within an equal society would be met with the same fate, and consequently, nothing would ever change. By creating a society in which every person is equal, Kurt Vonnegut is able to show his readers how devastating to a society equality could be. At a time when political correctness is a must, and society strives for equality, it is easy to see how true equality could lead to a lack of diversity and competition within a society. Although Vonnegut’s society was a fictional one, a society similar to the one in â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† would become a stagnant and unmotivated environment, falling behind in innovation and invention. Ultimately, the equality in this story will lead to the demise of the society.

Scottish Traditions And Cultures

Scottish Traditions And Cultures This is my English assignment on Scotland. I am going to talk about the history of Scotland, the culture and traditions of Scotland and about the Sports in Scotland. The Culture and Sports are very close but I think they have to be explained a part. I hope you and myself learn from this assignment and have fun with reading. (As long you can have fun)The history of Scotland. The land that now forms Scotland was in the prehistory part of the continent that now forms North-America, so Scotland isnt really part of Europe but a part from Laurentia. During the last interglacial, around 130,000 and 70,000 BC, Europe was warmer than now and the Neanderthals found that there was a mild spell in Scotland around 40,000 BC so they settled in Scotland, but no traces of early humans have been found. After 40,000 BC Britain was torn apart by glaciers and Scotland wasnt inhabitable any more. After 9600 BC the ice retreated and Scotland could be inhabited again. In 8500 BC there were hunter-gatherers in Scotland and several settlements have been found and the first permanent settlements were found in around 3600 BC. In 2500 BC the Bronze Age entered Scotland and there has been found some hill forts from probably 900 BC which shows us that the people in Scotland were quite good in building settlements and monuments. Around 800 BC the Iron Age entered Scotland and till th e invasion of Roman Empire Scotland was a peaceful inhabited by Celtic tribes. This was a short summary of the prehistoric history of Scotland but no written records were found till the invasion of Scotland buy the Romans, now Im going to talk about the Roman Invasion of Scotland and what happened after that. England was invaded by Julius Caesar in 54 BC but Scotland fought more than 100 years later because Caesar couldnt get to Scotland. In AD 43 Britain was invaded again and they lost a few battles giving ground to the Romans. Agricola was the first one who attacked the people in Scotland itself and he got quite far but even though he had to let Scotland go after he didnt got re-elected for being the governor of Scotland. In 122 AD the Romans tried to protect themselves from the attacks of the Caledonians by the famous Hadrian wall. The Hadrian wall was started by governor Hadrian and ended six years later to protect them for the raiding tribes. The Romans tried to build a second wall to conquer more land called the Antonine wall but broke it off because it was unnecessary. When the Romans retreated from Britain in 407 AD Scotland of now was set in 4 parts with each part its own king and people. They were the Picts, the Scots, the Angolans and the Britons. In 563 AD Saint Columbanus, a monk, came to northern Scotland and Christianity spread rapidly. In 843 the Picts and the Scots united under king Kenneth MacAlpines reign in Alba (later Scotia). The weird thing was that the Picts just threw their culture away to take the Scots culture. The Angolans went south to England and the Britons lived in the lowlands and since 890 the Vikings lived in the western Isles and operated from there their attacks on Scotland. The next kings and queens were crowned on the stone of scone (stone of destiny) in scone. In 1034 under Duncan I his reign Scotland was united except the parts of the Vikings. In 1040 Duncan I was killed by Macbeth, who got beaten by Duncan I his son Ma lcolm III. In 1066 England was defeated by William the Conqueror and in the years after that, Malcolms son David I Scotland conquered a part of north England. After that till 1268 Scotland started to grow economically and culturally. In 1268 Alexander III died and with no follower than 3 year old Margaret, forced Scotland to crown Margaret as queen. In 1290 Margaret died and not less than 13 men said they had right at the throne. But Edward I of England called David I as king of Scotland. David I and France started an alliance against England. As response on this Scotland lost parts of the lowlands to England . In 1290 Robert I tried to recapture them and In 1320 Scotland was announced as independent country by Robert I but England didnt recognized this declaration till 1328. From 1371 till 1603 there were some conflicts with England and Scotland tried to increase their relation with France and it all happened under the reign of the Stuart family. The last Stuart king was Henry V wh o got the throne in 1603 but he made so much trouble with his lust for power that he had to flee to northern England, and caused a civil war in 1642. The civil war was won by Oliver Cromwell with his New Model Army. He called England, Ireland and Scotland as one republic without a monarchy. But in 1660 Cromwell was dead already and Charles II came on the throne. James VII followed him when he died but was set off by the parliament and Willem of Orange was called to be king of Britain with his wife Mary. James V fled to France but some of the Scottish were still faithful to James VII (the Jacobites). The Jacobites on 27 juli1968 Willems army lost a battle from the Jacobites. In 1702 Anne followed Willem as queen of Britain but the parliament was determined to keep the Stuarts of the queen. So they parliament went to Sophie of Hannover the granddaughter of James VII and they told Scotland if they accepted her they would get trading privileges. But England and Scotland had to reunite i n one parliament. In Scotland there were some riots but in 1707 the offer was accepted and Scotland wasnt a state anymore and had no parliament. Economically it was a good case for Scotland but there were still people especially highlanders who wanted the Stuarts as kings and queens. Charles Edward Stuart was a grandson of James VII and he started a war with his Jacobites against England in 1745. But in 1746 he got defeated after the battle of Culloden and had to flee to Italia. After this battle it was forbidden to wear any skirts, play bagpipes and the clans were not allowed to exist anymore. They switched from livestock-farming to sheep cultivation and potatoes were the most important food in the highlands. When the potato harvest went wrong loads of people went to America (not the VS) and the big cities for work and food. This was a period of grow in economics, literature and culture so Scotland changed in the 18th century from one of the poorest countries in Europe to a normal economically growing land. In 1999 many years later Scotland got its own parliament again. It counted 127 seats in the parliament these are the partys who got seats: 47 Scottish National Party, 46 Scottish Labour Party, 17 Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, 16 Scottish Liberal Democrats, 2 Scottish Green Party, 1 independent

Are Grades Distributed Fairly English Language Essay

Are Grades Distributed Fairly English Language Essay Elliott Miles, a retired educator and university president, discusses a disturbing trend on college campuses: grade inflation. Before you read, think of these questions: In the American education system, what does a grade of A mean? A grade of B, C, D? What about a grade of F? In your university courses, what grades do most students receive? Do you think the grades are distributed fairly (1) Most American universities today still use the traditional grading system of A-B-C-D-F, with A meaning excellent, B good, C satisfactory or average, D unsatisfactory but passing, and F of course failing. While some feel that this system has shortcomings (too inexact, too artificial, too subjective), it does represent the possible range of a students work, and most students and faculty members are comfortable or at least familiar with it. So far so good. However, American universities since the mid 1960s have increasingly been affected by the problem of grade inflation. This refers to the tendency of many faculty members to over-evaluate the quality of a students work and consequently to assign her/him a grade higher than the work deserves. The reason this practice is called inflation, a term borrowed from economics, is that it resembles paying too high a price for a given item, for example twenty dollars for a loaf of bread. The problem is common among American universities, in cluding even our most prestigious institutions, such as Harvard. As Craig Lambert reports in his article Desperately Seeking Summa, the grade of A there accounted for about twenty-two percent of all grades in 1966-67, whereas by 1991-92 it had come to account for forty-three percent almost double. (2) The trend toward inflated grades began in the mid-1960s probably because that was a time of great unrest on college campuses in the United States. There were widespread student protests against the Vietnam War and civil authority in general, frequently with the support and participation of the faculty. Under these circumstances, grading standards began to shift for the worse. Faculty members became more and more unwilling to give students a D, let alone an F; the grade of C came to denote a minimal pass, B to represent satisfactory, and A to mean better than a B. Today, students and faculty alike have this new, watered-down system in their heads, although their universitys official grading policy may be unchanged from previous times. (3) Why is this a problem? After all, a student is unlikely to feel put upon if his/her work is over-valued. However, when a faculty member records that a student has done excellent work, when in fact the work might only be pretty good or merely fair, that faculty member has committed two faults. First, he/she has told a lie about the students work, misrepresenting the students achievements. How would we react if the misrepresentation went the other way if the student had done excellent work, but the faculty member assigned a grade of B or even C? This would strike us all as dreadful, yet faculty members who assign falsely high grades are showing equally faulty judgment. Inaccurate grading is inaccurate grading, no matter which direction it takes. (4) The second fault is that the faculty member has broken faith with all those who will be harmed by the dishonesty. Most obvious among these are the students who really did do excellent or good work. It is grossly unfair to students who earned real As or Bs if their accomplishments are devalued by the lax standards applied to others. To illustrate with an example from the workplace: would it be fair for two employees to receive the same raise when one had done excellent work and the other only mediocre? (5) Grade inflation also harms anyone who must evaluate a students record, such as admissions officers at other universities and at professional schools. For instance, medical and law schools never have enough spaces for all applicants and hence must choose only the best qualified. When admissions officers evaluate the transcript of a student who received inflated grades as an under graduate, they get a false idea of that students past performance as well as his/her potential for future success in a rigorous professional curriculum. For a similar reason, potential employers are harmed when they are presented with an inflated academic transcript; faced with seemingly equal candidates, they may give a desirable position to a less deserving applicant because they had a false understanding of that persons actual abilities. (6) And finally, our society at large is harmed because grade inflation undermines the integrity of the universities, which is one of our greatest assets. If university faculty members cannot be trusted to give an honest evaluation of each students academic work, public disappointment will inevitably set in and rightly so. The solution to the problem, though difficult, is simple: each faculty member should make a conscious decision to assign grades based on the actual quality of a students work, realizing that not every student will be able to earn the highest, or even the second highest, grade. One of my former students made the point very concisely in an essay that she wrote on grade inflation: Lets put the excellence back in the A. Author of article Elliott Miles Title of article Lets Put the Excellence Back in the A Title of the book Refining Composition Skills: Rhetoric and Grammar Author of book Reginal L. Smally, Mark K. Reutten and Joann R. Kozyrev Publisher Heinle Heinle Date 2001 Place Australia Choose one or more of the following questions to inspire your reader response paragraph. 1. How do the impressions of the audience change (or do they) after the second reading? Does the audience think any differently? Is the topic one that would make readers want to learn more? Why or why not? What is it that a reader would want to research for additional information? 2. Sometimes articles touch their audience, reminding them of their own life, as part of the larger human experience. Are there connections between the article and the audiences own life? Or, does the article remind its audience of an event (or events) that happened to someone they know? Does the article have a connection to a previous book or article? 3. If you were the author, would you have changed anything in the article and ideas? Do you have a negative connotation associated with the idea? What would you chance? 4. Does the article leave the audience with questions they would like to ask? What are they? Would the audience like to direct their questions at a particular character or an idea? What questions would the audience like to ask the author of the article? Are they questions that the audience may be able to answer by reading more about the authors life and/or works? What are the questions and how would they be answered? 5. Is there an idea in the book that makes the audience stop and think, or prompts questions? Identify the idea and explain the responses. 6. Has the article changed the reader in any way? The way you look at this theme or behave if you were to talk about this theme? What did you learn that you never knew before? 7. Capture what it is about the book that stands out (or doesnt stand out).

The History of Fermentation Essays -- Fermenting Wine Distillery Alcoh

The History of Fermentation It is impossible to set a date as to the first time fermentation was performed. It is possible, however, to guess, and this guess is roughly 8,000 years ago. Wine has been written about for centuries, in the Greek and Roman myths and scriptures. The Greek god of wine, Dionysius, was in charge of the fermentation atop Mount Olympus. The people of this time may not have known exactly what they were doing, but it was a somewhat complicated procedure. The crushing of grapes, and the storing of their juices led to an amazing beverage that is still used in current society. This process of fermentation was used throughout the time of early Christianity, and other religions, for purposes within sermons. Throughout the Renaissance, fermentation was used in the making of wine as well as bread, not to mention new medical applications. Fermented products were brought to America along with the new settlers. With new government, though, America was put into a prohibition, which did not last long. Today, fermentation processes are carried out nearly perfectly, without too large of variations among the products. Although fermentation has been known of for at least 8,000 years, in 1865 Louis Pasteur was the scientist who really discovered the process of fermentation. At this time, Pastuer was the Dean and professor of chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences in Lille, France. He was originally asked by a friend to investigate difficulties he was having manufacturing alcohol by the fermentation of beetroot. Often, instead of alcohol, the fermentations were resulting in lactic acid. At that time, fermentation leading to the production of wine, beer, and vinegar was believed to be a simple and straightforward breakdown of sugar to the desired molecules. It was believed that the chemical breakdown of sugar into alcohol during the fermentation of wine and beer was due to the presence of inherent unstabilizing vibrations. Yeast cells were found in the fermenting vats of wine and were known as living organisms, yet they were only believed to be either a product of fermentation or catalytic ingredients t hat provided useful ingredients for fermentation to proceed. The brewers of wine, beer, and vinegar were having horrible times with quality control. Yields of alcohol might suddenly fall off; wine might unexpectedly grow ropy or sour or turn to vinegar;... ...s that the fermentation leading to the creation of ethanol has made billions and billions of dollars in profit, along with giving millions of people jobs. It is amazing that something that has had such a large impact on the world (as the fermentation of ethanol has) begins on the molecular level. Bibliography 1. Abedon, Stephen T. â€Å"Glycolysis and Fermentation†. http://www.phage.org/biol1095.htm, July 29, 2000. 2. â€Å"Alcohol Fermentation†. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2000. Harden, Arthur. Alcoholic Fermentation. New York, NY: Longmans, Green and Co., Ltd., 1932. 3. Boyer, Rodney. Concepts in Biochemistry. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1999. 4. â€Å"Cellular Respiration and Fermentation†. http://fhis.gcal.ac.uk/bio/micro/drjrattray/cab2/cab2resp.htm#Fermentation, July 30, 2000. 5. â€Å"Chemical of the Week – Ethanol†. Chicago Tribune (online); http://www.scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/ethanol/ethanol.html, July 29, 2000. 6. Harden, Arthur. Alcoholic Fermentation. New York, NY: Longmans, Green and Co., Ltd., 1932. 7. â€Å"What is Ethanol?†. Ace Page Links, http://www.ethanol.org/ethanol_info2.html, July 27, 2000.

First Impressions in Pride and Prejudice Essay -- essays research pape

Pride and Prejudice was originally and appropriately titled â€Å"First Impressions.† This romantic and philosophical novel demonstrates to its readers how first impressions can drastically get in the way of romantic relationships. First impressions are generally inaccurate, as in the case of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and also the case of Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley. The first impressions can, however, be accurate, such as in the case of Elizabeth Bennet and William Collins. In this so-called â€Å"relationship,† Elizabeth understood all along that Mr. Collins was a particularly disgusting man who liked to fawn over everyone he met. Mr. Collins, however, thought at first that Elizabeth was exactly like all of the other girls of her time period: submissive and unintelligent. Readers of Jane Austen’s novel can easily gain knowledge of the fact that Mr. Collins was completely wrong about her. The majority of the novel Pride and Prejudice centered around the conflict between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. The two first met at a ball in Meryton, and both decided that they hated each other before even getting to know one another. This is one example of how first impressions can ruin potential relationships. for instance, before Mr. Darcy even knew what Elizabeth was like, he concluded from seeing her that she was not particularly pretty, and that she was â€Å"slighted by other men.† (Austen, 10) On the other side of the situation, when Elizabeth overheard this insulting comment, she also jumped to conclusions. She deduced that Mr. Darcy was a selfish, rich snob. These first impressions caused them to spend most of the novel hating each other. Even when Mr. Darcy finally got over his first impressions about Elizabeth herself and propos... ...e fond of a person just by looking at them, or even by their place in society. For instance, just because you think that a person is a rich snob, that does not mean that they are a rich snob in all actuality. In the defense of Mr. Darcy, for example, the person you are judging might just be reserved and introverted. In Elizabeth’s defense, however, it is also not appropriate to criticize people because of their external appearance. It is also unwarranted to write people off as â€Å"slighted by other men.† (Austen, 10) To cut a long story short, the development of the plot demonstrates to readers that everyone makes mistakes. Particularly selfish mistakes, on the other hand, can demolish and devastate potential relationships until the problem is worked out, and both opposing parties resolve to set their extremely selfish desires free and give each other a fair chance.

Apa Essay on Sexual Harassment

Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment is a demeaning practice, one that constitutes a profound affront to the dignity of the employees forced to endure it. By requiring an employee to contend with unwelcome sexual actions or explicit sexual demands, sexual harassment in the workplace attacks the dignity and self-respect of the victim both as an employee and as a human being. Sexual harassment is well defined as an unwelcome sexual request for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. In many countries, sexual harassment is considered a form of sexual abuse and employment discrimination. Sexual harassment is most prevalent is organizations both professional and academic, though it can occur almost anywhere. Unfortunately, sexual harassment is a complicated issue that confronts employers and employees far too often in the workplace. It causes confusion and uncertainty which interferes with a productive working environment. Sexual harassment interferes with individuals work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment results in poor performance and lack of motivation. Policies and facts Organizations should have a policy that will not cause any confusion. Men and women were using the same word to describe different behaviors may contribute to the continued existence of sexual harassment. But when a man thinks that sexual harassment only comes from a supervisor, he may feel free to make sexual comments to a female coworker. The female coworker is likely to see the sexual comments as a quest for power and label it as sexual harassment. There are facts that men are considerably less threatened by behaviors that women found harassing. They also found that men and were threatened by different things such as, whereas women were more threatened by behaviors that emphasized their sub ordinance, men were more bothered by behaviors that threatened their feeling of dominance. Sexual pressure was found by the most threatening behavior to men, and they felt threatened by behavior that had not been identified as threatening for females. Quid pro quo harassment occurs â€Å"when submission to or rejection of such unwelcome sexual conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual†. Hostile environment harassment, on the other hand, occurs when unwelcome sexual conduct causes the environment to become hostile, intimidating, or offensive, and unreasonably nterferes with an employee's or student's work. Quid pro quo harassment occurs where employment decisions or expectations are based on an employee’s willingness to grant or deny sexual favors; whereas a hostile environment is created where verbal or non-verbal behavior in the workplace that focuses on the sexuality of another person or occurs because of the person’s gender, a unwanted or unwelcome, and is severe or pervasive enough to affect th e person’s work environment. Many hostile environment harassment claims have nothing to do with speech, for instance when a harassment claim is based only on offensive physical touching or vandalism or discriminatory job assignments which have generally been seen as â€Å"harassment† rather than discrimination. When harassment claim it is based on generally unprotected speech such as threats or fighting words or slander. Factors contributing to determination in much time victims are the men and women tend to have a victim mentality to begin with. Bullying† is defined as repeated less favorable treatment of a staff member by another person or others which is considered unreasonable and inappropriate. It includes behavior which intimidates, offends, degrades, humiliates, undermines or threatens. Bullying may take place in private or in front of others. Whether or not the person responsible for the behavior intends to harm, the effect of the behavior is harmful. A single incident of bullying behavior i s unacceptable workplace behavior and should not be ignored or condoned. Bullying or other unacceptable behavior may also be a form of unlawful discrimination or harassment. Severe, â€Å"pervasive,† â€Å"hostile and â€Å"abusive† are mushy terms, as courts have specifically acknowledged. I'm not completely sure what it means to say that people have to say it’s bizarre. They might just have had a different notion of how offensive something must be to be â€Å"severe,† or how frequent it must be to be â€Å"pervasive. †Ã‚   Certainly courts have taken very different views of what these terms mean. Men Working or jokes about sexually graphic road signs to be â€Å"severe† or â€Å"pervasive† enough to create a hostile environment; but obviously other people, who probably thought themselves to be quite reasonable, have disagreed. When we judge a rule, we can't judge it simply by how we would apply it ourselves, or by the best-case scenario of how it could be applied. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission states that prevention is the best tool to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. In 1997, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Knabe v Boury that companies must take action that is reasonably calculated to prevent harassment (â€Å"Facts Sheet† 2001). However, the responsibility also falls on victims to do their part to prevent harassment. This does not mean that the actual harassment is the fault of the victim, but rather that the victim has certain responsibilities in how they handle and respond to incidents of sexual harassment. These responsibilities include reporting the incident or incidents through proper channels as well as cooperating with investigations of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment in the workplace presents an ongoing and growing risk to businesses operating in the United States. Today, the time is right for businesses to begin to manage their risk in this area more wisely. Preventing sexual harassment in the workplace requires a considerable investment of time and personnel. In the end, however, these costs will be offset by significant savings in legal fees and health-care costs. Companies will also benefit from increased worker productivity. From a purely business perspective, a company only stands to gain if it takes a no-nonsense, hard-line position on sexual harassment. Not only is it the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. Reference American Psychological Association. Sexual Harassment Myths and Realities. Retrieved from http://all. net/games/sex/harass. html Equal Employment Opportunity Committee. (2002). Facts About Sexual Harassment. Retrieved from http://www. eeoc. gov/facts/fs-sex. html Sexual Harassment. (n. d. ). In Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved from http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/sexual%2Bharassment Shockwaves: The Global Impact of Sexual Harassment, Susan L. Webb, New York 1994. Retrieve from http://www1. umn. edu/humanrts/svaw/harassment/explore/1whatis. htm

Sudan’s Economic Development

Development is something we do to make our way of life more comfortable. If we were not to develop we would still be living in the depths of the jungle feeding on bugs and things. But we have developed to become a more intelligent and happier race. In developing we take things we have and manipulate them into things we can use and sell to help our current situation and in turn make our way of life better. The quality of life is very important. Some factors may be measured but inputs such as personal happiness, a sense of well being or self worth etc., are more difficult to measure because they are subjective. A study of development must contain both measurable objective and subjective aspects. The quality of life can be measured by other factors like infant mortality rate, life expectancy, literacy rate, GNP, and population-growth rate. The quality of life is directly linked to the state of development that a country is currently at. To be developed a country has to have at the very least the basic necessities covered for the human population, e.g. clean water and a health system. To be highly developed a country would have to be up with the cutting edge of technology and health care, plus have a good education status etc. This report will eventually draw up a conclusion of what state of development this country (Sudan) is at. Sudan is situated in Northeastern Africa, the largest country of the African continent. It is bounded on the north by Egypt; on the east by the Red Sea and has Kenya, Uganda, DRC (formerly Zaire), Central African Republic, Chad and Libya. Sudan has a total area of 2,505,813 sq. km. Khartoum is the Capital City of Sudan. Sudan has a maximum length from north to south of more than 2250km; the extreme width of the country is about1730km. Divided into three separate regions, ranging from desert which covers about 30% of all Sudan, through a vast semiarid region of steppes and low mountains in central Sudan, to a region of vast swamps and rain forest in the south. Major features of Sudan are the great Nile River and its head streams the White Nile and the Blue Nile. Sudan has a tropical climate, Seasonal variations are most sharply defined in the desert zones, where winter temperatures as low as 4.4 degrees Celsius are common. Summer temperatures often exceed 43.3 degrees Celsius in the desert zones, and rainfall is negligible. Dust storms frequently occur. In Khartoum the average annual temperature is about 26.7 degrees Celsius; and annual rainfall which often occurs between mid-June and September, is about 254mm. The primary natural resources of Sudan are water. Supplied by the Nile River system, and fertile soil. Large areas of cultivable land are situated in the region between the Blue Nile and the White Nile. Small deposits of many minerals occur. The most important of which are chromium, copper and iron ore. Petroleum was also discovered in the late 1970†³s. The population of Sudan is composed mainly of Arabs in the north and black Africans in the south. Other ethnic groups in northern Sudan include the Beja, Jamala and Nubian peoples. About 58% of the economically active people are engaged in agricultural or pastoral activities; a quarter are employed in services and less than 10% in manufacturing and mining. Infant mortality rate indicates how many infants in every 1000 die soon after birth. Sudan has an infant morality rate of 77 in every 1000 live births. In developing countries the infant mortality rate is usually high and this lowers the overall life expectancy, along with generally poor health among adults. Sudan has a limited health system; it provides various vaccinations for the population but lacks overall medical treatment. Sudan does not have a good life expectancy (52 years); this is probably due to the relatively poor health services. Only 48% of Sudan†s population have access to clean water and there are 11620 people per doctor. (Population projection graph Appendix A) (Sudan population pyramid Appendix B) Sudan†s economic situation is not all that great. GDP/capita is only at $186 US, compared to other countries like Indonesia ($671), Togo ($559) and Costa Rica ($1774) Sudan needs to do a little work to get their GDP up. Sudan imports primary foodstuffs, petroleum products, manufactured goods, machinery and equipment, medicines and chemicals at a cost of 1.1billion dollars US annually. But they only export $535 million per annum in cotton (24%), livestock/meat (13%), gum Arabic (food additive in printing material)(11%). This has put Sudan into an $18 billion dollar debt. The education status of Sudan is not very impressive either. An Adult literacy rate of 42.7% and only 52% of children in primary school the population doesn†t get the education it requires to develop properly. About two thirds of Sudan†s population derives its living from crop farming or grazing, but only about 5% of the countries land is arable. Annual crop production in the early 1990†³s included; sorghum, wheat, peanuts, dates, yams and pulses. Cotton is the leading cash crop of Sudan; it is produced in large amounts in the Al Jazirah region. The livestock population in the early 1990†³s included about 21.6 million cattle, 22.6 million sheep, 18.7 million goats and 35 million poultry. The constitution of 1973, establishing Sudan as a one-party presidential Republic, was suspended following a military coup in 1985. Open elections were held in 1986, but political activities in the court were banned after another military coup in 1989. After the 1985 coup a 15 member Transitional Military Council took control. In April 1986 the people elected members to a parliamentary assembly; the leader of the majority party became Prime Minister. This shows that the government up until 1985 the Sudanese government was unstable and needed reform. It is quite clear that Sudan is not a developed country. This shows mainly in it†s economic factors, with the country being $18billion dollars in debt and having its exports much lower than its imports there doesn†t seem to be much hope of Sudan getting into or anywhere near the black. Also the majority of the population works in agriculture and only a limited number of people work in the industries. The health system provides only limited support for the population. Over 11 000 people per doctor and 48% of the population with access to clean water, it is no surprise that the life expectancy is only 52 years. (Basic demographic Indicators Appendix C) Everyone knows that it takes money to make money and Sudan has a lot of its money channelled into the military. They could cut down on the army expenses and divide that money into other aspects like education, health and technology. Sudan can be an ally with neighbouring countries and trade goods; they could combine their forces and become one force.