Critical Thinking Is More than Common Sense Essay -- Critical Thinking

If one were to ask a group of high school seniors questions like, â€Å"Who was the first U.S. president?† or, â€Å"What equation is associated with the Pythagorean Theorem?† they would likely discover that the majority of the students would answer correctly. However, if one were to pose the questions, â€Å"Why did the Civil War occur?† or, â€Å"Why are international trade relations between other countries important to the U.S.?† they would receive fragmented responses at best; few students would be able to provide clear and concise answers. This simulated example clearly underscores some of the current flaws in the education system across the nation. Instructors teach students, and expect them to learn; they do not teach them how to learn. Many educators have taught students well how to compile trivia and miscellaneous facts, but few have truly embraced the method of critical thought in the classroom. Kansans praise the system for the improving te st scores, yet they fail to see through the blanket of such pseudo-success, and they do not realize the true mediocrity of the Kansas educational curriculum. Secondary schools in Kansas should place a greater emphasis on critical thinking in the classroom. As indicated by studies from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, students fall short when it comes to critical thought and reasoning (Jasparro, 86). Because of the current classroom practices of rote memorization, â€Å"students are generally deeply habituated to passivity and low-level performance,† reports Linda Elder, executive director for the Center for Critical Thinking, who promotes the integration of critical thought into current curriculum. â€Å"Most [students] have no conception of what discursive reasoning is. Most have spen... ...mprovement Research Series. Nov. 1991. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory . â€Å"Critical Thinking Skills Key to Raising SAT Scores.† Business Wire. Lexis-Nexis Online. 30 August 1991. Keywords: Critical Thinking. Elder, Linda. â€Å"The 18th International Conference on Critical Thinking and Educational Reform.† 18th International Conference on Critical Thinking. 4 Aug. 1998. The Center for Critical Thinking . Jasparro, Ralph. â€Å"Applying Systems Thinking to Curriculum Evaluation.† NASSP Bulletin 82.598 (1998): 86. Paul, Richard. â€Å"Content is Thinking; Thinking is Content.† Content is Thinking. 28 June 2001. The Center for Critical Thinking . ---.

Caring for individuals with additonal needs

The medical model of disability views disability as a ‘problem’ that belongs to the disabled individual. It is not seen as an issue to concern anyone other than the individual affected. For example, if a wheelchair using student is unable to get into a building because of some steps, the medical model would suggest that this is because of the wheelchair, rather than the steps. However the social model of disability would see the steps as the disabling barrier. This model has the idea that it is society that disables people, through designing everything to meet the needs of the majority of people who are not disabled.There is a realization within the social model that there is a great deal that society can do to reduce, and ultimately remove, some of these disabling barriers, and that this task is the responsibility of society, rather than the disabled person. The social model of disability focuses on people’s attitudes towards disability. These attitudes are many and varied, ranging from prejudice and stereotyping, to unnecessary inflexible organisational practices and procedures.An example of a medical model approach would be a course leader who refuses to produce a hand-out in a larger font for a visually impaired student. The student cannot therefore participate in the class discussion impacting on the students learning development and also could make that student feel isolated and alone. The medical model of disability also affects the way disabled people think about themselves. Many disabled people internalise the negative message that all disabled people’s problems stem from not having ‘normal' bodies.Disabled people too can be led to believe that their impairments automatically prevent them from participating in social activities. This attitude can make disabled people less likely to challenge their exclusion from mainstream society. Regarding the social model, society is shown to disable people who have impairments becau se the way it has been set up prevents disabled people from taking part in everyday life. It follows that if disabled people are to be able to join in mainstream society, the way society is organised must be changed.Removing the barriers which exclude disabled people who have impairments can bring about this  change. An example of this would be a course leader meeting with a visually impaired member of the group before the beginning of a course to find out how hand-outs can be adapted so that the student can read them.Positive working practice allows health and social care workers to meet the specific needs of clients. Every area of work needs to make sure that it meets the needs of all individuals with additional needs. Positive working practice becomes a great addition when considering how it can be applied to help those with additional needs. Before this was brought in, it was a common for individuals with additional needs to be expected to fit in with the rest of society meani ng that their needs were not being met. In recent years, this has been changed.Services provide a more patient orientated examination resulting in the patient being directly involved in every decision made. This left all decisive action down to them, ensuring they got the treatment they needed and felt comfortable with.

Homeschooling should replace normal schooling

Homeschooling should replace normal schooling for the betterment of students in Hong Kong. Homeschooling refers to the education of children at home, typically by parents or tutors, unlike the formal settings of schools. In many countries around the world, children are not legally obligated to attend school. In England, France, Canada, the United States and Australia, it is perfectly legal for parents to educate their kids at home. Homeschooling is becoming more popular every day, with a growth rate of 7 to 15 percent per year over the world. There are about two million children currently earning at home in the world.Homeschooled kids do well on standardized tests, are welcome at college and universities, and as adults, have a reputation for being self- directed learners and reliable employees. This essay is going to examine whether homeschooling should replace normal schooling for the betterment of students in Hong Kong. Homeschooling makes children miss the golden opportunity to pr actice their social skills. School is the miniature of society. One needs to have not only knowledge of the world, but also interpersonal communication skills in order to survive, not to mention excel in a society.If a child is taught at home solely by his/ her parents, the child misses the chance to meet and interact with other kids. Peer learning has vital benefits as well. By communicating with friends, students can improve their interpersonal skills. Homeschooled children cannot take part in extra-curricular activities like debate, choir and team sports. As interactive learning is such an important component in modern education, homeschooling deprives children of their chance to develop their social skills and network, and even friends. Furthermore, home is not the most suitable environment for learning which lower he effectiveness of learning.Home cannot provide many different hardware which can only be provided by day schools. For instance, the different kinds of experiments m ust be conducted in a safety equipped and qualified laboratory . The many apparatus like Bunsen Burner, funnel and beaker can only be found in a laboratory. Home can never provide such hardware to support the diverse learning needs of children . The equipment of language labs, music room and library only appear in a school setting. Besides, there are too many temptations at home, such as television nd computer games, which would prevent children from concentrating on learning.Homeschooling undermines the development of creative thinking. Parents-to- children teaching is atter all the indoctrination ot parents thinking and values system to their children. In Hong Kong, most parents are very concerned about their children and hope them have a bright future. Therefore, they may try to give what they think is the best to the children. It is common that parents force their children to have piano lesson, choir practice, drawing class and so on in Hong Kong. Parents tend to orcefully spoon feed what they want their children to know.In many cases, children cannot develop multiple thinking perspectives. They Just do what their parents ask them to do. Their creativity and critical thinking, which are highly-valued in today's competitive world, can hardly be formed. On the other hand, it is not suitable to implement home-schooling in Hong Kong. Most parents have full time Job. They do not have time to teach their children. Moreover, parents are not professional in teaching when compared to trained teachers. They may not know how to teach their children effectively. Also, it is impossible for parents to know all knowledge of different subjects.In school, teachers are specialize in few subjects and they can concentrate on those subjects to prepare teaching materials. According to Bill and Ana Moody, who homeschool their children, they admitted that it is hard to teach science topics properly at home. They do not have sufficient knowledge of science and science requires to do experiments. Homeschooling brings another problem: how to assess the ability of students? Hong Kong is a knowledge-based society, it is important to have certificates to prove ne's academic Usually, one will get a Job easily with higher education level.Different jobs have different required education levels. If homeschooling is implemented, there is no standard to assess students unless all students Join public examinations offered by authorized organization and the Education Bureau. Homeschooling does not provide a standard to assess whether students has understand the knowledge fully. As every parents and tutors may have design a different curriculum for students, there is no standard of what basic knowledge that students should learn.Some people argued that a unified education system simply cannot cater for the individual needs of each and every student and, therefore, homeschooling is a better way for children to learn as it is more flexible which can cater individual's needs . It can provide a tailor-made learning schedule which can cater learning speed of the children and specific requirements by those who best understand them: their parents. It may allow students a more flexible combination of subjects which cater for individual needs. This would arouse interest in study, giving students the initiative to learn.However, small class teaching , which is quite popular in Hong Kong, can also cater the needs of different children. Due to the decreasing birth rate, schools started to implement small-class teaching and has smaller teacher-to student ratio. This allows teachers to pay more attention to each student in class. Flexible combination of subjects can also be achieved by new curriculum. In the past, usually students were divided into art, science and commerce classes and they were only allowed to choose subjects which are related to each other. Now, students under the new curriculum are allowed to choose subjects freely.For example, student can choo se to study Biology, a science subject, and grapny, an art subject. Some also claimed that homeschooling can enhance close family relationship. However, this may not be true. Conflicts and arguments are easily happened when parents stay with their children all the time. Parents may easily lose temper when their children are not listening to them or cannot follow their teaching schedule as they are more emotionally affected when facing their own children. Moreover, children may easily lose concentration on learning as there are too many temptations at home as mentioned before.If parents punished their children for this, the parent- child relationship would suffer. All in all, homeschooling should not replace normal schooling for the betterment of students as there are too many weaknesses of homeschooling though admitted that normal schooling has its flaws. In the current education system, students are required to study a fixed and long syllabus within a short period of time. Students study under tremendous pressure and may eventually lose interest in study. However, homeschooling neglects the social development of children which is vital in modern society.

Liberal Studies Writing Task- School drug testing in Hong Kong

Liberal Studies Writing Task- School drug testing in Hong Kong Free Online Research Papers Liberal Studies Writing Task- School drug testing ‘Public opinion concerning the implementation of the school drug testing scheme was ignored by the HKSAR Government.’ To what extent do you agree with the statement? Explain your answer with the aid of three examples. With less than a month to go before the commencement of the Trial Scheme on School Drug Testing in Tai Po, important issues concerning implementation of the program such as invasion of privacy still remain unresolved. Despite this and the objection of some citizens, the government still decides to go ahead with the scheme. In this way, the public opinion was thought to be ignored by the government. However, someone thinks that the government has already made some amendments in response to the public. To be frank, I partly agree with the statement of the question. First of all, the government has been lessening the legal force of constraint in order to reduce the resistance of implementing the scheme. The government has promised that the police will not involved and the students who are tested positive will not be charged. In addition, the letter of consent has to be signed by both the student and his parent. Furthermore, the students can feel free to withdraw from the scheme. All these are the amendments made by the government in response to the demand of public. Therefore, the government can be considered to have deliberated the public opinions. Next, a hundred of students joined the demonstration to show their discontentment with the scheme. When they arrived the government headquarter, the security guards refused to open the gate to let them in and submit the petition. In this case, I think that the government officials should at least have accepted the petition to show their concern. Otherwise, the government would be thought to have ignored the public opinion. Thirdly, more than fifty briefing sessions of the drug testing scheme have been held in the Tai Po schools. The government said that what they had gained was positive feedback where negative feedback only took up a small part. During those sessions, the students and parents were free to express their opinions and interact with the government officials directly. Thus, the government officials can listen to the public opinion and make the scheme as ideal as possible. To sum up, I partly agree with the statement because of the amendments made to the scheme, the demonstration and the briefing sessions. After all, I do hope the number of drug abusers in Hong Kong will reduce gradually. Research Papers on Liberal Studies Writing Task- School drug testing in Hong KongStandardized TestingMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresQuebec and CanadaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug Use19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraBringing Democracy to AfricaRelationship between Media Coverage and Social and

Free sample - Anti-alcoholism Programms. translation missing

Anti-alcoholism Programms. Anti-alcoholism Programms1 (same as 3). I completely agree with this point of view. Alcoholism is a complete degradation of human as a person. It hurts to see how close person plunges into this abyss. Sometimes you lose heart and do not know how to help. I think that the12-step programs can help many. It is very important to understand that the treatment of alcoholism, which has a devastating impact on absolutely all aspects of life, can be effective only in the long run. 12-steps program aimed at the full change of life of such people – physical, spiritual and social spheres of his existence. I believe that every man is able to help himself, to make absolutely conscious and suffered choice. 2. I hope to God that 12-step programs are able to hill alcohol dependant people. But it is obviously for me that the behavior of relatives and friends should be appropriate. Many just feel sorry for the loved ones suffering from alcohol dependence, not realizing that failing to provide them with proper assistance make the situation even more complex and infinite. I think it is of great need to be strong in such situation, even stronger than alcohol abused ones. Only strong desire to save person, to make his life and life of all close people worth human being can rescue whole family, of course with the help of qualified professionals. Alcoholic has to be sure that he makes right decision; he has to see and feel his problem as a disease that makes hurt to everyone who loves him. So, I am deeply convinced that 12-step program can help to find the way to freedom and healing. 4. I completely agree that drinking alcohol makes people behave inadequately. This question is still opened and even professionals can not answer the question â€Å"Why?† We are all individuals and not everybody knows what our consciousness hides. Many think that alcohol helps to reveal our true personality but also many drink because of desire to hide it or escape from reality. To my mind the 12-step program’s treating includes such aspects as analysis of the past and making certain findings (own way to cure), and that helps to understand clearly the deep need of deliverance from alcohol abuse. Communicating with people who face the same problem also helps in realization of healing from alcohol dependence.

Labor Discrimination Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Labor Discrimination - Essay Example The intention of this study is labour discrimination refers to the discriminating behaviour practices within the process of hiring, promoting, assignment and allocation of job responsibilities and compensation to the employees. There are several types of harassment also included in labour discrimination like sexual harassment, cultural harassment and wages discrimination etc. There have been several jurisdiction implemented to prohibit different types of labour discrimination and the victims have been given the right to file lawsuit against the employers in case of encountering discrimination at work place. Labour discrimination could occur intentionally or intentionally due to prejudice or ignorance. The discrimination of labour has been evolved as an important and serious area of concern for the business related people, workers and general people because all over the world it is common to see filing of lawsuits against major companies of the world on the charges of labour discrimin ation.If the lawsuits are filed against well-known companies then the cases often turn sensational and gain the attention of the community to look for the outcome of the case. Several cases of labour discrimination have been ended with multimillion dollar settlement. The class actions taken against the companies are usually supported and favoured by the people because they think that decisions in favour of labour put pressure upon the employers to change their practice and make it justified and fair with the workforce. (Susan et al, p28). The paper discusses two lawsuits filed against popular American companies Abercrombie & Fitch and Wall Mark on the allegation of labour discrimination. These two cases were widely followed by people because they involved popular retail brands of the country. These cases ended up with different conclusion and the accused companies are given different decisions. Abercrombie & Fitch was ordered to pay $50 million compensate the plaintiffs however, the case of Wal-Mart was blocked by the Supreme Court due to lack of sufficient evidences about the existence of discriminating labour practice by the management of Wal-Mart. The decision of Abercrombie & Fitch encouraged the class workers to raise voice for their due rights however, the case of Wal-Mart clarifies that the lawsuit must be filed with complete preparation and practice so that the court become able to make a justified decision. These two important lawsuits of the U.S. business world are discussed below and their comparative analysis has also been conducted to illustrate the practical implications of these decisions to the business world and labour management practice. Abercrombie & Fitch Lawsuit Abercrombie & Fitch is a popular American retailer company that main deals with the casual wean for the consumers age group 18-22. It also operates three other offshoot brands of children wear and other fashion wear. The company has established around 300 locations across US and t he process of international expansion is also on its way. The company employs over 22,000 workers in over 700 stores. Most of the employees are college age adults of different sex, race and ethnic groups (Jane, p2). The case was filed by the employees of the company who charged it for discrimination of the work force at workplace. The case against Abercrombie & Fitch was settled on the 14th of April 2005 when Judge Susan Illston of U.S. District Court for the Northern district of California finally approved the settlement of case Gonzalez v. Abercrombie & Fitch. The court required Abercrombie & Fitch to pay $40 million to several plaintiffs that were mostly females and others belonged to minority community (Shiffer et al, p7). After the settlement of the case the company established settlement fund to distribute the amount among the workers. The plaintiffs were sent the award checks in

Should the IMF and World Bank cancel all the debts of poor countries Research Paper

Should the IMF and World Bank cancel all the debts of poor countries C.Q. Researcher, September 28, 2001, vol. 11, issue - Research Paper Example A good example is the oil crisis of 1973 whereby oil prices escalated forcing governments of many developing countries to borrow heavily from the IMF, the World Bank and other creditors to procure much needed oil supplies. Much of this borrowed capital was spent on noncapital generating ventures or was lost through corruption. This means that these countries were mostly unable to channel these borrowed funds into their economies to fuel economic growth that would in the near future generate the capital necessary to pay off the debt (Palley, 2003, p. 83). Review Proponents of debt abolition have been advocating heavily for cancellation of all debts of poor countries. The most prominent of these is the Jubilee Debt Coalition, a UK-based coalition of local groups and organizations calling for the cancellation of heavy debts owed by developing countries. The issue of debt cancellation is important because heavy debts which are not payable prevent the eradication or reduction of poverty i n the third world. The World Bank and IMF are party to the Millennium Development Goals one of the main aims of which is to significantly reduce the number of the world’s people living below the poverty line (Pettifor, 2003, p. 71 – 73). ... xperiences of countries such as Nigeria, Afghanistan and Iraq indicate that this general lack of insecurity provides a conducive environment for the growth of terrorist organizations with a global reach. These terrorists pose a serious threat to the national security of all countries, including developed countries. The arguments proposed by both proponents and opponents of debt cancellation have their strengths and weaknesses. Proponents include organizations such as the Jubilee Debt Coalition, experts such as renowned economists in the US, and policy makers in the US and the European Union. They have put forward a number of good arguments. Firstly, they argue that many of the loan deals have terms that are unfair to the borrowing poor countries. According to Palley (2003) the interest rates are usually set very high because many of the developing countries are desperate and they borrow on short notice (p. 86). For this reason, the loans end up being very expensive, an unfortunate si tuation considering that the developing countries are the poorest yet they often receive loans that are more expensive than those received by developed countries. In fact, many countries have already paid the amounts they owed several times over because the debt grows faster than they can pay due to high interest. Therefore, it is only fair that the World Bank and the IMF cancel these debts while it is working on a solution to ensure that in future, terms of loans consider the state of a country’s economy and its rate of economic development. Secondly, proponents argue that debt needs to be cancelled in order to harmonize goals of the United Nations with those of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The UN’s Millennium Development Goals heavily emphasize the reduction of