Deborah Moggach uses humour to address social issues consider how she does this, paying particular attention to her use of language Essay Example for Free

Deborah Moggach uses humour to address social issues consider how she does this, paying particular attention to her use of language Essay n this essay I will look at how Deborah Moggach uses humour to address social issues. I will give my own opinion and I will also pay particular attention to her use of language. In this essay I will focus on ‘fool for love’ by Deborah Moggach, she addresses the social issues of older women having a relationship with younger men. In this story there is a middle age mother with two teenagers and she found a 26 year old man for a relationship through her day time job in a dispatch room. Deborah Moggach uses humour to address a social issue a number of times throughout the story. The first time we see this is when Deborah Moggach the 26 year old man ask Esther out, ‘want to help me buy a Christmas present for my mum’. This is used as a social issue as he is asking to spend time with her. However the humour comes in later when Deborah Moggach says ‘but did he just want the advice of mature woman’. This makes the audience think and brings reality into the story and reminds us of Esther’s age. We are reminded by the young man’s age later on in the story through humour when Esther is telling him about the state of her son’s bedroom until she realise he is young himself ‘you couldn’t complain about adolescents to somebody who was practically one himself’. This humour is shown as it is as if Esther is relating the young man of her dreams to her son. Deborah Moggach then uses humour when she gets into how Esther feels about how long it had been since she had fallen in ‘love again’ and ‘Since she had shaved her legs every single day’. This humour is shown to emphasis what it is like to fall in love and what ladies do on a daily bases to show that they care top their man. This is also linked to a social issue as it is the reason she is ‘shaving her legs on a daily bases’ for the social aspect of seeing the man. In the sixth paragraph of ‘fool for love’, Deborah Moggach uses humour by saying ‘she had lent him  £10-he never had any money-and he still paid her back’. This is used in a social issue as they are socialising together more carefully now as the story goes on. This is also humours’ as people can relate towards it and it shows that he cares for his feelings and cares for her. ‘Fool for love’ by Deborah Moggach is a story that people are able to relate to well. It seems to be that everyone has fallen in love and had ups and downs, whether they would die to be with them for the rest of their lives or be with them for a period of time. ‘Fool for love’ emphasises just how strong love can be and how powerful it is to some people and this is how people are able to relate towards the story. Humour for a social issues is used a lot of the time throughout the story as a mature woman with a younger man does happen it is not too common which gives Deborah Moggach the perfect chance to play with the writing and ass humour into the story. ‘Fool for love’ is all about social issues with Esther meeting a new young man at work to meeting her son from the airport. I lot of the things that Esther does is because of a social issue and how she wants to come across to people when being social able.

Students Choice Of Stem Fields Education Essay

Students Choice Of Stem Fields Education Essay Abstract- In this paper we study the interest of students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from grade 9 to 12 in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Surveys were distributed to students who chose STEM tracks and students who chose non STEM tracks in public and private schools, as well as universities, across the country. The data collected revealed a number of reasons that make students like, or dislike, scientific majors. These reasons include the presence or absence of capable teachers, the influence of role models and the choice of the teaching language. The results presented in the paper also focus on differences between public and private institutions, male and female students, as well as nationals and non-nationals. We also compare our findings to similar research done in the USA. We show that several factors remain valid in both countries whereas others are specific to each of them. This paper also provides suggestions on the way to overcome the challeng es in STEM field. Although this paper is based on data collected in United Arabs Emirates, the solutions can be applied to any other region of the world. Keywords STEM; Students survey; Engineering; UAE; Self efficacy; Role models; Peers; Parents, K-12. Introduction Many countries are currently attempting to improve their school systems, making the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) more important. This is seen as the key educational ingredient that will ensure innovations in future [1-6]. The suggested trend for 21st century national economies is to reach the penultimate label of being innovation based or knowledge based [1, 2]. According to the much heralded and respected The Global Competitiveness Report from the World Economic Forum, an innovation-driven state of any economy is the most sophisticated level to which it matures [1-3]. An innovation-driven economy is judged based on the sophistication of business and its ability to nurture technological creations [1-4]. The scientific survey points to the fact that in order for economies to be innovative, they must possess an advanced education system. Without this, innovation will be unobtainable [1-4]. In a concerted effort to diversify and strengthen its rising oil-based economy, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has taken upon itself to revamp its whole education system, especially in instruction of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [4, 7]. The United Arabs Emirites is not a leading contributor in science and technology developments in the Middle East [7, 8]. Though there has been debate over the nature, scale, and to a degree the existence of this problem, most experts seem in agreement that the problem is real and increasing with time [9, 10]. In UAE, the lowering trend of STEM interested students attaining degrees will negatively affect the workforce available for industry [4, 8]. Therefore, UAEs educational system must provide highly skilled STEM workers in order to reach its 2030 Vision of becoming a self-sustaining and innovative economy [4]. Although STEM subjects may be taught with the utmost vigor and high aspirations, this does not guarantee that the studen ts will major in STEM fields and become innovative and productive members of STEM professions [5, 6]. There are many barriers or switch-off factors that affect students choices of studies for further education and/or future careers. This paper consists a starting point for an ongoing research into modeling the interest of UAEs students in the STEM, as done in [5] with regards to the USA education system. The paper is organized as follows: In Section 2, we discuss previous results in literature related to the topic. In Section 3, we introduce the research methods adopted for the sake of collecting the required data. In Section 4, we analyze the results and compare our findings to existing ones. In section 5, we provide the results and the conclusions arrived at from the study In section 6, we provide various suggestions on solving the existing problems. In section 7, we provide the limitations of the study. In section 8, we conclude with several remarks and an outlook for upcoming research projects. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Recently, there has been existence of initiatives and publications related to the overall understanding and the experiences of minority particularly doctoral students. The University of Arizona researched the considerations that students take as they decide to apply to a course in a graduate school [11]. The sample population of the research comprised of students who applied in Arizona and the responses varied out by gender and race (Minority versus White). The top aspects for all applicants in the doctorate program included department reputation, correspondence between student interests and degree program, research conducted by an individual faculty associate, whether there is accreditation of the program, departments receptiveness to questions, overall school reputation, and other external forces. For the minority, on the other hand, aspects such as recommendations from faculty to other institutions, printed resources from the department, and propinquity to the home of the students were highly vital than they were for the overall population. For minority and women, the reaction of a program to the question posed by the applicant also played a highly crucial role. Therefore, the appropriate recruitment of underrepresented teams demands different training and techniques that what is crucial for the majority set [11]. The University of Maryland has published their judgments about victorious programs to create a diverse doctoral student institution on the organization [12]. Some of the programs include Professoriate (AGEP) and Maryland Alliance for Graduate Education. These programs are modeled around comparable successful programs for graduates at other institutions. From these programs, the researchers found some components to be particularly imperative in sustaining minor students before and after graduating. These components include: preparation of graduate learning (application support and GRE); graduate admission (changing the admission strategies); graduate program selection (factors to take in consideration); peer support (with a student who has advanced in the students disciplines and also through interdisciplinary circumstances); summer bridge programs (bonding of students and academic preparation assessment); faculty role models and mentors( from the students research advisor and from ot her department); stable and adequate staff support, professional development and financial support (support needed for the student to pursue in his desired discipline); and exposure to the occupation (funding to yield successful minority graduates to campus for a long or short period, funding towards travelling to professional conferences). It is significant to note that these components focus more on altering the doctoral programs in the university, other than of forcing the students to change [12]. In addition to the research done by these universities, some non-academic institutions have put focus on issues relating to students joining universities. The Woodrow Wilson Foundation produced a report in 2005 on minorities in doctoral programs [14] and doctoral programs in general [13]. The Foundation established four vital factors that institutions have put in use for improving doctoral education [13]. These are: new practices (the means at which they can make aspects of doctorial training be developmental); new paradigms (what promotes or discourages truly exploratory scholarship?); new partnerships (improved relationship between the sectors that employ doctorate recipients and academia); and new people (the doctorate should ensure that all people in the population feel incorporated and their researches are socially applicable). Putting these issues into consideration, the Foundation concludes that the doctoral experience will advance for all students despite their gender and rac e. Underlying the four factors are four principles studied in the report and that has practical application in the institutions. These principles include: Universities should possess a centralized and strong graduate school with imperative power and budge; the graduates should be seen in a vacuum with little or no concern for how the research is affected by or affects the society; students form different backgrounds should be included in these programs; and there should be regular assess of doctoral programs using rational rewards, objectives and consequences. While some institutions follow these principles, others do not follow them. Therefore, through the analyzed report, the Foundation anticipates causing change in the operations and mentality of these institutions so that they can alter the reality of education. Also, the Foundation recommends the use of seven principles to improve the experiences and recruitment of minority doctorate students: research, communication, intellectual support, professionalizing experiences, vertical integration, leadership, and mixture of race and gender [14]. It is crucial for programs to communicate efficiently so that they have a position to share best practices and resources. Additionally, students should conduct research in order to analyze how programs work and what to add so that they can perform better than before. Vertical integrations analyzes how k-12, undergraduate, and graduate programs should work together to ensure that students engage often and early with them. The Foundation recommends that, in intellectual support, the doctorate should be socially responsive ad should also improve the picture of the programs so that they can become attractive to a large audience. The issue of professionalizing experiences and monitoring consists of issues rela ted to the relations between a student and his or her advisors, as well as issues on finance that might push a student away form the chances to interact with his or her professional colleagues. Race and gender principal describes how graduates should try to take in consideration race as well as the requirement in admission, programs, and financial help, other than concentrating on the need as several programs do in order to evade negative views of confirmatory action. Finally, leadership principle focuses on the government and its agencies so that they can provide better oversight and assistance on the use of national funds. Leadership principle imperative for it ensures that there is right usage of funds on the desired programs and people. Whilst some of these principles are close to those suggested by the Foundation, some of them are specifically focusing to the minority experience [14]. The Council for Graduates Schools lately founded the Ph.D. Completion project to scrutinize issues relates to time to degree and retention of students in doctoral programs [15]. This program has corporate funding from Ford and Pfizer. Students in various degree programs from a group of universities were set as a sample population. Then there was the distribution of surveys to get an improved understanding of the experiences of students who graduates and who leave their studies without graduating. From the original research for the project, the satisfying practices that they put across were the utilization of the mentoring, program environment, research processes, mode, and procedures, and financial support. These practices support the points put across by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Finally, a private-public partnership referred to as Building Engineering and Science Talent (BEST) has an analysis of the practices that work well to maintain the underrepresented students in STEM fields [16]. These experimental practices include targeted recruitment, institutional leadership, peer support, personal attention, engaged faculty, bridging to the next point, enriched research experience, and personal evaluation and continuous program [16]. Science education among the United States residents lags extremely behind than that of other developed nations. Implicit notion of this statement is that the quality of science literacy in USA elementary and high schools is not as precise compared to European and Asian countries. Students, specifically those of ethnic and racial descents, have little perceptive of science terms such as DNA and photosynthesis, or even the straightforward fact the earth rotates around the sun. Reasonably, an understanding of a scientific idea is lacking among the entire population but particularly among low income and minority students [17]. Aggravating the circumstance is unawareness on the part of science educators of the slight misconceptions that these students bring to the classroom which make it complex for them to theoretically grab scientific resources. Consequently, the number of competent students to learn science, engineering and mathematics after secondary school graduation is remarkably ne gligible. There is the use of aforementioned best observations and practices to inform the questions used in this research. As discussed earlier in the Introduction section, this study seeks to better understand the experiences of STEM and non STEM graduates and the factors that facilitate their decisions to move along pathways leading towards professoriate. It also focuses on the underrepresented students in the STEM fields and clearly brings out the factors that make students pursue or not to pursue in STEM fields. In order to tackle this to completion, there is the distribution of surveys whose responses will conclude the findings of the study. RELATED WORK Various studies exist with different suggestions about the reasons why students choose to study or not to study STEM fields. These studies point out several reasons why students pursue or do not pursue with STEM fields after completion of their secondary education. There exist some cognitive factors that affect students choice of majors. Firstly, their attitudes and beliefs towards STEM disciplines play a crucial role on this. Emotional, psychological, behavioral and physiological propensities which reveal an individuals perceptions and responses to, interaction with his immediate background define cognitive dispositional features. Earlier studies found that there is relationship between two cognitive aspects in the completion and enrolment of unnecessary (or college preparatory) mathematics and science courses- students self efficacy concerning science and mathematics topics and their interests in both [18]. More studies [19] show that all ethnic groups possess similar aspirations a nd positive fields for STEM occupations. On the other hand, as minority students continue with their academic disciplines, their interest in mathematics and science related topics decrease as their achievement in these classes weakens. Self efficacy is another cognitive factor that affects the choice of students major. Empirical researches show that students have a high possibility to sign up for science courses if they maintain high ranks of self efficacy in the science area [18]. The possibility of choosing science or engineering courses enhances with students awareness that they possess mathematics background or a solid science and in the certainty that they have the capability to perform best in those disciplines. Self efficacy is the strongest forecaster in the consideration of STEM disciplines as a career choice. Reference [19] validates the motivation and significance of self efficacy in foretelling performance in science and mathematics. Minority students possess lower self efficacy in mathematics and science than the other students. Minority students in STEM fields have complication when it comes to perceiving themselves as scientists, even after expressing their interest in STEM careers [20]. One of the most commonly cited rationales for inspiring students to enjoy STEM subjects is good teaching that involves capable teachers [5, 6, 21-24]. The teachers capability can be defined as his/her role and personality in the approach to delivering the academic curriculum [21-24]. The learning environment, or the relationship between the learner and teacher, dictates the outlook of the potential STEM and non STEM interested students. For example, educators who are aware that memorization of content may not be the best method of assessment for learners and diverse methods of pedagogy should be taken into account to reach multiple intelligences tend to produce students who may be more successful [6, 21-24]. According to reference [25], anxiety of mathematics and science has its origins in teaching and in teachers of science and mathematics. Explaining this, they argue that students do not have anxiety before attending school hence, they relate this to the teaching method and the not ion that science and mathematics is somewhat dreaded from the first years learning of a child. Adults and teachers may emphasize that science related fields are hard, whereas they indicate that the skills attained from the field are vital for future accomplishment. If unqualified teachers are forced to teach science related courses, they project signals to students hence scaring students to pursue or complete theses majors [25]. Frequently, students encounters with STEM can force them to feel incompetent especially when presented by educators who do not like STEM. Some teachers may not possess the preparedness to deal with psychological fear of STEM, nor do they have preparedness to handle the defense strategies and mechanisms their students utilize to defend themselves from appearing to fail in STEM. Prior academic preparation often affects the students choice of fields to major. In most cases, student decides that a major in the STEM is not he would like to pursue. The uncertainty to stay enrolled in a STEM field is probably influenced by the students attending mathematic training prior to registering in an institution and his academic aptitude. More exclusively, student achievement in the structure of a grade point and math SAT performance is in association with the persistence of students in STEM majors [26]. Students who earn high math SAT score do not only perform high ranks of participating in mathematics and science clubs but also enrolled in more advanced courses and were more engaged in math and science activities in secondary school. Students with prior academic preparation in STEM have more chances to pursue in majors of STEM disciplines. Studies also show that lack of enough science and mathematical training at the secondary and elementary level has a negative effect on the students interesting secondary mathematics as well as academic preparation, science coursework and in majoring in STEM fields [18, 27]. In conjunction to the aforesaid prevalence of tracking of minority students into the lower class science and mathematics disciplines, it seems that the quality of the academic readiness many minority students receive has a negative impact from the differences among school funding, teachers quality, and money spent on instructional programs. Minority students in most cases get taught by teachers who do not major in that field or even inexperienced teachers who pursue the fields. Minorities have more possibility of receiving funding discriminations in the K-12 education compared to other students [28]. This is because the systems used for funding do not give equal amounts every student exposing minority students to risk of acquiring less funding. Hence, these students have a greater exposure to high quality, challenging mathematics instructions , further daunting their interest in science or mathematics [28]. Commitment of the student to STEM major also has a role in determining whether the student may pursue the major or not. The emphasis on the students involvement to a particular major one enrolled, as in STEM), is as crucial as developing an early interest in STEM disciplines in K-12. A tough involvement to a STEM degree is a persuasive predictor of student perseverance [26]. Minorities who express deep satisfaction with science and engineering as their field of study (or committed to STEM careers) have high possibility of persisting in STEM disciplines. Amazingly, though, researcher points that serving as a leader or role model on campus discouraged students commitment to STEM. The student who put more emphasis on leadership or services is more likely to turn to non STEM majors. One could contemplate that effort and time that is essential to succeed in mathematics and science related field is very challenging leaving less time for students social incorporation on college. Involvement in such areas like political groups, student government or athletic support teams pulls students away from their laboratory and study time [29]. Misperception of STEM disciplines also has an extreme effect on the students decision on the major to pursue. Minority students utilize various criteria when defining an effective curricular program [30]. Non minority student scrutinize general coursework as college or academic preparatory courses and start to develop occupational and educational as untimely as eighth score and start making occupational pronouncement like engaging in extracurricular activities and college-prep courses. However, minorities perceive overall coursework as separate from extracurricular activities taken at one time during secondary school [30]. Another commonly cited reason why students are turned off by STEM subjects is the obsession to receive high marks [31]. Due to the relative difficulty of receiving high grades in STEM classes in comparison to other subjects, students are often discouraged from taking STEM subjects.   As a result, students emphasis on achieving high grades outweighs their interest in taking subjects related to Science and Mathematics. Consequently, they abandon their interest in STEM majors [32]. In addition, many studies provide insight into the switch-off factors, showing that they might come from the influence exerted by the parents, students peer groups within and outside school, role models and the media. Researchers in [33] suggest that families play a critical role in the career choice of their children. The educational background, occupations and aspirations of the parents are important factors, introducing the concepts of cultural and social capital to this process [34-36]. Encouragement from the parent is one of the strongest forces that facilitate the students early education aspirations. It is not surprising if a student whose parent studied and worked in STEM field decides to choose STEM discipline as his major. This happens because those parents help to instill the belief that STEM careers are successful and applicable in peoples lives. Though in [37] the researchers found no impact on female students from exclusively the level of education of their parents, the y did find a vital impact of parental encouragement and support. It is clear that children have a high possibility of choosing gender-atypical courses if their parents have slight education. It is crucial to note that gender stereotyping can result as an influence from parents. In [21, 38, 39] it has been shown that students are influenced by their peers who often stress the uncool aspects of STEM thus preserving negative stereotyping. Reference [38] found that peer achievement positively affects students achievement in academic. For instance, a peer attitude towards mathematics increases, so does an individuals attitude towards mathematics. At an early stage of development, parents sustain their place as the premier social power for their kids, but as the children grow, their peers take the influential role [39]. Deviant peers may expose the deviance behavior from one person to another in the peer group. This brings up the proposal of curriculum tracking: putting students in levels or classes based on their achievement or ability level, or particularly not doing so, turns out to be an appealing topic when scrutinized through the angle of influential peer support. If peers attend the same classes, they have a higher possibility of meeting than if they never shares classes. Added to the overall secondary school spectrum is homophonous character of social networks, a widely accepted phenomenon that measures the tendency of the English proverb that says that birds of the same feather flocks together. For all students, social life in secondary schools and universities becomes an entire world of challenges and issues [39]. The role of role model is clear when it comes to influencing a students choice on the career to major. The idea of role models partly cover that of peers, although a role model can be any other individual who puts inspiration to the student while a peer is a person with similar age with the student or with similar stand in the course of life. Role models in the life of a student can be teachers, parents, peers, people in same the neighborhood, or other kin. Just as with the capability of grouping in classes, some students selection of role models is advantageous while not in others. In addition, just like many others factors in life, socio-economic status often determine the opportunities and choices of role models. Role models possess the power to influence children choices of future careers, education, overall behavior, and can condemn or support gender biased judgments, which becomes particularly significant for adolescent girls. As reference [40] explains that, starting from fema le teachers to female professionals to mothers or other female relatives employed in STEM fields, they offer a tangible image of what is achievable for adolescent girls in their lives. Family support highly influenced the effect that the enrichment agenda had on female students. Perceptions and characterization of STEM in the media also play a significant role in the acceptance and rejection of STEM.  In [36, 41] the media is accused of igniting and perpetuating negative stereotypes about STEM. There is a stigmatization of its degree of difficulty and a reinforcement of the perception that STEM is only for the academic elite. Nevertheless, considerable portions of youth are positively influenced by the media [42, 43]. Another often cited reason for losing interest in the STEM is the absence of technology based instruction in classrooms. Often, students report that they choose other majors simply because of the meager quality of instruction they get at the college level. However, a positive contentment of a students academic program is one of the foremost factor in attainment of degree for both major and non minor students. Research proves that as minority students identify their STEM fields as pleasant, they are likely to persist in studying those courses ignoring their complexity [44]. Researchers in [44] insist that the lack of modern technological infrastructure in the classrooms retards the growth of STEM-interested students. Active learning and positive use of technology to enhance professional developments, e.g. using online resources/mentors, computer-assisted instruction, service-learning, can help transform traditional, lectured-based pedagogy into well-received, interesting STEM classes [45-49]. A rescheduled consequence of the students interest and commitment in his field is that it helps the faculty in teaching classes and unlocks opportunities for students to carry out research independently or in conjunction with the faculty [45]. In response, these experiences serve to enhance the students fulfillment with their faculty members, majors and their general academic understanding. Among the majors in biology science, the presence of a student centered faculty is in question relating to the general fulfillment of student with the faculty and curriculum. Enhancement of satisfaction with faculty happens to follow various factors as, for instance, the anticipation that regardless of the major which the students choose. Among physical fields of system, the presence of a strong faculty research only helps to discourage students to pursue the major and to have dissatisfaction with their study program. While some researchers theorized that the finding is probably the outc ome of the principal utilization of teaching educators among research faculty, a more satisfactory assumption is that the major of attention paid to scientific investigation and findings is not what the students waited for in class [47]. Financial support also plays a huge role in determining whether a student will pursue in STEM major or in non STEM major. Basically, STEM disciplines take a longer period of time to complete than other non STEM fields. Therefore, intervention of financial aid has to be present to encourage the student to pursue in these disciplines. As such, the significance of financial aid on keeping students enrolled and interested in STEM careers or majors is clear. Adequate financial support is one of the main factors related to the perseverance of minority students in STEM disciplines [48]. The type of institution that a student attends is also of great significance when it comes to making a decision to pursue STEM disciplines . Students who attend community colleges are more probably not to major in STEM disciplines. From the research, it is evident that student who enroll in four year institutions are more likely to complete their STEM studies that those who attend community colleges [48]. Furthermore, researcher in [50] points to the role that gender and stereotypes play into the retention of women in STEM college programs. Researchers in [51-53] also point to the lack of women in STEM college programs due to negative stereotypes about women in STEM careers , e.g. STEM is a mens only field and women cant think analytically.  Existence of negative stereotype in the society saddens students personal assessment skills, impacts his or her performance, and discourages the development made by them. Stereotypes impact students career aspirations and decisions, directing them away from degrees and careers in STEM disciplines. This can suggest that adjusting negative stereotypes about women in the STEM field by increasing the confidence of young women about their involvement in STEM may increase numbers of women successfully studying and working in STEM disciplines [50-55].    Following the lack of in-depth field research about the factors that cause UAE students to choose STEM and non STEM fields, this paper considers the starting point of a research project that aims to determine which barriers emerge as the most prominent for United Arab Emirates students, between grades 9 and 12, being switched off STEM and pursuing further education or careers in the field. research Methods The methods of research for this project consisted of the following procedures meted out to both public and private schools. Since the United Arab Emirates is a socio-cultural collage of people originating from different nationalities, these surveys were sent to both institutional sectors, especially since the majority of expatriates attend private schools. Although differences and similarities arising among public/private schools, male/female, and Emirati/non-Emirati were compared and contrasted, the overall goal of the research, as reflected in the questionnaires, was to investigate what motivates students to pursue a STEM related education. Students from a representative sample pool answered a questionnaire that consisted of twenty-five questions. These questions are separated into six major categories. These categories are: Usefulness and value of STEM for students. Effective motivation of students for STEM majors. Students views on STEM related careers and salaries. External influences on students to pursue a STEM related major. Language in which STEM

Types of Employment Contracts and UK Employment Legislation

Types of Employment Contracts and UK Employment Legislation William Hayden Describe the different types of employment contract and how theyre formed. Employment law is highly complex area. There are five forms of employment contracts, these being: Part-time contract: Part time contracts are employment opportunities that offer fewer hours per week. These employees work rotational shifts, however, can be called when free and during annual leave. To be deemed part-time, workers generally must work under 30 hours per week. An example of which is a sales assistant at Lloyds Pharmacy; working three hours every week day. The advantages for the employer and employee is the simplicity of the contract; the employee works shorter hours and therefore cannot over extend themselves at work and the employer spends less of their wage budget on them. The disadvantages of this arrangement is that the employee receives less money and if they are effective in their role, the employer cannot use them permanently and can only use their abilities in correlation with their contract. Fixed-term contract: Fixed-term contracts are provided by employers agreeing that the contract will expire upon the end of a specified period or the completion of a job. An example of this could be a Christmas temporary contract in a retail store such as Ralph Lauren, keeping the employee in work over December. Fixed term contracts are advantageous as they provide the employer with extra staff in times where they are required, without over exercising their budget permanently upon the time of expiry. It aids the employees in the sense that it is temporary, therefore would be used to supplement an existing income. It is disadvantageous because it temporary and will eventually expire, like the disadvantages of part-time contracts. Agency staff: Agency staff belong to a business that is paying them to find workers for other companies for example, there can be IT agencies that actively look out for employing young potential workers and provide them with employment for the benefit of their patron. This aids the employee employers as it promoted bringing in young talent, however, the agency will not be able to benefit from the crop of youngsters being approached. Freelancers: A freelance worker is self-employed however hired externally by another company to complete a job. For example, freelance plumbers may be hired by other businesses to provide services without being a part of that business. This aids freelancers as they can work as they wish without the complications of being legally bound to the company they are providing services for. It is also helpful for the employers as they are signing off a single fee for the freelancer and do not need to concern themselves with wages. The negative side of this is the large sum of money that could potentially be paid up front. Consultants: A consultant is a person who provides other businesses or freelancers professional advice in exchange for payment. Most larger businesses hire their own consultants, an example of which are the Mercedes Benz legal consultants. An advantage of using a consultant is that they provide the firm with a greater scope of knowledge regarding a certain business venture however, it is risky as it relies placing trust in one individual in a decision that could prove imperative regarding the progression of a business. Contractors: Contractors are usually organisation that work similarly to freelancers, seeking contracts from other businesses. An example of which could be a construction firm who are hired by the council to redevelop state schools. An advantage of the use of contractors is the fact a firm can bring in specialists who can carry out a specific job they themselves are unable to. A negative aspect of this is the lump-sum feed needed to facilitate the task. Zero hour contracts: Zero hour contracts are contracts that do not have specified hours or shifts. They are simply the agreement to be available when needed at short notice by their employers in the event any other member of staff cannot attend or more staff are required in a busy period. An example of a zero-hour contract is also seen in Lloyds Pharmacy; individuals who are called when another is either late or cannot attend. Zero hour contracts are good for an individual to quickly work without the restrictions of routine shifts, the negative aspect of this is the fact it is not a reliable source of income for an employee as they lack consistency with their hours. Separating legally binding contracts from other agreements requires an identified offer. The must be identified via the means of advertisement being classed as invitations to treat. Additionally, the employer making the contract offer to potential employees must have necessary authority to do so. Conditions within offers of employment must be met once documented for the contract to become valid; an example of which could be x amount of GCSEs needed for acceptance. Any promises made by the employer towards the employee in interview conditions are legally binding. Both parties MUST gain from the contract; the employer acquiring the work of the employee and the employee guaranteeing an income. This is known as consideration. If the parties intentionally decide that the contract is not legally binding when it is drafted, it will not be able to be later enforced in court. Mistakes and misrepresentation from the parties mean that a valid contract can be brought to court. All terms of a legally binding contract must be documented in writing with signature proof; this is known as written terms. P2 Describe the impact of current legislation and regulations on two contracts; for example minimum wage, flexible working provisions and disability provisions. Impact of current legislation and regulations on zero-hour contracts The utilisation of zero-hour contracts provide flexibility in both the employer employees situations, although cannot be viewed as a permanent arrangement unless there is a justifiable excuse for doing do. By law, they are not appropriate if the job requires the employee to work regularly for a continuous amount of time on a permanent basis; this has an adverse effect on the employer as it means that if they like the employee want to see them work more frequently then they must first offer them a new contract which is problematic. An example of this is if an individual is required to work from 8-1 on a Monday to Wednesday over the course of a working year. In this instance, the Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment regulations would decide that the employee is entitled to a full-time role. Zero-hour contracts additionally do not grant employers with the right to evade all responsibility. Staff, despite their contracts, must be entitled to full employment rights and need to be lawfully treated. An example of which means that employers cannot deny those who work under zero-hour conditions perks such as sick-leave and equal pay. This impacts employers closely as it means that they must ensure the employees operating on zero-hour contracts are treated with the same degree of fairness all others are, else they are breaching the Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment regulations and face harsh fines negative publicity. Zero-hour contracts are inappropriate to be used as the backbone of a business. They are only useful for spontaneous or unexpected events that occur; for example emergency leave from over staff. By this logic, zero-hour workers can only be used irregularly limiting the progression the employee can have in that business as regulation limitations impede the c ompany from excessively using them.

Desertification And Deforestation Essays -- Environment Environmental

Desertification And Deforestation The Amazon Rainforest is probably the most important region that is threatened by deforestation. With over four million squared kilometers it is roughly the size of the United States. The Amazon spreads across nine South American Countries and contains one-fifth of the Worlds fresh water and one-third of the known living species. The land is home to hundreds of indigenous groups and is considered by many to be â€Å"the lungs of the planet†. Most of the Amazon is still pristine, but the region is being destroyed at an alarming rate. Over 8 million acres of the rainforest are lost every year. Between 1978 to 1996, 12.5 percent of the irreplacable rainforest was destroyed. Eighty-five percent of the trees that are being cut down are old growth. Old growth forests are forests that provide a crucial habitat for wildlife, cleanse toxins out of the air and water, are the home to the cultural heritage of many indigenous groups and are the source of many useful plants. Only twenty-two percent of the world’s old growth remains intact. In the United States, less than four percent of its old growth forests are still standing. Brazil contains 65 percent of the Amazon Basin. The deforestation rate in Brazil makes up 36.1 percent of the total biozone area lost each year. This is the highest in the world. Indonesia is second with 8.7 percent. This is the reason that Brazil is the focus of most political and social efforts to perserve primary tropical and sub-tropical biozones. One of the main causes of deforestation in the Amazon is the logging industry which produces plywood and mahagony products like toilet paper, rayon, camera film and cigerette filters. E... ...P., eds. World Deforestation in the Twentieth Century. Duke University Press. Durham and London: 1988. Sponsel, Leslie E., Healdland, Thomas N., Bailey, Robert C. Tropical Deforestation: The Human Dimension. Colombia University Press. New York: 1996. http://africalibrary.org/env__reading#.html. â€Å"The Africa Library† Internet article. http://africalibrary.org/env_reading2.html. â€Å"The Africa Library† (What is Desertification?† Internet Article. http://www.reast.demon.co.uk/ch954.htm#TARGET4. â€Å"Conservation: Habitat ED 1995.† Internet Article. http://www.panda.org/resources/factsheets/general/57desert.html. â€Å"DESERTIFICATION.† Internet Article. http://grid2.cr.usgs.gov/des/uncedp1/html#j. â€Å"Part I† Internet Article. http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/sd/analya/sdvol10no4e.html. â€Å"Sustainable Developments Vol. 10 No. 4.† Internet Article.

The Forgotten Time of the Middle Ages Essay -- European History

Professor Anthony Grafton is a renowned historian at the Princeton University. He is noted for his studies about the history of culture and science of Renaissance Europe. In his paper, Dating history: the Renaissance & the reformation of chronology, he first talked about the science of geography that was revolutionized by European explorers in the fifteenth and sixteenth century. As Grafton argued that â€Å"While the western understanding of geography expanded during the Renaissance, then, the traditional dating of the past and future remained curiously narrow-minded.†, he then started to talk about his profound study of the scholarship and chronology of one of the most significant classical scholar of the late Renaissance, Joseph Justus Scaliger: â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦won renown for his reformation of the traditional approach to chronology. Working in decades around 1600, Scaliger relaid the technical foundations of the field.† According to Grafton, in order to â€Å"a ppreciate the explosive impact of this reformation of historical chronology, we need to look backward†. He looked back to examine the chronology in fourth and fifth century C.E., in the fifth century B.C. Greek, and in the Romans of the late Republic and early Empire. However, Grafton did not look back to the Middle Ages which was the period between the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the beginning of Italian Renaissance. People generally considered the Middle Ages as very dark era, where nothing happened except for plague, famine, and the well-known black death. People considered this period as stagnation that they believe there was no growth in the socioeconomic prospective. For example, they believe there were no development of new technology and no expansion of towns and city. ... ...ugh many people considered the Middle Ages as an era where nothing happened, my paper conveys that point that lots of territorial, demographical, cultural, economic, and scientific developments took place in the Middle Age. I hope that people could abandon their stereotype of the Middle Ages and could come to learn this colorful time period. Works Cited 1. Dating History: The Renaissance & the Reformation of Chronology, Anthony Grafton,†¨Daedalus, Vol. 132, No. 2, On Time (Spring, 2003), pp. 74-85 2. North, J. (2004) God's Clockmaker: Richard of Wallingford and the Invention of Time. Oxbow Books. 3. The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History. By Douglass C. North and Robert Paul Thomas. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1973. 4. Church time and merchant time in the Middle Ages, by Jacques Le Goff, Social Science Information 1970 9: 151

A Case Sajjan Singh V State of Rajasthan

————————————————- Top of Form | | MANU/SC/8083/2008Equivalent Citation:  AIR2009SC84, JT2008(11)SC150, 2008(4)KLT306(SC), (2009)3MLJ929(SC), (2008)41OCR708, 2008(13)SCALE76, (2008)13SCC518IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIAWrit Petition (C) No. 369 of 2008Decided On:  29. 09. 2008Appellants:  Baby Manji Yamada Vs. Respondent:  Union of India (UOI) and Anr. Hon'ble Judges: Dr. Arijit Pasayat  and  Mukundakam Sharma  , JJ. Subject:  CivilCatch WordsMentioned INActs/Rules/Orders:   Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 – Section 13;  Constitution of India – Article 32Case Note: Constitution Rights of child Article 32 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (Constitution) Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 (CPCRA) Petition filed u/a 32, Constitution against directions of High Court by grandmother of appellant Held, constitution of National and state commissions for protection of child rights and children courts for providing speedy justice in offences against children and related matters provided under CPCRA No complaint made by anybody relating to child Direction given to any aggrieved person to approach Commission constituted under CPCRA Writ petition disposed ofRatio Decidendi:   Commission constituted under CPCRA has right to inquire into complaints or take action suo motu notice relating to violation of child rights and development of children and pro vide relief in such matters with appropriate authorities. JUDGMENTArijit Pasayat, J. 1. This petition under Article  32  of the Constitution of India, 1950 (hereinafter for short ‘the Constitution') raises some important questions. 2. Essentially challenge is to certain directions given by a Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court relating to production/custody of a child Manji Yamada. Emiko Yamada, claiming to be grandmother of the child, has filed this petition. The Writ Petition before the Rajasthan High Court was filed by M/s. SATYA, stated to be an NG0, the opposite party No. 3 in this petition. The D. B. Habeas Corpus Writ Petition No. 7829 of 2008 was filed by M/s. SATYA wherein the Union of India through Ministry of Home Affairs, State of Rajasthan through the Principal Secretary, The Director General of Police, Government of Rajasthan and the Superintendent of Police Jaipur City (East), Jaipur were made the parties. There is no dispute about Baby Manji Yamada having been given birth by a surrogate mother. It is stated that the biological parents Dr. Yuki Yamada and Dr. Ikufumi Yamada came to India in 2007 and had chosen a surrogate mother in Anand, Gujarat and a surrogacy agreement was entered into between the biological father and biological mother on one side and the surrogate mother on the other side. It appears from some of the statements made that there were matrimonial discords between the biological parents. The child was born on 25th July, 2008. On 3rd August, 2008 the child was moved to Arya Hospital in Jaipur following a law and order situation in Gujarat and she was being provided with much needed care including being breastfed by a woman. It is stated by the petitioner that the genetic father Dr. Ifukumi Yamada had to return to Japan due to expiration of his visa. It is also stated that the Municipality at Anand has issued a Birth Certificate indicating the name of the genetic father. 3. Stand of respondent No. 3 was that there is no law governing surrogation in India and in the name of surrogation lot of irregularities are being committed. According to it, in the name of surrogacy a money making racket is being perpetuated. It is also the stand of the said respondent that the Union of India should enforce stringent laws relating to surrogacy. The present petitioner has questioned the locus standi of respondent No. 3 to file a habeas corpus petition. It is pointed out that though custody of the child was being asked for but there was not even an indication as to in whose alleged illegal custody the child was. It is stated that though the petition before the High Court was styled as a â€Å"Public Interest Litigation† there was no element of public interest involved. Learned Counsel for respondent No. 3 with reference to the counter- affidavit filed in this Court had highlighted certain aspects relating to surrogacy. The learned Solicitor General has taken exception to certain statements made in the said counter affidavit and has submitted that the petition before the High Court was not in good faith and was certainly not in public interest. 4. We need not go into the locus standi of respondent No. 3 and/or whether bonafides are involved or not. It is to be noted that the Commissions For Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 (hereinafter for short ‘the Act') has been enacted for the constitution of a National Commission and State Commissions for protection of child rights and children's courts for providing speedy trial of offences against children or of violation of child rights and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Section  13  which appears in Chapter III of the Act is of considerable importance. The same reads as follows:13. Functions of Commission. 1) The Commission shall perform all or any of the following functions, namely:(a) examine and review the safeguards provided by or under any law for the time being in force for the protection of child rights and recommend measures for their effective implementation;(b) present to the Central Government, annually and at such other intervals, as the Commission may deem fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards;(c) inquire into violation of child rights and recommend initiation of proceedings in such cases;(d) examine all factors that inhibit the enjoyment of rights of children affected by terrorism, communal violence, riots, natural disaster, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, trafficking, maltreatment, torture and exploitation, pornography and prostitution and recommend appropriate remedial measures. e) look into the matters relating to children in need of special care and protection including children in distress, marginalized and disadvantaged children, children in conflict with law, juveniles, children without family and children of prisoners and recommend appropriate remedial measures;(f) s tudy treaties and other international instruments and undertake periodical review of existing policies, programmes and other activities on child rights and make recommendations for their effective implementation in the best interest of children;(g) Undertake and promote research in the field of child rights;(h) spread child rights literacy among various sections of the society and promote awareness of the safeguards available for protection of these rights through publications, the media, seminars and other available means;(i) inspect or cause to be inspected any juvenile custodial home, or any other place of residence or institution meant for children, under the control of the Central Government or any State Government or any other authority, including any institution run by a social organisation; where children are detained or lodged for the purpose of treatment, reformation or protection and take up with these authorities for remedial action, if found necessary;(j) inquire into c omplaints and take suo otu notice of matters relating to, -(i) deprivation and violation of child rights;(ii) non-implementation of laws providing for protection and development of children;(iii) non-compliance of policy decisions, guidelines or instructions aimed at mitigating hardships to and ensuring welfare of the children and to provide relief to such children, or take up the issues arising out of such matters with appropriate authorities; and(k) such other functions as it may consider necessary for the promotion of child rights and any other matter incidental to the above functions2) The Commission shall not inquire into any matter which is pending before a State Commission or any other Commission duly constituted under any law for the time being in force. 5. Surrogacy is a well known method of reproduction whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant for the purpose of gestating and giving birth to a child she will not raise but hand over to a contracted party. She may be the child's genetic mother (the more traditional form for surrogacy) or she may be, as a gestational carrier, carry the pregnancy to delivery after having been implanted with an embryo. In some cases surrogacy is the only available option for parents who wish to have a child that is biologically related to them. The word â€Å"surrogate†, from Latin â€Å"subrogare†, means â€Å"appointed to act in the place of†. The intended parent(s) is the individual or couple who intends to rear the child after its birth. 6. In â€Å"traditional surrogacy† (also known as the Straight method) the surrogate is pregnant with her own biological child, but this child was conceived with the intention of relinquishing the child to be raised by others; by the biological father and possibly his spouse or partner, either male or female. The child may be conceived via home artificial insemination using fresh of frozen sperm or impregnated via IUI (intrauterine insemination), or ICI (intra cervical insemination) which is performed at a fertility clinic. ‘7. In â€Å"gestational surrogacy† (also know as the Host method) the surrogate becomes pregnant via embryo transfer with a child of which she is not the biological mother. She may have made an arrangement to relinquish it to the biological mother or father to raise, or to a parent who is themselves unrelated to the child (e. g. because the child was conceived using egg donation, germ donation or is the result of a donated embryo). The surrogate mother may be called the gestational carrier. 8. â€Å"Altruistic surrogacy† is a situation where the surrogate receives no financial reward for her pregnancy or the relinquishment of the child (although usually all expenses related to the pregnancy and birth are paid by the intended parents such as medical expenses, maternity clothing, and other related expenses). 9. â€Å"Commercial surrogacy† is a form of surrogacy in which a gestational carrier is paid to carry a child to maturity in her womb and is usually resorted to by well off infertile couples who can afford the cost involved or people who save and borrow in order to complete their dream of being parents. This medical procedure is legal in several countries including in India where due to excellent medical infrastructure, high international demand and ready availability of poor surrogates it is reaching industry proportions. Commercial surrogacy is sometimes referred to by the emotionally charged and potentially offensive terms â€Å"wombs for rent†, â€Å"outsourced pregnancies† or â€Å"baby farms†. 10. Intended parents may arrange a surrogate pregnancy because a woman who intends to parent is infertile in such a way that she cannot carry a pregnancy to term. Examples include a woman who has had a hysterectomy, has a uterine malformation, has had recurrent pregnancy loss or has a healthy condition that makes it dangerous for her to be pregnant. A female intending parent may also be fertile and healthy, but unwilling to undergo pregnancy. 11. Alternatively, the intended parent may be a single male or a male homosexual couple. 12. Surrogates may be relatives, friends, or previous strangers. Many surrogate arrangements are made through agencies that help match up intended parents with women who want to be surrogates for a fee. The agencies often help manage the complex medical and legal aspects involved. Surrogacy arrangements can also be made independently. In compensated surrogacies the amount a surrogate receives varies widely from almost nothing above expenses to over $ 30,000. Careful screening is needed to assure their health as the gestational carrier incurs potential obstetrical risks. 13. In the present case, if any action is to be taken that has to be taken by the Commission. It has a right to inquire into complaints and even to take suo motu notice of matters relating to, (i) deprivation and violation of child rights (ii) non-implementation of laws providing for protection and development of children and (iii) non-compliance of policy decisions, guidelines or instructions aimed at mitigating hardships to and ensuring welfare of the children and to provide relief to such children, or take up the issues arising out of such matters with appropriate authorities. 14. It appears that till now no complaint has been made by anybody relating to the child, the petitioner in this Court. 15. We, therefore, dispose of this writ petition with a direction that if any person has any grievance, the same can be ventilated before the Commission constituted under the Act. It needs no emphasis that the Commission has to take into account various aspects necessary to be taken note of. 16. Another grievance of the petitioner is that the permission to travel so far as the child is concerned including issuance of a Passport is under consideration of the Central Government; but no orders have been passed in that regard. The other prayer in the petition is with regard to an extension of the visa of the grandmother of the child requesting for such an order. 17. Learned Solicitor General, on instructions, stated that if a comprehensive application, as required under law, is filed within a week, the same shall be disposed of expeditiously and not later than four weeks from the date of receipt of such application. If the petitioner has any grievance in relation to the order to be passed by the Central Government, such remedy, as is available in law may be availed. 18. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of without any order as to costs. All proceedings pending in any High Court relating to the matter which we have dealt with in this petition shall stand disposed of because of this order.  © Manupatra Information Solutions Pvt. Ltd. | | | Bottom of Form

New Revelations of Pre-Columbian America

In his breakthrough book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, Charles C. Mann changes myths about the Pre-Columbian America into scientific facts that nobody would deny.   The book is a discussion about the scientific reality of Native American life before Columbus set foot in America.   As it turns out, this view of reality based on scientific details is completely different from what we had previously thought about Pre-Columbian America.   The thesis of Mann’s book may be summed up in his own words thus:When I went to high school, in the 1970s, I was taught that Indians came to the Americas  across the Bering Strait about thirteen thousand years ago, that they lived for the most part in  small, isolated groups, and that they had so little impact on their environment that even after  millennia of habitation the continents remained mostly wilderness.   Schools still impart the  same ideas today.   One way to summarize the views of people li ke Erickson and Balà ©e would  be to say that they regard this picture of Indian life as wrong in almost every aspect.   Indians  were here far longer than previously thought, these researchers believe, and in much greater  numbers.   And they were so successful at imposing their will on the landscape that in 1492   Columbus set foot in a hemisphere thoroughly marked by humankind.After introducing the main thesis of his book – that, in fact, Native Americans were far more civilized than we had previously imagined – Mann begins â€Å"Part One: Numbers from Nowhere† by dealing with New England in the 1600s, and the myth that European technology was far superior to American Indian technologies.   This myth was based on the fact that the Indians did not appreciate guns.   However, the reality is that the Indian moccasins were far more comfortable than the boots of the European; and the canoes built by the Native Americans were speedier and more mane uverable than the small boats made by Europeans.Next, the author gets into a discussion about the reasons for the fall of the Inca Empire.   During this discussion we learn that while the Europeans used metal to make tools, the Indians used it for tokens.   Moreover, the Europeans had used horses while invading the Inca Empire, and the Indians did not have the technology to beat the intruders on horses.   Still, the Inca Empire collapsed mainly because of disease in addition to factionalism.   There had been a civil war after the Native Americans had clashed with the Spanish.   Smallpox and various other epidemics were also responsible for the fall of the Inca Empire.The first part of Mann’s book also tackles the controversy surrounding the number of Native Americans in Pre-Columbian America.   Scholars have disagreed on the population of the Indians.   Whereas Dobyns believed that there were around one hundred million Native Americans living before the fall of the Inca Empire; Henige argued that the population was much less.   Yet, as Mann points out, there is virtually no evidence to suggest that the population of Native Americans was little.In addition to the above, the first part of the book deals with the Aztecs.   According to scientific evidence, the Aztecs were more sophisticated than we had previously believed them to be.   The Greek â€Å"thinker-teacher† model prevailed among them as â€Å"tlamatini.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Part Two: Very Old Bones† provides scientific evidence linked to the skeletons of Lagoa Santa that were found in Brazil’s caves to conclude that the Indians and the Siberians share common ancestry.   Agriculture, too, is a focus of this part of Mann’s book.   According to the author, the Indians began breeding maize right from scratch given that the crop had no â€Å"wild ancestor.†Ã‚   With the development of maize, the Mesoamerican life was further advanced.   The Olmec c ivilization is mentioned as an example of the high culture that was promoted due to advancement in agriculture.Mann also provides evidence that the Mesoamerican cultures made use of calendars, in addition to wheels.   However, the wheels were used only for small toys.   This is because the Mesoamericans were geographically isolated, and therefore did not have access to other people’s ideas on wheels.â€Å"Part Three: Landscape with Figures† is where Mann brings all of his evidence together to conclude that there are things we have to learn from the Indians.   He discusses the Maya, and points out that the civilization was active in transforming land.   Additionally, the author describes the unique use of fire by the Indians in this part of the book.   Apparently, the Indians used fire to benefit the plants as well as encourage the abundance of some animals.Mann points to the mistake of holding racist views about the Indians in understanding their unique cultu re given that such views cloud our receptiveness to reality.   As a matter of fact, the  Indians had reached their optimal level of environment.   Before Christopher Columbus arrived on the continent, however, the Europeans had changed the landscape created by the Indians.AnalysisIndeed, Charles C. Mann is correct in his belief that we have been collectively fed in with the myth that the Native Americans were culturally backward.   In point of fact, this myth does not surround the Indians alone.   Rather, we are made to believe that all civilizations before the major ones as we know them – the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Muslims, and the United States – were culturally backward.We further tend to believe that it was almost impossible for the civilizations of old to perform the kinds of amazing deeds that we perform today, with respect to our technology.   And so, scholars struggled for a long time trying to understand how the ancient Egyptians built the pyra mids without our present technology.   This struggle to understand was led by speculation.However, speculation is unnecessary when scientific facts are before us.   So, we are aware that the ancient Egyptians had their own technology to build the pyramids.   We do not understand the exact nature of that technology.   We may only know from the evidence we have gathered thus far that some of the civilizations of old were far more sophisticated than we had previously imagined them to be.   This is the case with the Indian civilization.   Perhaps, this was also the case with the people of the Stone Age, who might have developed themselves in terms of  philosophical thinking if nothing else.The fact that we do not possess tomes written by people of the Stone Age or the Indians, does not necessarily lead us to the conclusion that the civilizations in question were less developed or evolved than we are.   Rather, those civilizations used their intellectual capacity in a dif ferent way.   Believers in the scriptures which recount the story of Adam and Eve would all agree that the essential human being has not changed through the ages.   Based on this view, only that which civilizations focus upon in their own time is likely to vary from civilization to civilization, and the human being is the same as he was in the beginning, that is, a being that is curious and would like to see change.The main strengths of Mann’s book are its lucid language, and the vast amount of evidence collected by the author.   Mann makes his book extremely interesting by addressing old myths, and describing the facts that must replace the myths.   The book describes unique fruits, for example, that we had previously supposed to be wild.   Even so, the unique fruits consumed by Indians were as nutritious as today’s fruits.   Mann describes interesting fruits with flavors like vanilla ice cream, for instance, and others that contained high levels of vitami n C and protein.The discussion that this book is made up of is very valuable in helping us understand faulty perceptions.   According to the author, â€Å"Given the charged relations between white societies and native peoples, inquiry into Indian culture and history is inevitably contentious.†Ã‚   To put it another way, white societies may have deliberately kept us away from understanding the significance of the Indian culture.   I believe that this is untrue, given the white societies’ emphasis on knowledge.   Moreover, I trust that the mention of racism should not have been a part of this book.   After all, the book was published in a white society to uncover the reality of  the Indian civilization.   As a matter of fact, given the importance of the scientific evidence in the book, it is expected that this book will be studied in white societies for a long time to come.Works CitedMann, Charles C. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. New York: Vintage Books, 2006. New Revelations of Pre-Columbian America In his breakthrough book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, Charles C. Mann changes myths about the Pre-Columbian America into scientific facts that nobody would deny.   The book is a discussion about the scientific reality of Native American life before Columbus set foot in America.   As it turns out, this view of reality based on scientific details is completely different from what we had previously thought about Pre-Columbian America.   The thesis of Mann’s book may be summed up in his own words thus:When I went to high school, in the 1970s, I was taught that Indians came to the Americasacross the Bering Strait about thirteen thousand yars ago, that they lived for the most part insmall, isolated groups, and that they had so little impact on their environment that even aftermillennia of habitation the continents remained mostly wilderness.   Schools still impart thesame ideas today.   One way to summarize the views of people like Erickson and B alà ©e wouldbe to say that they regard this picture of Indian life as wrong in almost every aspect.   Indianswere here far longer than previously thought, these researchers believe, and in much greaternumbers.   And they were so successful at imposing their will on the landscape that in 1492Columbus set foot in a hemisphere thoroughly marked by humankind.NEW REVELATIONS OF PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAAfter introducing the main thesis of his book – that, in fact, Native Americans were far more civilized than we had previously imagined – Mann begins â€Å"Part One: Numbers from Nowhere† by dealing with New England in the 1600s, and the myth that European technology was far superior to American Indian technologies.   This myth was based on the fact that the Indians did not appreciate guns.   However, the reality is that the Indian moccasins were far more comfortable than the boots of the European; and the canoes built by the Native Americans were speedier and mor e maneuverable than the small boats made by Europeans.Next, the author gets into a discussion about the reasons for the fall of the Inca Empire.   During this discussion we learn that while the Europeans used metal to make tools, the Indians used it for tokens.   Moreover, the Europeans had used horses while invading the Inca Empire, and the Indians did not have the technology to beat the intruders on horses.   Still, the Inca Empire collapsed mainly because of disease in addition to factionalism.   There had been a civil war after the Native Americans had clashed with the Spanish.   Smallpox and various other epidemics were also responsible for the fall of the Inca Empire.The first part of Mann’s book also tackles the controversy surrounding the number of Native Americans in Pre-Columbian America.   Scholars have disagreed on the population of the Indians.   Whereas Dobyns believed that there were around one hundred million Native Americans living before the fa ll of the Inca Empire; Henige argued that the population was much less.   Yet, as Mann points out, there is virtually no evidence to suggest that the population of Native Americans was little.NEW REVELATIONS OF PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAIn addition to the above, the first part of the book deals with the Aztecs.   According to scientific evidence, the Aztecs were more sophisticated than we had previously believed them to be.   The Greek â€Å"thinker-teacher† model prevailed among them as â€Å"tlamatini.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Part Two: Very Old Bones† provides scientific evidence linked to the skeletons of Lagoa Santa that were found in Brazil’s caves to conclude that the Indians and the Siberians share common ancestry.   Agriculture, too, is a focus of this part of Mann’s book.   According to the author, the Indians began breeding maize right from scratch given that the crop had no â€Å"wild ancestor.†Ã‚   With the development of maize, the Mesoameri can life was further advanced.   The Olmec civilization is mentioned as an example of the high culture that was promoted due to advancement in agriculture.Mann also provides evidence that the Mesoamerican cultures made use of calendars, in addition to wheels.   However, the wheels were used only for small toys.   This is because the Mesoamericans were geographically isolated, and therefore did not have access to other people’s ideas on wheels.â€Å"Part Three: Landscape with Figures† is where Mann brings all of his evidence together to conclude that there are things we have to learn from the Indians.   He discusses the Maya, and points out that the civilization was active in transforming land.   Additionally, the author describes the unique use of fire by the Indians in this part of the book.   Apparently, the Indians used fire to benefit the plants as well as encourage the abundance of some animals.Mann points to the mistake of holding racist views about t he Indians in understanding their unique culture given that such views cloud our receptiveness to reality.   As a matter of fact, theNEW REVELATIONS OF PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAIndians had reached their optimal level of environment.   Before Christopher Columbus arrived on the continent, however, the Europeans had changed the landscape created by the Indians.AnalysisIndeed, Charles C. Mann is correct in his belief that we have been collectively fed in with the myth that the Native Americans were culturally backward.   In point of fact, this myth does not surround the Indians alone.   Rather, we are made to believe that all civilizations before the major ones as we know them – the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Muslims, and the United States – were culturally backward.We further tend to believe that it was almost impossible for the civilizations of old to perform the kinds of amazing deeds that we perform today, with respect to our technology.   And so, scholars strug gled for a long time trying to understand how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids without our present technology.   This struggle to understand was led by speculation.   However, speculation is unnecessary when scientific facts are before us.   So, we are aware that the ancient Egyptians had their own technology to build the pyramids.   We do not understand the exact nature of that technology.   We may only know from the evidence we have gathered thus far that some of the civilizations of old were far more sophisticated than we had previously imagined them to be.   This is the case with the Indian civilization.   Perhaps, this was also the case with the people of the Stone Age, who might have developed themselves in terms ofNEW REVELATIONS OF PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAphilosophical thinking if nothing else.   The fact that we do not possess tomes written by people of the Stone Age or the Indians, does not necessarily lead us to the conclusion that the civilizations i n question were less developed or evolved than we are.   Rather, those civilizations used their intellectual capacity in a different way.   Believers in the scriptures which recount the story of Adam and Eve would all agree that the essential human being has not changed through the ages.   Based on this view, only that which civilizations focus upon in their own time is likely to vary from civilization to civilization, and the human being is the same as he was in the beginning, that is, a being that is curious and would like to see change.The main strengths of Mann’s book are its lucid language, and the vast amount of evidence collected by the author.   Mann makes his book extremely interesting by addressing old myths, and describing the facts that must replace the myths.   The book describes unique fruits, for example, that we had previously supposed to be wild.   Even so, the unique fruits consumed by Indians were as nutritious as today’s fruits.   Mann describes interesting fruits with flavors like vanilla ice cream, for instance, and others that contained high levels of vitamin C and protein.The discussion that this book is made up of is very valuable in helping us understand faulty perceptions.   According to the author, â€Å"Given the charged relations between white societies and native peoples, inquiry into Indian culture and history is inevitably contentious.†Ã‚   To put it another way, white societies may have deliberately kept us away from understanding the significance of the Indian culture.   I believe that this is untrue, given the white societies’ emphasis on knowledge.   Moreover, I trust that the mention of racism should not have been a part of this book.   After all, the book was published in a white society to uncover the reality ofNEW REVELATIONS OF PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAthe Indian civilization.   As a matter of fact, given the importance of the scientific evidence in the book, it is expect ed that this book will be studied in white societies for a long time to come.NEW REVELATIONS OF PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAWorks CitedMann, Charles C. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. New York: Vintage Books, 2006.