Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Bullying and Marsh Et Al Essay Example for Free

Bullying and Marsh Et Al Essay Everyday thousand of teens wake up terrified of attending school. About one in seven schools, a child is either a bully or a victim of bullying. Bullying is simply defined as a type of aggressive behavior that involves intent to cause harm and a power imbalance (Olweus, 1999). Bullying can range anywhere from psychological, physical (involving kicking and punching), verbal or cyber abuse. Bullying among children can be considered as a form of abuse’ (0-). It has been put forward that bullying is a division of aggressive behavior and has been further characterized as repetitive and ‘an inability on behalf of the victim to defend him or herself’ (Farrington, 1993, cited it Sapouna, 2008). We learn from Sapouna (2008) that bullying can take the form of ‘verbal (name calling), physical (hitting, kicking) or relational (deliberate exclusion from a group, spreading of malicious rumors). After extensive research in Scandinavia, Olweus(1993, cited in Kumpulainen et al.,1998) proposed that bullying can be carried out by one or more adolescents and usually occurs on repeated occasions, and to some extent, it occurs in all schools. Recently bullying amongst young people has gain notoriety in the press due to the extreme results it has had on certain young individuals. An example of this is Sian Yates, a 13 year old girl who committed suicide after repeated bullying (Daily Mail, 2007). Despite the press attention given to these cases, the extreme consequence of suicide does not occur in the majority of cases. Victims can suffer from a range of harmful effects such as humiliation, anxiety, depression, difficulty with interpersonal relationships, and emotional instability. This lead to the finding of Kumpulainen et al., (1998) that ‘bullying is a common phenomenon among children who are psychologically disturbed.’ The writer went on to say that there are ‘higher rates of psychological distress among both bullies and victims’ than those not involve. However, the literature is consistent in noting that the ‘bullied victims are the most troubled of the bully, victim, bully –vict im triad’ (Juvonen et al., 2003; Ma, 2001; Pellegrini, 2002; Pellegrini et al., 1999;Salmivalli Nieminen, 2002, cited in Cunningham, 2007). Should these lead agencies to focus more on protecting the victim? Some schools have decided that the way forward is to have zero tolerance policies. This may include all students who bully. However, if certain researcher’s numbers are correct it could mean excluding from school, forty percent of the school aged population. Given the widespread nature of the problem can zero tolerance really mean, â€Å"Zero tolerance†? We learn from the NHS ‘website teens for health’ (2008) that ‘anyone can be singled out by bullies.’ The NSPCC found that 31 per cent of children had been bullied at some point (Teens for health, 2008). This being the case, can anyone be bullied? Black and Jackson (2007) have put forward that there lies and ‘an imbalance of power’ between the parties involved in bullying. ‘The bully is stronger through social status, physical prowess, age, cognitive abilities or skill.’ Is this imbalance of power the sa me across the genders? There is an extensive body of literature that suggests that boys are more likely than girls to be bullies as well as victims (Nansel et al.2001; Boulton Smith, 1994; Boulton Underwood, 1992, cited in Marsh, Parada, Craven, Finger, 2004). This doesn’t mean girls cannot be bullies. Stephenson and Smith (1989, cited in Kumpulainen et al., 1998) found that girls as well as boys fitted into the ‘five main groups of people involved in bullying’. These are: ‘dominating bullies, anxious bullies, bully-victims, classical victims, and provocative victims.’ These traits were also found by Sourander,Helstelà ¤, Helenius and Piha (2000) to have clinical implications. Sourander et al., (2000) noted that ‘Bullying is especially associated with aggressive and antisocial behavior while victimization is associated with internalizing problems.’ Whitney and Smith, (1989, cited in Kumpulainen et al., 1998) found ‘bullies to be more prone to have criminal convictions later in life, and more likely to be involved in serious, recidivist crime’. Are criminal convections later in life a fair punishment for their actions? Or should something be done to help the bully? This leads to the question as what is the nature of these young people that make them prone to being a victim or a bully. In the search for a personality construct, many researchers have come to the agreement that ‘bullies are deficient in social information processing or may be intellectually disadvantaged’ (Besag, 1989, cited in Marsh et al., 2004). The work of Crick and Dodge (1994, cited in Marsh et al., 2004) explained that bullies responses to social situations are being met with a filtration process. This ‘cognitive filter’ is based on an aggressive individual interpreting neutral or ambiguous cues as hostile and therefore, making them more likely to engage in aggressive behaviors’ (Marsh et al., 2004). This was also seen to be the case in Bosworth, Espelage, and Simon (1999, cited in Marsh et al., 2004) when ‘a sample of adolescent high school students showed that misconduct, anger, and beliefs supportive of violence were significantly related to bullying behaviors’. Although bullying is an aggressive act, this does not imply that bullies and aggressive or conduct-disordered individuals are a homogenous group. Sutton et al (1999, cited in Marsh, 2004) put forward that bullies were part of a complex environment where they are require to ‘negotiate and attribute mental states to themselves and others to explain or predict their behavior.’ This idea contravenes the notion that ‘bullies are cognitively inept or simple in their inte ractions with peers’ (Sutton et al 1999, cited in Marsh, 2004). References â€Å"Bullying†. Violence Prevention. 1 Dec. 2012 http://www.violencepreventionworks.org/public/olweus_history.page Dawkins, J. L. (1996). Bullying, physical disability and the pediatric patient. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 38 603-612. Espelage, D. L., Holt M. K., Henkel, R. R. (2003). Examination of peer group contextuals effects on aggressive behavior during early adolescence. Child development, 74, 205-220. Pelligrini, A. D. (2002) Bullying and victimization in schools: A Dominance relations perspective . Educational Psychologist, 37, 151-163.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Criticism of Organized Religion in Little Boy Lost and Little Boy Found

Criticism of Organized Religion in Little Boy Lost and Little Boy Found Organized religion and its adversity to the natural world is a topic that William Blake addresses quite frequently in his writings. In "Little Boy Lost," from Songs of Innocence, Blake presents a young child, representing the fledgling mind, getting lost in the dark forest of the material world. The illustration at the top of the page shows the little boy being led by a light or spirit of some kind, the "vapour" that Blake later speaks of. The boy cries out to his father, not his biological father, but the priest that has been guiding him on his education of the world thus far. The priest is moving too fast for the boy and leaves him behind to wander through the thick mire of the world of man alone. In the next plate, "Little Boy Found," Blake reconciles the negative image of the priest and religion that was presented in the previous work. It begins by recounting the tale of the boy who got lost by following the "wandering light" of the priest's version of religion. God hears the boy's cries and comes to his rescue "like his father in white." This could be referring to God appearing as human, or Jesus, or in the image of his father, the priest. God leads the child back to his mother, the mother earth, depicted at the right of the stanza, perhaps with wings. The mother earth had been seeking her natural child who had been led astray by the misconceptions of man-made religion. The illustration at the top of the plate shows the little boy and a female figure, presumably the mother earth, both with halos, walking through the forest hand in hand. This hints at the divination of man in his proper natural context. Blake is making a statemen... ...nity of all living things, including himself. The harsh reaction of organized religion to this idea is illustrated in the second "Little Boy Lost," in which the youth is actually burned for his rebellious thinking. The first set of poems tells of the boy's lack of success in a religious system in that did not seem to really care about the boy, and left him floundering. It then describes his introduction to God in the forest, who brought him back to his mother, the earth, which showed him proper reverence of God through nature, not priestly education. The second poem captures organized religion's harsh reaction to this unorthodox and rebellious thinking, and destroys the boy for trying to reach outside of the accepted normal teachings. Together, the poems show an evolution from Blake's dissatisfaction with organized religion to an outright indictment of its practices.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Beetlejuice Screenwrite

The beginning of the film starts out with a camera overlooking the whole town of which this movie is going to take place. As the credits end, the camera ends up focused on a large house on a hill. You can clearly tell that the house is made up of some sort of material, but it was used as a way to introduce one of the main characters. A spider crawls up on top of the model house and in comes Adam. The first thing he does is carelessly pick up this massive spider as if it where one of his pets and carries it to a window where he releases it.Right off the bat you could tell hat this man is kind to nature and very gentle with the way he handled the spider. In comes his wife, Barbara, who is filled with Joy and love. Their mutual understanding of each other makes them love each other more and more. They both hear something come from outside and realize that it is a house bidder trying to sell their home to people that are more â€Å"deserving† of it. This house bidder assumes that because Just two people are living in a large home by themselves that it is irrational for them to agree to sell it.The one thing that both Adam and Barbara share is their eagerness to keep their home. The couple denies the house bidder and then drives into town to pick up some supplies. Looking at the surrounding environment makes it obvious that Adam and Barber's home is the focal point of the town. Adam leaves his car to go in the store to get the supplies, when he realizes that the clerk isn't at the front desk he takes money out of his pocket and puts it into the cash register himself. This again, exemplifies the honesty of this man.On the drive back home, they see a dog in the road and Barbara quickly swerves off the road crashing into a wooden bridge that is completely unstable. Their car ends up falling into a river and the scene cuts. They end up back at their house but do not realize how they got there. After very bizarre things occur to them, they start to question what h as happened. They find a book titled â€Å"book for the Deceased† and realize that they have in fact died. The first conflict comes into play when they are trying to adjust or figure out why they cannot step out of their own house.The character Betelgeuse is introduced and although we do not get a full view of him we figure out what type of character he is. Betelgeuse is a ruthless and mean person. He seems like the type that has no problem in taking advantage of you. From the start, you can foreshadow that this character will be a conflict of interest later on in the film. The movie then switches to the new family that has began to move into the now vacant house. The door to the house slams open and large amounts of furniture are being moved in.It's as if the writer of this movie wanted the audience to feel like the house was being torn down and re-done from the ground up. First is Delia, who is a red haired woman, and the first impression is that she is a stuck up, conceite d, but neat and tidy person. She takes pride in her pieces of artwork even though they're clearly not well done. Then there is her husband Charles, who is the influential and uptight dad that is searching for seamlessly deserving relaxation. The Daughter is introduced as a disturbed and rebellious gothic girl.You could tell by the way she admires the houses cob webs and are ghosts living in her new home. Deli's assistant, is a very feminine character that is oblivious and careless with his actions. He acts as a big shot and talks like one too. Both Delia and her assistant share a mutual outlook with how things should be. When Barbara and Adam realize that new people have moved into their house they come furious and want to drive them out. This is another conflict introduced in the movie and it depicts the click © of ghosts trying to haunt people.Adam and Barbara try scaring the new house owners but realize they aren't doing a good Job at it. The ignorance these two characters have pushes them to learn more about who they are and the new abilities they have as Ghosts. The way this screenwriter set up the characters along with the conflicts really creates a good buildup, thus making the movie more enjoyable and fun. There are multiple conflicts, which make the viewer wonder how each one of them is going to be resolved.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

The Novel War By Sebastian Junger - 1483 Words

The novel War, written by Sebastian Junger, records the events in Korengal, Afghanistan with the American Army from a journal’s perspective. Throughout the book, he retells his experiences of fire fights, the emotional trauma of losing a fellow fighter, the undeniably strong bond between soldiers, and the consequences combat has on family members. While this novel has some detailed and brutally honest components regarding the war in Afghanistan, I found the insight provided by Junger on combat to be interesting. Once I started reading this novel, putting down the book was nearly impossible as I was finding myself entranced within this world of war. The insight into the world of combat, although brief, permitted me to better understand a soldier’s experience in war zones. My previous knowledge regarding the novel’s context, as well as personal experiences, transformed my mindset from thinking critically about the novel to becoming emotionally connected to th e soldiers’ success. I found that the more I read this novel, the more my life experiences influenced my attitude towards the individuals and experiences as described by Junger. After reflection upon this novel, my nationality is the main influence on my attitude toward the novel. Americans have many different stereotypes. Patriotism is one of the most known stereotypes about Americans. I find that this particular stereotype is generally true, and patriotism is an immensely strong trait found among Americans.Show MoreRelatedWar, By Sebastian Junger1672 Words   |  7 Pagesparts of the country. â€Å"War† by Sebastian Junger, not only brings to life the scenarios of war and its effects, but also reveals the camaraderie between soldiers. â€Å"War† develops throughout a year in the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan. The delightful, rough landscape is sharply chilly in winter and bursting hot in summer, the troops enduring in primitive conditions through long extends of pounding weariness punctuated by brief, nerve racking scenes of battle. Junger was right in the heart ofRead MoreWar, By Sebastian Junger1575 Words   |  7 PagesThe novel War, written by Sebastian Junger, is the journalist’s perspective of events that unfold during his time in Korengal, Afghanistan with the American Army. Throughout the book, he retells his experiences of being shot at, the emotional trauma of losing a soldier in combat, the undeniably strong bond between soldiers, and the consequences combat has on family members. While this novel has some very detailed and brutally honest components regarding the war in Afghanistan, I found the insightRead MoreThe Battle Of The Punic Wars2439 Words   |  10 PagesThe Punic W ars, a century-long conflict between Rome and Carthage started in 264 B.C. and continued until 146 B.C. when Carthage gets destroyed. Carthage, a Phoenician colony, came to be a superpower of the Mediterranean and posed a threat to the Romans. The First Punic War focuses on gaining control over the islands of Sicily and Corsica. The two powerful countries entered into a dispute between the Sicilian cities of Messana and Syracuse and established their presence on the island. Neither superpower