Premarital Sex Essay

Premarital  sex  is  something  which  almost  everyone  knows  about. Some  proudly  proclaims that they engage in  while others do it  secretly. However, there are  still some who do it but are unaware of such term. Different people view it differently: for some it’s acceptable  while  for  some  it’s  a  big  sin. At  present,  there  is  n  increasing  amount  of  discussions in newspaper and magazines in which various things attributed to premarital sex are discussed. It is said that the  Philippines is facing this persistent challenge about premarital intercourse. Since sex is involved, this is certain to produce a number of strong reactions. Nevertheless, it is important to be careful in making such reactions. Sex is an intimate act between individuals which includes genital contact ( Baumer  and South, 2001). Accordingly, it was designed for married couples to enjoy, hence the famous quote: â€Å"True love waits until marriage. † The norms of Philippine society say that it is not normal or it is immoral to engage in premarital sex, but despite this, people just cannot wait until they get wedded. This accounts for the prevalence of premarital sex in the country. At present, one can say that it’s normal to know people who had sex already. But what’s alarming is the rapid growth of the number of people who had sex before marriage . Different researches show the rise of this number. In the last century, only a few, if not zero, gave themselves to premarital sex. This information if compared to present data would give an  overwhelming  difference. Statistics  in 2008  showed that  premarital sex  was prevalent in30% of  the Filipinos. This figured is  actually small  when compared to  western countries. In the USA, 75% of the women would say that they already experienced premarital sex when they  reached  the  age  of  nineteen. However,  it  would  not  seem  right  to  compare  a  less developed country like the Philippines to far way more urbanized and liberal countries in the west. The figure 30% is, in fact, a very high number, taking to account the nature of Filipinos. Nevertheless, these data only show that attitudes towards sex have changed dramatically over  the past years

Intro lit. Grammatical person Essay

An Introduction What Is Literature and Why Do We Study It? †¢ Literature [Roberts and Jacobs] – a composition that tells a story, dramatizes a situation, expresses emotions, analyzes and advocates ideas – helps us grow personally and intellectually – language in use; hence inseparable from it – product of a particular culture; even more culture-bound than language – makes us human Literary Genres Four genres of literature: Prose fiction †¢ Epic myths, legends, fables, novels, short stories Poetry †¢ Open form and closed form †¢ Relies on imagery, figurative language, sound Drama †¢ Made up of dialogue and set direction †¢ Designed to be performed Nonfiction prose †¢ News reports, feature articles, essays, editorials, textbooks, historical and biographical works FICTION -any imaginative recreation and reconstruction of life which includes short stories and novels -myth and legend — origins and extraordinary events like wars, conquests, births, death, as well as the phenomena of nature Elements of Fiction 1. Setting †¢ a work’s natural, manufactured, political, cultural and temporal environment, including everything that characters know and own (place, time, objects) †¢ Its purpose is to establish realism or verisimilitude, to organize a story, and to create atmosphere or mood. †¢ It may reinforce development of characters and theme. 2. Characters the representations of a human being Classification of fictional characters: – Round (dynamic) = lifelike, fully-developed and recognizes changes in and adjusts to the circumstances – Flat = no growth, static – Stock = representative of a group or class (stereotypical) – Protagonist = the hero or heroine, main person in the story, person on the quest, etc. – Antagonist = the person causing the conflict, in opposition to the protagonist, the obstacle, etc. Five ways of revealing literary characters: 1. Actions 2. Descriptions 3. Dramatic statements and thoughts 4. Statements by other characters 5. Statements by the author speaking as storyteller, or observer 3. Plot and Structure the way the actions are arranged in the story reflection of motivation and causation *In the story, the queen died and then the king died shortly after. Conflict – controlling impulse in a connected pattern of causes and effects – Opposition of two or more forces (e.g., hatred, envy, anger, argument, avoidance, gossip, lies, fighting, etc.) -can be internal (man vs. himself) or external (man vs. fate/condition/other characters) Dilemma – conflict within or for one person – Conflict is a major element of plot because it arouses curiosity, causes doubt, and creates tension therefore producing interest among readers/audience. LITERARY DEVICE flashback foreshadowing local color – the superficial elements of setting, dialect, and customs Closed Plots 1) Linear – arranged chronologically 2) Circular – combination of linear and flashback 3) In Medias Res – begins in the middle part of the action Structure of Closed Plots PYRAMID PATTERN OF DEVELOPMENT Exposition Complication Crisis Climax Resolution (Denouement) 4. Point of View †¢ Refers to speaker, narrator, persona or voice created by the author to tell the story †¢ Point of view depends on two factors: – Physical situation of the narrator as an observer – Speaker’s intellectual and emotional position †¢ First person – I, we †¢ Third person – He, she, they (most common) Omniscient – all-knowing; delves into the minds of the characters at any point in the story Limited omniscient – some insight 5. Theme (Donnà ©e) Theme embodies meaning, interpretation, explanation and significance of every detail in a literary piece along with values in order to appreciate it. It is not as obvious as character or setting. It is important to consider the meaning of what has been read and then develop an explanatory and comprehensive assertion. It points out the significant truth about life and human nature that is illustrated in the actions, preoccupations, and decisions of the characters. It is not just some familiar saying or moral. Theme can be found in any of these: – direct statements by the authorial voice – direct statements by a first-person speaker – dramatic statements by characters – figurative language, characters who stand for ideas – the work itself – as a whole Theme should be: 1. expressed in complete statements 2. stated as a generalization about life. 3. a statement that accounts for all major details in the story 4. be stated in more than one way 5. should avoid statements that reduce the theme to some familiar saying 6. Images –concrete qualities rather than abstract meanings which appeal to the five senses 7. Symbolism Symbols stand for something other than themselves. They bring to mind not their own concrete qualities, but the idea or abstraction that is associated with them. Symbol creates a direct, meaningful equation between & among: – a specific object, scene, character, or action – ideas, values, persons or ways of life Symbols may be: – Archetypes (universal) = known by most literate people and have usually been used in most literary pieces therefore becoming representative figures (e.g., white dove, color black) – Contextual (authorial) = private, created by the author – Allegory = complete and self-sufficient narrative (e.g., â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†) – Fable = stories about animals that possess human traits (e.g., Aesop’s Fables) – Parable = allegory with moral or religious bent (e.g., Biblical stories) – Myth = story that embodies and codifies religious, philosophical and cultural values of the civilization in which it is composed (e.g., George Washington chopping down the cherry tree) – Allusion = the use of other culturally well-known works from the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology, famous art, etc. 8. Tone and Style †¢ Tone = methods by which writers and speakers reveal attitudes or feelings †¢ Style = ways in which writers assemble words to tell the story, to develop an argument, dramatize the play, compose the poem †¢ Essential aspect of style is diction Choice of words in the service of content Formal = standard or elegant words Neutral = everyday standard vocabulary Informal = colloquial, substandard language, slang †¢ Language may be: – Specific = images – General = broad classes – Concrete = qualities of immediate perception – Abstract = broader, less palpable qualities †¢ Denotation = word meanings †¢ Connotation = word suggestions †¢ Verbal irony = contradictory statements – One thing said, opposite is meant – Irony = satire, parody, sarcasm †¢ Understatement = does not fully describe the importance of a situation – deliberately †¢ Hyperbole (overstatement) = words far in excess of the situation

War Crimes and crimes against humanity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

War Crimes and crimes against humanity - Essay Example Turkish officials killing Armenians during the war, Germans committing atrocities on Jews, Polish people and others, cases that came up during Nuremburg trials, Russian treatment of German prisoners all came under war crimes. Crimes against humanity include genocide, mass murder, en mass slavery, mass executions, enslavement, deportation, extermination etc. This means any atrocious act committed on a large group could be termed as crimes against humanity. Sometimes these two overlap one another. Paul Touvier, Klaus Barbie, and Maurice Papon in France, and Imre Finta in Canada are a few examples. The origins of the war crimes must have started as soon as the war started and that was immediately after the Stone Age when people began grouping together and individuality ended. The groups fought against one another and heaped atrocities on the vanquished men and women. In recent centuries, after the advent of social Darwinism, people have understood the sufferings and harshness that the wars have imposed on Mankind. In Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, there are dictums against war and war crimes, especially so, in Buddhism and there are historical stories that inform us about the emperors who gave up the war path to avoid atrocities on ordinary soldiers and civilians. But in recent centuries once again, wars have been glorified and war crimes have taken place in many regions of all the continents. In first and second world wars, Japan, Russia, Germany, Italy like countries practiced war crimes. In later years, former Yugoslavia became another example of crimes against humanity. I t is the duty of International law not only to punish war criminals, but also to prevent such happenings. "Essentially, international humanitarian law has a two-fold purpose. It is intended to protect non-combatants, or those who are not now or never were, taking part in the fighting. It also limits the methods and means by which the fighting is carried out," Chuter (2003, p.59). War crimes could be of many kinds. It should involve 'cataclysmic, direct acts of violence', there should be 'logical connection between these events and the discipline of criminology' Yacoubian (2006, p.5). War crimes and crimes against humanity are not limited to only governments and armies. "The framework is not restricted to crimes committed by governments. Criminal acts committed by individual members of society, or corporations therein, are also eligible for inclusion" (Ibid). Genocide, ill-treatment of prisoners of war, ill treating women including sexual assault, mass murder, torture all come under this category of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The main purpose of International Criminal Court is to try war crimes and crimes against humanity and punish the deserving war criminals. Violations of Geneva convention like wilful killing, inflicting serious injury, inhuman torture, or starvation, confinement, wanton destruction of property, forcing a prisoner of war to serve the opposite side, torturing him or denying him a proper trial come under war crimes. In addition, taking hostages and using them for ransom, direct and purposeful attacks on civilians, attacking, injuring or killing peace workers, NGOs, charity organisations and humanitarian organisations like Amnesty international or Red Cross, killing doctors who are on duty as doctors also

Reflection of this course Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflection of this course - Essay Example Tentatively, it has given me the chance to have a critical outlook and view when pursuing facts and principles or ideas in my world. Secondly, I also enjoyed and took a lot of care and interest in the learning objective which required us to produce research materials for specific audiences. I find this issue to be of high relevance especially after being tasked with the privilege of doing annotated bibliography. I am of the humble and respectful opinion that I did well in composing the annotated bibliography of the source required of me. For instance, I did well in pin-pointing with an utmost precision the exact and intended destination of the academic materials that I considered. I also enjoyed the learning objective of using the print and digital media to speak to different people or audiences. I was guided and greatly helped to know that media is not just a form of passage of information and communication, but it is also a tool for contacting different people in diverse ways. It is to say that the objective was to introduce me to the field of knowing and treating people or relating to people differently by use of the different media tools and sources. Subsequently, it was an objective to integrate evidence from reading and then synchronize them with my own ideas and ideals in order to produce masterpiece and quality works. I am of the respectful view that I did that when I was composing the annotated bibliographies, I had the benefit of inculcating my knowledge with the clinical or academic knowledge present. I believe I excelled accordingly in those learning objectives which was attested when I gave my arguments while composing the annotated bibliography. On the contrary, there are goals that I would wish to put in more effort and energy so as to realize the best or maximum results. For instance, the goal of being able to read and think critically about the diverse cultural and social perceptions from the texts we read would have to be considered and

The Summary Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Summary Report - Essay Example igation in different terms, policies and steps to prevent the change, and some other crucial factors that pose hinders in the way of the mitigation of climate change. In the context of growing concern for the global warming â€Å"Summery For Policymakers† is an attempt to save the environment from further disasters caused by global warming. During the recent years the changes that are evidenced in the climate of the world, are a matter of great concern for the scientists and the common people of the world. The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report attempts to find out the ways of mitigation of climate change. For the sake of conveniences, the report renders various aspects of climate change, such as social, environmental, economic aspects, in order to accomplish the task of mitigation fruitfully. The report mainly focuses on the following topics: the trend in the emission of Greenhouse Gas, its mitigation in different terms, policies and steps to prevent the change, and some other crucial factors that pose hinders in the way of the mitigation of climate change. Studies show that emissions of Greenhouse Gas have increased seventy percent over the years from 1970 to 2004. Both man-made and natural factors are responsible for the increase of the emission of the Greenhouse gas. Among the human activity related factors development of science and increasing use of technologies are the major factors that are the most responsible for the apparently abrupt growth rate of green house gases- carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, etc. â€Å"The emissions of these gases have increased at different rates† (IPCC, 2007, p. 3). In the study, a thing is remarkable that the emission of greenhouse gases was violent around the years from 1990 to 2004. During these years the violent emissions of Greenhouse gases occurred mainly in the energy supply sector. The emission rate is about 145 percent. The emission scenario is as following: 120 percent from transport, from industry 65 percent, from

How will Spotify change the traditional music industry Assignment

How will Spotify change the traditional music industry - Assignment Example try, where consumers do not purchase their music, and where artists, producers and the company itself to not generate profits by directly selling music, surely, Spotify generates in a lot of changes in how the music industry works. In this case, the researcher would like to look at how Spotify changes the traditional music industry by using the five forces, which includes the following: Supplier Buyer Competitors Threats of New Entrants Threats of Substitutes In addition, the researcher would also try to integrate the different strategic maps used in the module, in able to provide a deeper breadth and insight into the analysis of the entry of Spotify in relation with the traditional music industry. In particular, the researcher would focus upon using the triangle map and the delta model to give deeper insights on the changes that Spotify will bring to the music industry. How would Spotify then affect the force of suppliers in the music industry? Of course, in the music industry, one of the main suppliers includes the company that distributes music to consumers, which in this case is the Swedish company Spotify. However, it is important to take note of the fact that the supply process is not a simple process, but it is rather complicated; this includes agreements with respect to the artists and the producers of the music that Spotify is about to offer to consumers. In the traditional music industry, the supply process goes this way: the company (which either distributes music through the sale of CDs or downloadable digitized music) pays royalty to the artists of the music. Then, the distributing company would earn profits through the direct sales of the copy of the music, to where the artists would also have some percentages. In this case, extra income for the company... The "How will Spotify change the traditional music industry" essay, describes the effect of the Spotify on the music business. While Spotify actually believes that â€Å"artist payments are increasing all the time as ad revenues and subscriptions go up†, it actually remains to be proven in the future. Such circumstances may pose threats with respect to the supply side of the music industry. However, the major change in the supply side (using the Delta model) would be in the form of redefining the customer relationship, wherein the supplier would need to establish long term relationships with their consumers in order for the company to ensure artists that they would get competitive royalties, as well as ensuring that they would attract enough ads so that they can get enough revenues to make artists happy and make their business profitable. With regards to the buyer side of the music industry, Spotify also introduces major changes. In traditional companies, they actually entice customers to own albums and other music collections for their favoured artists through their purchase of CDs or downloadable digital files. In this case, the central theme would include inducing consumers to actually own music, and expanding their personal collection. In this case, the major break with Spotify is that it does not induce consumers to own a personal collection of music; on the contrary, it entices consumers to enjoy the music that they want, when they want, and where they want, without actually owning it.

Statistics-demographic reports Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Statistics-demographic reports - Essay Example From the General summary report it is evident that if we rank students on the basis of their educational status, then we will come to know that the highest percentage of students i.e. 44.19% is completing their bachelor’s degree. 33.99% of students are related to graduate degree that’s why ranked at 2nd place in 2000 Educational Attainment. Therefore, the product should be introduced in the market by keeping the students of this age group in your mind as they appear to be significantly large segment in the region. Before pricing the product, the household income needs to be considered. The change in median household income is 123.60% from 1980 to 1990 and 68.10% from 1990 to 2000. The percentage changes for average household income are 178.80% and 69.50% from 1980 to 1990 and from 1990 to 2000 respectively. Similarly, percentage changes for per capita income are 184.00% and 65.60%. Among three categories average household income has the highest income in 2000 and the highest percentage change for household income. So, the new snack food should be launched by keeping average household income in mind. According to the given data, the percentage changes of the people with salary $150,000 + is highest so, the target market for the products should be the people having salary above $150,000 +. However, if the new snack is going to have a low to average price then other income groups can be also targeted. In addition, it is also important to consider which the income bracket of the target market. The highest percentages of the people of the ages less than 25, 65-74 and 75+ earn Less than $10,000. The highest percentages that are 15.87%, 14.43%, 11.86% and 11.50% of people of ages 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 54-64 respectively earn $100,000 - $124,999. So, the people having salary range $100,000 - $124,999 should be targeted for this product. The people having salary range $75,000 to $99,999 also have large percentages

Bridging the Gap Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Bridging the Gap - Assignment Example On nursing education, the study is vital in reviewing the techniques and physiology of wound healing. Nursing students, while still undergoing training need equipment with full information that relate to the larval therapy as a strategy in debridement of wounds (McFarland & Smith, 2014). Because of the efficiency of larval therapy in aiding treatment of chronic wounds, practicing nurses need an update on the vital features of the technique. Patients who have chronic ulcer wounds may require an enrolment on larval therapy as an intervention plan of management. As a nurse in a general surgical unit, there are diverse methodologies through which I can share the information about larval therapy. Assuming the role of a mentor to my peers in matters that revolve around larval therapy in the management of wounds is an important method (Nickitas, 2014). It will present the opportunity to showcase the procedure and the benefits associated with larval therapy. Another strategy for ensuring that the peers have the full information about larval therapy is by publishing a pamphlet that will act as guidance to the intervention

Powers of police Essay Example for Free

Powers of police Essay Polo Games limited was initially involved in manufacture and sale of electronic typewriters changed its product line and started developing and manufacturing hand held computer games and devices. From the scenario of this company it comes out clearly that the company was involved fraudulent and counterfeiting practices and as such it was suspected of having committed a crime. The police came to the business premises one day to search, arrest and seize suspected counterfeit materials used in the fraudulent activities. Police have the powers conferred up on them to do the search and make arrests. Such powers are outlined hereunder: Police and other government authorities have been conferred some powers to arrest, search and even seize property. These powers are available for use by such authorities only in the given circumstances and conditions. For instance the power to search a person for anything is allowed when the person can cover up evidence relating to an offence, or anything which might enable the person to escape from unlawful custody. Other reason or conditions is to search to an extent which is reasonably required to get the required evidence (http://www.11kbw.co.uk/html/articles/policepowers.html, assessed on April 1, 2008). Police have powers conferred to them that enable them to enter and search premises. These powers of entry and search states that: power to enter and search a premise in which a suspected person is hiding; the power only applies to the extent that the police man has reasonable grounds to in believing that there is evidence in the premises. Section 18 of the EPA (Emergency Provisions Act 1996) gives the police power particularly the cop who is the rank of inspector to gain entry into premises occupied by a person under arrest. The inspector in this case should have sufficient belief that there is some evidence in the premises. When such an officer gets into the premises they are covered by the power conferred to them to seize any materials which are suspicious or can be used as evidence in court. This power is deemed critical in cases where it is assumed that some delay may lead to destruction of evidence by the suspected person. Section 17 of the EPA also mandates the police to enter into premises of suspected people in order to execute a warrant of arrest or arrest a person who has committed an arrestable offence. Other reasons for entry and search could involve the capturing of a person who has escaped from the police custody. Such person could have had committed a business related offence. Also in the context of business, police enters or force their way into a premise when there is anticipated damage of the property or evidence. There is section 19 of the EPA which mandates the police officers to enter premises and seize all things obtained through commission of crimes or which act as evidence related to crime.   Police also have power to seize property where there is evidence that it relates to given offence. The basis of this is to prevent the suspect from concealing, losing, altering or destroying the evidence.   Police officers have powers to arrest any person whom they have sufficient evidence or reasonable ground to suspect as having committed or is about to commit crime. To enter business premises, police normally have to obtain warrant from Justice of Peace. The Justice of Peace only grants such warrants when fully convinced that there is sufficient strength of the offence committed. Police seeking such warrants must specify reasons for the search and the things or items to be looked for. Reference: Police powers of search and seizure, available at: http://www.11kbw.co.uk/html/articles/policepowers.html, assessed on April 1, 2008

Every Child Matters Strengths and Weaknesses

Every Child Matters Strengths and Weaknesses In todays rapidly changing society there is one factor that remains constant; childrens individual needs. These needs vary greatly from child to child, with some children needing lots of support to achieve a little. The Salamanca Statement (1994) believes that every child has unique characteristics, interest, abilities and learning needs. It carries on to state that every child has a fundamental right to education and the education systems should be designed, and programmes implemented, to take into account of the wide diversity of these characteristics and needs. It was the Warnock Report (1978) that first placed emphasis on a greater integration of pupils with special educational needs into mainstream schools, and has had a wide ranging influence on policy and practice that has followed in subsequent years. The SEN Code of Practice (2001) supports the Warnock Reports (1978) inclusion in to mainstream schools by providing guidance on policies and procedures aimed at enabling pupils with special educational needs to reach their full potential, to be included fully in their school communities and make a successful transition to adulthood. One of the most important frameworks that schools are bound to in supporting childrens individual needs is the Every Child Matters (2003) framework. The Every Child Matters green paper was published in 2003 as a response to the report by Lord Laming into the death of Victoria Climbie through being mistreated and abused. The paper proposed a range of measures to reform and improve childrens care. This framework resulted in the Childrens Act (2004) and provides the legislative spine for Every Child Matters. The aim of Every Child Matters was to create a joined-up system of health, family support, childcare and education services so that all children get the best start possible. Even though it arose from a child protection issue it is essentially for all children and is based around a few fundamental principles. Firstly, society should pursue five goals for all children: Being happy Staying safe Enjoying and achieving Making a positive contribution Economic well-being Secondly, services for children and their families need to be organised around the childs needs. Thirdly, ECM aims to create an effective working practice between different practitioners. These fundamental principles relate very closely to the SEN Code of Practice (2001). The Code sets out guidance on policies and procedures aimed at enabling pupils with special educational needs (SEN) to reach their full potential, to be included fully in their school communities and make a successful transition to adulthood (SEN Code of Practice 2001). It would appear that the SEN Code of Practice (2001) and Every Child Matters framework support the work that each does. The arrival of the Every Child Matters framework signalled a change in the context that the SEN Code of Practice (2001) functioned. The focus is now on making sure that all children are supported, well taught and make progress, and this applies to children with special educational needs. Children with special educational needs and their families often need support from a range of different services if they are to overcome barriers to learning and participation. The creation of Sure Start Childrens Centres and Extended Schools through the Every Child Matters framework will extend the range of services to children and families and bring them together in single locations, enabling children and young people with SEN and disabilities and their families to have better access to the support they need, when they need it and where they need it. This is a prime example of the Every Chid Matters framework providing support to the SEN Code of practice. For the SEN Code of Practice (2001) to be fully functioning and effective, it needs the Every Child Matters framework also to be fully functioning and effective. Both work together towards the same goals, for children to achieve their full potential despite any hurdles that may be in their way whether social, physical or emotional. An umbrella of support is provided, for the children and their families to strive towards the goal of providing a better future. Q.21 b Introduction Children today are faced with many challenges outside of school that affect their ability to come into school and learn effectively. Recent years have seen schools providing support to children other than as an educator. The Every Child Matters agenda is there in schools to support every child whatever their background and ability. There are a group of children however, who have additional struggles that affects their ability to learn; and these children are provided with extra support from the SEN Code of Practice (2001). These children will have been identified as having special educational needs (SEN), and will have been placed on the schools SEN register with their parents permission. From this, differing levels of support will be given depending on the childs code of practice stage. The support provided will enable them to access the curriculum within school. The aim of this child study is to consider the learning needs of a child and to assess how these needs are met in their school. To carry out this task effectively there were a number of factors that needed considering. Firstly, the child chosen for the study and their school will be introduced. For the purpose of this study, the child will be known throughout as Child A, and their school as School A. Numerous observations were carried out of Child A within different contexts of the curriculum (see Appendix One). Then, the study will look at learning theories and styles. This is to help build up a picture of how children learn in general. From this, and coupled with the observations of Child A, their preferred learning style will be identified. To link into this, the teaching styles within School A will be highlighted and the impact of this on Child As capacity to learn will be discussed. Finally, conclusions will be made on the impact of the Every Child Matters framework on School A and how this has affected Child A. Q.21 b Child A and their School The School Child As school is a much larger than average school due to the amalgamation of the infant and junior school in 2004. Most pupils come from a socio-economically mixed catchment area on the edge of the central town area. While most pupils are White British, over a third come from minority ethnic backgrounds. This proportion is increasing year-upon-year with most of these pupils also having English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils within school having learning difficulties and/or disabilities is below average. There is provision for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage; this is provided through the Nursery and in three Reception classes. Child A Child A is a Y5 pupil whose birthday is in the summer term. The child comes from a stable and affluent background where both parents live together, and is the eldest of three children (a brother in Y3 and a sister aged 8 months). During Y3 of Primary School, Child A was highlighted as being a cause for concern and was eventually placed on the schools SEN register in February 2010 while in Y4. Child A has also been placed on the Gifted and Talented Register for creativity. This is due to their Y4 teacher assessment of Child As unusually detailed pictures and Design Technology skills. Child A also excels in gymnastics. In April 2010, Child A was assessed for the first time by the local authorities Learning and Language Team; Reading: 1 year and 1 month below that expected of a child of their chronological age. Spelling: 3+years below their chronological age. Writing: right-handed using a reasonably neat print style with good spacing between words. The initial summary stated that Child A appeared to have some indications of specific learning difficulties in literacy (Dyslexia), Dyslexia can not be diagnosed as a one off event; rather it will follow on from a cumulative assessment over time (taken from Child A SEN file, see Appendix Two). For the purpose of this study and from advice from School As SENCo, it will be assumed that Child A will receive support for that of a dyslexic child, with programmes tailored towards Child As strengths and weaknesses. The Local Education Authority states in its dyslexia policy that difficulties with dyslexia occur on a continuum, from mild to severe, and estimates suggest that between 4 and 15% of all pupils are affected. Q.21 a The Theories Showing How Children Learn Before the learning needs of Child A can be identified, the ways in which a child learns must be analysed. There are two main theories of learning that this study will focus on; behaviourist and cognitive. The Behaviourist Theory This theory suggests that learning is gained by associating a stimulus with a response, as with Pavlos dogs www.nobelprize.org (Accessed 6th October 2010). Skinner suggested that reward and reinforcement of a response increases the frequency of response; this is known as operant conditioning, and assumes all behaviour (e.g. learning) can be controlled in this manner. These are the principles of conditioning that form the basis of the behaviourist approach to learning. These assumptions of the behaviourist approach can be seen and are easily applied in Child As classroom. For example, the Teacher would use positive and negative reinforcement to strengthen the behaviour that conforms to classroom expectations. Positive reinforcement is also used to increase motivation; for example reinforcing good performance with praise may improve confidence and thus motivation within the next task which is essential for Child A who suffers from low self esteem. However, the validity of the behaviourist approach must also be questioned. It assumes that all behaviour (e.g. learning) is under the control of reward and reinforcement, ignoring genetic inheritance. The Cognitive Theory Pollard (2010) states that this theory suggests people learn through an interaction between thinking and experience, and through the sequential development of more complex cognitive structures. Piaget developed the notion of cognitive stages to describe the childs cognitive structure at different stages. These stages are the sensory-motor (birth to 2 years), pre-operational (2-7 years), concrete operations (7 12 years) and formal operations (12 years upwards). Piaget also devised the term schemas, a unit of knowledge, each relating an object/experience in the world; For example, a child my have a schema relating to eating a meal at a restaurant, this schema will have a stored pattern of behaviour (looking at the menu, eating the meal). Vygotsky disputes Piagets cognitive stages, implying that social interaction plays a more important role, instead of trying to fit a child into a box based on their age. Vygotskys theory places more emphasis on social contributions to the process of development. His theory views interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills and strategies. He suggests that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent children develop with help from more skilful peers within the zone of proximal development (ZPD). Vygotsky believed that when a child is at the ZPD for a particular task, by providing the appropriate assistance (scaffolding) it will give the child enough of a boost to achieve the task. Once the child, with the benefit of scaffolding, masters the task, the scaffolding can then be removed and the child will then be able to complete the task again on his own. Child A relies on scaffolding within their learning and has shown that this does aid their success at a task. However, working with their peers is something Child A does not find comfortable. Jerome Bruner, another cognitive theorist, also disputes age related stages, tending to lean towards Vygotskys view. Bruner states that what determines the level of intellectual development is the extent to which the child has been given appropriate instruction together with practice or experience. Again, Child A requires this but in an adapted format. In his research on the cognitive development of children (1966), Jerome Bruner proposed three modes of representation: enactive representation (action-based), iconic representation (image-based) and symbolic representation (language-based). Modes of representation are the way in which information or knowledge are stored and encoded in memory. This is related to how the VAK theories work. Multiple Intelligences Howard Gardner suggests that there are eight learning styles; interpersonal, intrapersonal, mathematical and logical, visual and spatial, kinaesthetic, musical, naturalistic and linguistic. He suggests that many people have elements of some or all of the above. Gardners approach recognises the diversity of children and appreciates that ability and intelligence should not be dominated by language skills. Gardners theory seems to be backed up by Riddick, Wolfe and Lumsdon (2002) whom state it is generally accepted that providing teaching in a variety of styles is the most effective way to develop students learning. Child A and the Learning Theories. Where does Child A fit in to the learning theories? Stated throughout this section are references to how Child A may fit into these theories. Child A, it seems, strives for an essence of all the theories discussed. From the behaviourist point of view, Child A responds well to positive reinforcement and would help to improve to a certain extent their low self-esteem. From the cognitive point of view, Child A craves scaffolding, constantly looking for help from adults within the class when unsure. It does help Child A to successfully complete tasks, and this proves why Child A relies heavily on scaffolding. Again, it helps to improve their low self-esteem. With regards to Gardners multiple intelligences, child A leans more towards the bodily kinaesthetic and visual spatial elements of his theory. Therefore, Child As learning must come throughout these areas to help learning and understanding to be effective Q.18 Teaching Styles The Assertive Teacher The assertive discipline method of behaviour management was pioneered by Lee and Marlene Cantor in the 1970s. The goal of assertive discipline is to teach students to choose responsible behaviour and in so doing raise their self-esteem. This in turn should lead to an increase in their academic success. Having a good classroom environment in which to teach gives the pupil the best possible chance of learning effectively. A basic principle of assertive discipline is that pupils need to know your behavioural expectations. They must be given limits and the teacher must be consistent in his / her approach at all times. Pupils need positive recognition and support as well as discipline so that they are motivated to behave well. It is very easy to criticise a pupil for being badly behaved but some teachers fail to comment on good, appropriate behaviour. The teacher who uses assertive discipline effectively has a classroom plan, which she shares with pupils so that they are clear about the consequences of their actions. The teacher will have a list of classroom rules on display and will remind the pupils what they are at the start of the lesson. The Non-Assertive Teacher When a teacher reacts to pupils disruptive behaviour it is known as either a non-assertive or hostile response. The non-assertive response is one where the teacher is passive and does not give clear directions; the teacher responds to inappropriate behaviour as and when it happens. She will be inconsistent in her response and will allow poor behaviour to go unchallenged one day and respond angrily another. When a pupil thinks that he can behave in any way he chooses and not suffer any consequences then he will see how far he can push the boundaries at every opportunity. The Hostile Teacher The hostile teacher is one who keeps the class under control but only through intimidation. They do not set a good example of how to behave and often put down pupils with remarks that lowers their self-esteem and hurt their feelings. They promote negative feelings and expectations where pupils believe that they cannot achieve goals or succeed. The hostile teacher rarely makes a positive comment and takes every opportunity to make a negative one. Teaching Styles in School A Assertive teaching is shown and encouraged throughout School A based on various observations throughout the school. It is also evident in the school behaviour policy in the form of an assertive discipline routine. There are strict guidelines on the wording of personal reminder, final warning and then time-out for those children that are failing to follow school rules; this is consistent throughout. Positive praise of good behaviour is a strategy used to try and encourage other children to do the same. Child A responds very well to this style of teaching; behaviour problems are never an issue with Child A, who follows school rules at all times. Child A also benefits from the teacher having control over the class; as stated in Child As SEN file (see Appendix Two) there is a preference to work in quiet which is quite common for a child with dyslexia (Reid, G 2010, Learning Styles and Inclusion Sage Publications Ltd: London, P23). There is evidence to show that behaviour management strategies, such as the assertive discipline techniques, do help to improve behaviour, achievement and attainment. Good behaviour leads to good attainment because there is an effective learning environment, and therefore the child achieves. It states in the Steer Report (2005) that a consistent experience of good teaching engages pupils in their learning and this reduces instances of poor behaviour. It also relates to the Every Child Matters strand of Enjoy and Achieve. This identifies that children should feel safe, be healthy, and enjoy and achieve in school. Q.19 The Learning Needs of Child A According to information received (Booth, Personal communication, 8 September 2010) Child As learning style is that of a multi-sensory learner. This is also stated in the SEN file of Child A (Appendix Two) in a report from the Senior Learning Support Teacher. Pupils with dyslexia learn best when all the senses are used; this is the VAK model of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning. VAK is an accelerated learning approach where visual learners learn best through pictures, charts, diagrams, video, ICT etc; auditory learners learn best through listening; kinaesthetic learners learn best through being physically engaged in a task. There is further research by Glazzard (2010), stating that teachers should aim to make a childs learning multi-sensory, catering for all the VAK learning styles. With regards to Howard Gardners Multiple Intelligences, a dyslexic child will have a greater imbalance of strength and skills. It is important that Child A is provided with the opportunities to develop their preferred learning style so to work to their strengths. Support should be provided in areas of weakness with specific teaching and a demonstration of strategies that aid learning. This is also evident in the Local Authority Dyslexia Policy stating Some pupils who have dyslexia can frequently display marked differences between their abilities. It goes on further to state that it is important to identify strengths as well as weaknesses, in order to make the most effective provision (see Appendix Three). It has been suggested that Child A has access to a structured, cumulative, multi-sensory programme of work with opportunities for interleaved learning and repetition (see Appendix Two). Interleaved learning is a psychological process where new and old materials are practised together. It is also important to remember that to help with Child As self-esteem issues, extra measures of support provided within the class should be available for Child A to access them when required, and not draw attention too. Child A also has low-self esteem that requires attention. The Local Education Authority Dyslexia Policy also backs this up by stating we recognise the particular links between dyslexia and low self-esteem (see Appendix Three). From what is known about Child A and through research, it can be stated that when looking at Maslows hierarchy of needs (1968) diagram (see Appendix Four), Child A has had the biological and physiological needs, also safety needs and belongingness and love needs satisfied. On the other hand, esteem needs have not been realised and as this continues to be a problem, the childs self-actualisation stage can not be fulfilled. Again, positive reinforcement and working with School As Learning Mentor to build up self esteem is required. It is vital, as a teacher, that Child As successes are shared with the class/school to help improve self-esteem. Impact of Every Child Matters Framework in School A There has been a great impact on School A since the Every Child Matters framework was introduced. Some aspects were in place before, but a lot has changed in recent years. A holistic approach has been taken by School A to implement the Every Child Matters agenda. A significant commitment has been made to the nurturing and education of the whole child. Be Healthy Through the curriculum the children receive at least 2 hours of exercise a week. Also, they receive education on health, drug awareness and sexual health education. Healthy snacks are provided free to children in foundation stage and KS1. Children in KS2 are offered fruit juice at morning break for a minimal cost. Most recently, the school has had a kitchen built which now allows for food to be cooked on site, giving the school greater control on they type of food being provided. Stay Safe There are child protection measures in place that all staff are aware of. Three members of staff are contacts for child protection issues that may arise. Any concerns would be expressed to these people and the appropriate action would then be taken by them. Other support within school is provided by the Learning Mentor. This role encompasses many of the aims of the Every Child Matters Framework. The Learning Mentor is part of the Child Protection Team. The Learning Mentor has created a Peer Mediators team created of Y6 children to help support children in the playground when problems arise. There has been a big emphasis placed on the prevention of problems arising in the playground through the creation of play leaders, friendship and singing squads; again, this is through the support from the Y6 children who carry out activities with the younger children at playtime. Enjoy and Achieve Special Educational Needs provision kicks into action when there are concerns about an individual child with regards to behaviour issues or academic difficulties. Under the guidance of the schools SENCo this would involve the child monitored as a cause for concern. If the child showed no improvement or deteriorated, they would then be placed on the schools SEN register with the parents permission. School Action would see the child receiving extra support from within school to support their learning and well-being, and again if the child showed no improvement or deteriorated, they would be place on School Action Plus which then brings in the involvement of outside agencies to help and support the child. Again, the Learning Mentor plays a crucial role here, working very closely with extended schools, helping to provide after-school clubs with family involvement. A homework club is also run for children who regular fail to complete homework for a variety of reasons. Another critical role that the Learning Mentor provides for under the Every Child Matters Framework is liaising with parents. As well as involving them in family clubs after school, she will also provide support for them on an individual basis. This area has an additional staff member to help, the Parent Support Advisor. The School employs a Parent Support Advisor (PSA) who runs activities at the Sure Start centre, and has particularly provided support to the Muslim community within School. This has taken the form of English classes to help those parents who struggle speaking and understanding English so they can then support their children at home with their reading and writing. The PSA, with the help of the Maths co-ordinator, ran a similar scheme for parents called Ocean Maths. This meeting provided parents with an understanding of how they can help their child at home with maths, and they were also able to purchase very cheaply a resource pack that will help support the child at home. Wrap around care is also provided by the school in the form of breakfast and after-school care which has been running now for a number of years. This provides parents with the extended support that they may need to be able to return to work. Extended Schools, through government funding, helps children to access activities that they may have been unable to afford in the past. During the summer holidays, activities were available for children to take part in; those children that receive free school meals were able to access these activities free of charge. Extended Services have also provided support to Teaching Assistants within school by running a course on Playground Games so that these may be taught to the children in the playground. The school places a big emphasis on assessment and how it is used to ensure that pupils make the best possible progress both in the curriculum and in their personal development. Assessment for Learning techniques are used in order to enable pupils to progress as individuals. Self and peer assessment techniques are especially relevant in relation to reflecting on the process of participating. The children know where they are at in their learning and how to progress in terms of their next steps. Make a Positive Contribution to the Community There is a school council that is made-up of one child from each class. These children meet regularly to discuss how things can work better for the children. They also take views of the other children to these meetings and feedback to the children. A new recent development is the creation of learning challenges. These aim to let the children have the opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge to a range of different real life situations that makes a positive contribution to an individual, class, school or a local, national global community. A big emphasis is placed on entrepreneurship being encouraged at all times. Achieve Economic and Social Well-being At a Primary school level, this is where the seeds are sown to help achieve economic and social well-being, by providing the children with literacy, numeracy and ICT skills. The learning challenges mentioned in the previous section also help towards meeting this. There are many more aspects of school life that exist due to the emergence of the Every Child Matters Framework. Child A has benefited hugely from this having taken part in after school clubs with their family. There is the support network in place for Child A should they wish to access it, and the relevant people providing support for them already. This is also the case for other children, and has had a positive impact on lots of children throughout School A in supporting their learning. Conclusion This child study has highlighted the significant impact that the Every Child Matters framework has had on Child A, other children with and without personal and learning difficulties, and School A as a whole. Every Child Matters now underpins the whole school ethos, and provides support to children, their families and the school. The understanding of how children learn is essential to my practice as a teacher so that the childs education can be moved on and supported. There are elements of behaviourist and cognitive learning in School A through rewards systems of team points and positive reinforcement of good behaviour, and also through the assertive teaching methods used. The cognitive approach is seen in the pedagogy of the teacher through effective scaffolding techniques, which have been seen to help Child A in the achievement of tasks. In a personal communication with the class teacher of Child A, intervention groups have been arranged so that the supported learning of Child A can take place not just through the effective inclusion of all pupils by quality first teaching. As a teacher it is my responsibility to cater for Child As additional needs, and also to regularly review and assess them so that they are continually being met. It is also important that within my practice I regularly consult the class teacher, SENCo and the Learning Mentor who also aid Child A to overcome the difficulties presented, so that the best possible support is being given. Child A has a positive approach to learning and does not display any of the behavioural difficulties that can be seen in some pupils who have learning difficulties (see Appendix Three). Appendix One Observations of Child A General Observations Child A is someone who is very well behaved in class. There are no behaviour problems associated, and conformity is shown at all times. There is interaction between their peers in the class but this is very infrequent and short lasting. Outside in the playground this is the same; Child A has a small circle of friends who have played together for quite a few years. There is interaction between this group, but again, Child A takes a rather passive role of listening rather than initiating. Numeracy Lessons Child A again always gave the teacher their attention but fiddled with their pen in an undisruptive way. Facial expressions throughout suggested uneasiness. During observations of Child A in Numeracy it was quite evident that there is a low self esteem. Individual tasks saw Child A begin by looking around, gaining the attention of the teaching assistant and teacher to provide the support. Working with a partner was something Child A seemed to shy away from. Child As partner seemed unbothered by this and was happy to discuss with others on the table. A little interaction did take place but this was towards the end of the task as their partner had realised that they must complete the task. Child A also had some number reversal, especially number five and 9. Literacy Lessons Child A is very conscious of their problems with spellings as their reading age is far better than their spelling ability so when they read their work back they can see the errors. The childs commitment and determination is excellent, and after a recent writing assessment was able to identify improvement points that were not linked to spellings. Child A also prefers to work in quiet, which they communicated to the previous years teacher. Art and DT A familiar pattern is also seen here; lack of interaction with their partner and a tendency to allow their partner to be more dominant and do most of the work. P.E Child

The History of Newspapers

The History of Newspapers Introduction: Any kinds of news about something new or current affairs which appears frequently and is a type of publication can be considered as a Newspaper. According to American author Mark Twain â€Å"If you dont read the newspaper, youre uninformed. If you read the newspaper, youre mis-informed.† Newspaper consists of many different contents such as news, articles, features, advertisement and many more which is printed in relatively cheap newsprint. Newspaper publishes news daily or weekly of general interest to large portions of public in a specific geographic area. According to American Novelist Norman Mailer Once a newspaper touches a story the facts are lost forever, even the protagonists. A newspaper contains news and articles that touches personalities, business and finance, crime, severe weather, natural disasters, health and medicine, science and technology, sports, entertainment, fashion and arts divided and published in different sections closely related to proximity factor or general interest of the people. Even though the Newspaper is based on facts and news, personal opinions are adjusted through editorials and op-eds. The newspaper includes photographs shot by the photographers along with stories and articles along with graphic artists, data, chats and diagrams. All the reports or stories have headlines and photographs with caption is edited to be fixed somewhere in the papers layout after being checked by the editors usually supervised by an editor-in-chief or an executive editor. The newspaper business is kept alive by general circulation or through advertisement they carry. It is important for newspaper to provide citizens with information on government and politics. History of Newspaper in European context: The history of newspaper in Europe can be traced back to 59 B.C. to A.D. 222 in Rome when writing and reading gained reliability. The Roman Empire published Acta Diurna (Daily Acts), a daily handwritten news sheets which were carved in mental or stone and posted by the government in Roman forum. The acta contained news of Political happenings, trials, scandals, military campaigns and executions. These were printed with the order of Julius Caesar, a Roman general and author of Latin writing style. The printing press came into light to propagate news in Europe soon after the invention of letter press by Johann Gutenberg in the 1450s which was the initiation of movable type of printing press. In 1470, one of the first printed works which can be considered as news was an Italian account of a tournament. Christopher Columbus had written a letter reporting his discoveries which was set in type and was circulated all over Barcelona before he got there in 1493. There were thousands of printed newsbooks, short pamphlets reporting on a news event, and news ballads, details of current events written in verse and generally printed on one side of a single sheet of paper which were circulated all over Europe and its colonies specially America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The newsbooks and news ballads was eligible enough to be called a newspaper since they appeared only once, to report only one story and had no identity separate from the scrupulous news report they told. There is no doubt that the concept of modern newspaper was invented in Europe. The oldest form of modern newspaper is said to be first published as a handwritten news sheets that circulated extensively in Venice, Italy in the sixteenth century. Notizie scritte (written notices) were published by the government of Venice in 1556 which led to the trademark of modern newspaper. Venice was the center of trade in Europe therefore hub for information. The Venetian news sheets also known as avisi or gazettes which was handwritten had information and news regarding politics, wars and economy of Italy and Europe during early modern era (1500 – 1800). The newspaper traveled all along Europe till London and was distributed weekly during 1566 A.D. They techniques and style they applied for this paper were short sets of news items, advanced from a particular city, printed under the name of that city along with the date on which they were sent. These techniques would be used in most early p rinted newspapers and this idea of handwritten newsbooks travelled all the way to Germany and Holland. According to World association of newspapers, the oldest surviving European printed newspaper were published weekly in German language in Germany, the first being Relation aller Fà ¼rnemmen und gedenckwà ¼rdign Historien printed in 1605 A.D. in Strasbourg by Johann Carlous followed Avisa Relation oder Zeitun printed by Lucas Schlute in 1609 in Wolfenbà ¼ttel. The names of the cities were not included in the papers in order to evade government prosecutions. It did not take much time for the printed newspaper to spread through Europe rapidly starting from printed weeklies which appeared in Basel in 1610, followed by Frankfort and Vienna in 1615 and finally in Berlin by 1617. All the weeklies were in German language and no specific names have been discovered. In 1618 the first Dutch newspaper weekly was introduced in Amsterdam called Courante uyt Italien, Buytslandt, c. which can be considered as the first broadsheet paper because it was issued in folio – size rather than previously printed pamphlets in quarto – size. The very first newspaper printed in England came in 1621 when an English official complained about the lack of means of communication in England. The French started printing newspaper of its own in May 30, 1631 called La Gazette in Paris. The Italians introduced their first printed weekly in 1639 followed by Spanish Catalan language newspaper Gazeta in 1641. The first English Language newspaper was printed in Amsterdam by Joris Veseler for the publisher Pieter van den Keere in 1620. The first English newspaper does not begin with a title because in those early days papers often did not have consistent names. The first English newspaper is well illustrated by the following item: Out of Ceulen (cologne), the 24 of November. Letters of Neurenburge of the 20 of this present, make mention, that they had advise from the Borders of Bohemis, that there had been a very great Battle by Prague. The news was translated in English, printed and shipped to London. Many early newspapers did not have many stories to be printed and struggled to find new news to fill their paper every week, especially in England, the news were published late. The readers expectation of weekly newes was not fulfilled during those time. This led to more working hours to gather news to fill the weekly news and this pace of gathering news lead to adapt itself to the schedule of daily newspapers later on. The first actually printed newspaper in England was Corante, or weekely newes from Italy, Gerany, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, France and the low Countreys in September 24, 1621. The publisher known by only initials N.B. whose credits are given either to Nathaniel Butter and Nicholas Bourne which were both Englands first newspaper journalist. The second newspaper in France Gazette de France was also published in 1631 by Theophraste Renaudot which survived till the French Revolution in 1789. There were basically two formats in which the newspaper were published in early days; one was the Dutch paper style known as corantos, in which the reports were packed densely in only two or four pages and the other style was the German weeklies, generally a pamphlets with eight to twenty four pages. The Dutch style of paper eventually turned into German style in 1622. The news were printed directly in print shop as soon as it was received, such as the thirty years war raging on the continent at that time appeared under the name of Vienna, Frankfort or Prague or any other cities where a letter or newspaper found its way to a printing shop. The same news printed in some date in a certain city was printed in different date in some other city. In London the process of editing story to make it easier for the reader started by editor Thomas Gainsford, who started working in series of early English newspaper in 1622. The Oxford Gazette which was established in 7 November 1665 and that contained official journals of record of the British government is the oldest surviving English newspaper in the world today. The Daily Courant was the first daily newspaper in the England and the world. It was first published in 11 March 1702 and was produced by Elizabeth Mallet and contained a single page with advertisements on the reverser side. Year Newspaper Language City Country Reference 1605 Relation aller Fà ¼rnemmen und gedenckwà ¼rdign Historien German Strasbourg Holy Roman Empire First newspaper of the world 1609 Avisa Relation oder Zeitung German Wolfenbà ¼ttel Holy Roman Empire 1610 German Basel Swiss Confederacy 1615 German Frankfurt Holy Roman Empire 1617 German Berlin Holy Roman Empire 1618 Courante uyt Italien Duytslandt, c. Dutch Amsterdam Dutch Republic It is the worlds first broadsheet. out of use in 1664 1620 Nieuwe Tijdinghen Dutch Antwerp Spanish Netherlands Published in 1605 – 1629 1631 La Gazette French Paris France First newspaper in French language and first weekly magazine established between May 30, 1631 – September 30, 1915 1641 Gazeta Catalan Barcelona Spain The first Catalan Language newspaper. Only two issues were published 1645 Ordinari Post Tijdender Swedish Stockholm Sweden Oldest and still published newspaper in the world. Went online in 2007 1656 Weeckelycke Courante van Europa Dutch Haarlem Dutch Republic In 1664 the name was changed to Oprechte haerlemsche Courant. The newspaper merged with the Haarlems Dagblad in 1942 and still exists. 1661 La Gazeta Spanish Madrid Kingdom of Spain Existed till 2008 as Boletin official del Estado and went completely online from 2009. 1661 Merkuriusz Polski Ordynaryjny Polish Krakow Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Lasted till 22 July 1661 in Warsaw. 1664 Gazzetta di Mantova Italian Mantua Duchy of Mantua, Holy Roman Empire Still the oldest privet and continuously published print in the world. 1665 Oxford Gazette English Oxford England It was renamed as London Gazette and moved to London in 1666. 1702 Daily Courant English London England It was the worlds first daily Newspaper. Merged with the Daily Gazetteer in 1735. 1702 Vedomosti Russian Moscow Russia Renamed as Sankt – Petersburgskie in 1728, and again renamed as Petrogradskie Vedomosti in 1914. Last issue in 1917. 1703 Wiener Zeitung German Vienna Austria Still in publication. 1704 The Review English London England Founded by Daniel Defoe as a Review of the Affairs of France until 1713. 1705 Hildesheimer Relations – Courier German Hildesheim Germany Still in publication with name Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung. 1705 Mercurius Hungaricus Hungarian Hungary Hungary Was printed in Latin and lasted till 1710. 1709 The Tatler English London Kingdom of Great Britain Founder was Richarded Steele and existed till 1711. 1709 The Worcester Post – Man English Worcester Kingdom of Great Britain Renamed as Berrows Worcester journal since 1753. Last publication was in 1690. 1710 The Examiner English London Kingdom of Great Britain Jonathan swift had the most contribution and lasted till 1714. 1711 The Spectator English London Kingdom of Great Britain Founded by Joseph Addison and lasted till 1712. 1719 The Daily Post English London Kingdom of Great Britain Established in 1719 by Daniel Defoe. It contained news about current events, science, art and all important dates. 1719 PraÃ…Â ¾skà © poÃ… ¡tovskà © noviny Czech Prague Kingdom of Bohemia It was a weekly newspaper which is no more. 1731 Gentlemans Magazine English London England Lasted till 1922 and was first to use the term magazine. 1734 Lloyds List English London England It still publishes news about shipping, marine insurance and is the oldest English – language daily to be published till date. 1735 Gazzetta di Parma Italian Parma Duchy of Parma Still available. 1737 The Belfast News Letter English Belfast Kingdom of Ireland Still available. 1738 Feuille dAvis de Neuchà ¢tel French Neuchatel Swiss Confederacy The oldest French – Language daily newspaper which is still published. 1747 The Press and Journal English Aberdeen United Kingdom Still available. 1749 Berlingske Danish Copenhagen Denmark – Norway Originally known as Kjà ¸benhavnske Danske Post-Tidender. Still available. 1752 Leeuwarder Courant Dutch Leeuwarden The Netherlands Originally known as Leeuwarder Saturdagse Courant. Still available. 1758 Norrkà ¶pings Tidningar Swedish Norrkà ¶ping Sweden Originally published weekly asNorrkà ¶pings Weko-Tidningar. Still available. 1761 Nassau – Saarbrà ¼ckisches Wochenblatt German Saarbrà ¼cken Nassausaarbrucken Still available as Sarbrà ¼ker Zeitung. 1767 Adresseavisen Norwegian Trondheim Denmark – Norway Originally namedKongelig allene privilegerede Trondheims Adresse-Contoirs Efterretninger. Still available 1767 Finns Leinster Journal English Kilkenny Kingdom of Ireland 1772 Fyens Stiftstidende Danish Odense Denmark – Norway Originally namedKongelig Privilegerede Odense Adresse-Contoirs Efterretninger. Still available. 1783 The Herald English Glasgow United Kingdom Still available. 1785 The Times English London United Kingdom Still available. 1791 The observer English London United Kingdom First Sunday newspaper of the world. Still available. 1794 Arhus Stiftstidende Danish Denmark – Norway Arhus Originally named Aarhus Stifts-Tidende.still available 1817 The Scotsman English Edinburgh United Kingdom Still available 1821 The Guardian English Manchester United Kingdom Originally named The Manchester Guardian. Still available. 1824 Abo Underrà ¤ttelser Swedish Abo Finland Still available. 1826 Le Figaro French Paris France Still available. 1829 Curierul Romà ¢nesc Romanian Bucharest Romania Lasted from 1829 to 1859. 1829 Albina Romà ¢nească Romanian Lasi Romania Lasted from 1829 to 1850. 1831 Takvim-I vekayi Turkish Istanbul Ottoman Empire Published till 1891. 1835 O Aà §oriano Oriental Portuguese Ponta Delgada Azores Portugal Still available. 1843 News of the World English London United Kingdom Closed in 7 July 2011, after the phone hacking scandal. 1844 Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant Dutch Rotterdam The Netherlands Merged with Algemeen Handelsblad in 1970 and still available. 1846 LIndà ©pendant French Perpignan France Still available. 1853 Faro de Vigo Spanish Vigo Spain Oldest and still available newspaper published in spain. 1854 Surrey Comet English London United Kingdom Still available. 1855 The Daily Telegraph English London United Kindom Still available. 1855 A Aurora do Lima Portuguese Viana do Castelo Portugal Still available. 1859 Le Progrà ¨s French Lyon France Still available. 1859 La Nazione Italian Florence Grand Duchy of Tuscany Still available. 1861 LOsservatore Romano Italian Vatican City Papal States Semi official newspaper of the Holy See. 1863 Church Times English London England Weekly newspaper which is still available. 1870 La Dà ©pà ªche du Midi French Tlulouse France Still available. 1873 Richmond and Twickenham Times English London England Weekly London newspaper which is still available. 1877 Dernià ¨res Nouvelles dAlsace French Strasbourg France Still available. 1881 The Evening News English London England Closed in 1987. 1882 El Pireneo Aragonà ©s Spanish Jaca Spain Still published in the Autonomous community of Aragon. 1888 Financial Times English London United Kingdom Still available. 1889 LEst Rà ©publicain French Nancy France Still available. 1891 Gazet van Antwerpen Dutch Antwerp Flanders, Belgium Still available. 1891 La Nuova Sardegna Italian Sassari Kindom of Italy Still available. 1893 Lidovà © Noviny Czech Brno Moravia, Austria – Hungary Still published in Prague and known as Lidovky. 1893 De Telegraaf Dutch Amsterdam The Netherlands Still available and is the largest Newspaper in Holland. 1895 Heraldo de Aragà ³n Spanish Zaragoza Spain Still available and known as Heraldo. 1896 Daily Mail English London England Was a major trendsetter for English newspaper market by starting the trend for popular mass journalism and is still published. Table 1: List of oldest newspapers in Europe according to the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. The freedom of the press was very much suppressed during those times and controlled by the authorities therefore very less news about the country was being printed at those times. The newspapers were not allowed to discuss any local or national issues or events. The first breakthrough in news writing came during the English Civil War after the parliament under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell struggled with King Charles I, and journalist felt free to discuss about it. The first English newspaper to talk about national issue was the sedate little weekly entitles which talked about the proceedings in the parliament in 1641. The struggle of freedom of press was initiated by John Milton in His Areopagitica in England 1644. They were free from government control and experienced free press. According to the historian Joseph Frank, newspapers in England were the first to use Headlines, print advertisement, employ women, newsboy to sell newspapers and proper journalist in the world in 1640s. Newspaper started reporting newsworthy national stories by 1649 with a story: This day the King was beheaded, over against the Banquetting house by White – Hall†¦. Cormwell gained more power after the beheading of Charles I and cracked down the press allowing only few newspapers to be printed. However the Glorious Revolution in 1688 again free the press freedom and the Licensing Act lapsed in 1695 allowing press to criticize the government and write what they pleased. Newspapers started taking new turns by becoming more commercial with more advertisement along with printing price listings and market reports. In 1650 the worlds oldest surviving printed daily newspaper Einkommende Zeitung was established in Leipzig in 1650. Daily Courant became the first daily newspaper in the world which appeared in London in 1702. In the early eighteenth century, according to journalism historian Stanley Morison, the newspaper gained a hold on Londons commercial classes which it never lost. At that time, too, great essayists like Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift began publishing newspapers filled with their social and political commentaries in London. Breakthrough in English newspaper came when journalist were allowed so sit in the gallery in parliament, however they could not take any notes. In 1783 journalist were allowed to take notes after William Woodfall, editor of morning Chronicles send his reports to write the parliament proceedings. Similarly reports about the French Revolution were heavily written all over Europe which led to many other revolutions notably the American Revolution in late 1700s. The early 19th century there was many newspapers being published in Europe specially after the Industrial Revolution. Advances in printing technology related to the Industrial Revolution enabled newspapers to Become and even more widely circulated means of communication. By 1814, the Times (London) acquired a printing press capable of making 1,100 impressions per minute. Conclusion In this way the development of newspapers in Europe has impacted the way of newspaper writing and printing all over the world. The rich history of newspaper in Europe and its domination around the world at that period has left a lot of impact and impression on other newspaper around the world. According to WAN-IFRA Currently there are more than 15 thousand newspaper titles in the world. Newspaper is a part of eve

Essay --

F. Scott Fitzgerald an amazing author in my opinion, in 1925, wrote The Great Gatsby. This novel is great and probably one of his best books he has ever written. This novel separates the poor from the wealth, and ties love with the rich. This novel shows different views on different people from different backgrounds and classes. This novel takes place in the make believe towns called East Egg, and West Egg. When the books main character Nick Carraway arrives to West Egg to visit his cousin Daisy he realizes how horrible all their lives really are and how much better off he is back in East Egg. This is a really good book that show’s how the poor are separated from the wealth, and how the wealthy will do anything to get what they want. The book starts off by the narrator and main character Nick Carraway heading to the west to visit his cousin Daisy. Once he arrives to Daisy’s he rents a house a crossed the lake from Daisy’s. Soon he realizes that he is living beside the wealthiest man in West Egg named Jay Gatsby and he really wants to meet him. Nick heads over to see his cousin Daisy and is introduced to a woman named Jordan Baker. Shortly after meeting Jordan, Nick realizes that he is attracted to her and begins a romantic relationship with her. After Nick has been in his rented house for a few days he starts to wonder who Jay Gatsby is because he never sees him around his house and he wants to try to find him and ask him questions about what he does. Nick later that day gets invited to one of Gatsby’s famous Saturday night parties and goes with Jordan. After being at the party and looking for Jay Gatsby, Nick runs into a man that has served in the same branch of the army as he did and finds out that his name is Jay Gatsby. Nick... ...their feet. With every chapter leading into the next it helps keep the story flow with the readers eye. Everyone that I know that has read this book really enjoyed it and said they would read it again. Fitzgerald’s creativeness helped make this a wonderful novel that can be read by anyone. All around I really enjoyed reading this book because I personally think Fitzgerald is an amazing author and he really knows how to write books in a way that grabs the readers attention and keeps them hooked through the whole story. I also think that The Great Gatsby is one of his best writings. I have really enjoyed reading this book and taking the time to break it down into a review. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a great book that can be read in just a few days by anyone. Fitzgerald has an amazing way of writing his books to make his writings stand out from others.

Breaking Barriers: An Intersection of the Institution and the Information Superhighway :: Essays Papers

Breaking Barriers: An Intersection of the Institution and the Information Superhighway What it is all about Distance education. What is it? Barry Birnbaum has cited a feasible definition for it in his book, Foundations and Practices in the Use of Distance Education. The definition is according to a study done by Moore and Kearsley in 1996. Birnbaum quotes, â€Å"distance education is defined as planned learning that normally occurs in a different place and requires a well-defined system of delivery that includes modified teaching techniques, alternative modes for communication (i.e. computers), as well as alternative administrative and organizational components.† (Birnbaum, 2001, p. 1)[1] Then, again in 1996, another researcher by the name of Keegan assigned 5 criteria in his definition of distance education. These 5 criteria are: â€Å"a.) Separation of teacher and learner throughout the learning process, b.) The influence of the organization in the planning and preparation of learning materials, c.) The use of technical media to unite teacher and learner, d.) The role of two-way communication, and e.) The separation of the learning group during the process.† (Birnbaum, 2001, p. 2)[2] Bearing these two definitions in mind, let us proceed. I. How it was all started A man named Isaac Pitman started the whole concept of distance education in England around 1840.(Birnbaum, 2001, p. 10)[3] He wanted to create an opportunity for people to learn shorthand that would otherwise, not be able to do so due to work constraints or other everyday obligations. According to Birnbaum, since this period of time, the primary utilization of distance education has been in the field of foreign language. However, other institutions opt to employ distance education as well. For example, the armed services have found that technical training can be provided to a large number of military personnel in a cost-effective manner through distance education course delivery modules. (Birnbaum, 2001, p. 11)[4] Large corporations such as Best Buy also use e -learning in order to deliver quick, effective training to their employees in lieu of having an actual time reserved for training the employees.

English Renaissance Drama Essay

English Renaissance drama grew out of the established Medieval tradition of the mystery and morality plays. These public spectacles focused on religious subjects and were generally enacted by either choristers and monks, or a town’s tradesmen (as later seen lovingly memorialized by Shakespeare’s ‘mechanicals’ in A Midsummer Night’s Dream). At the end of the fifteenth century, a new type of play appeared. These short plays and revels were performed at noble households and at court, especially at holiday times. These short entertainments, called â€Å"Interludes†, started the move away from the didactic nature of the earlier plays toward purely secular plays, and often added more comedy than was present in the medieval predecessors. Since most of these holiday revels were not documented and play texts have disappeared and been destroyed, the actual dating of the transition is difficult. The first extant purely secular play, Henry Medwall’s Fulgens and Lucres, was performed at the household of Cardinal Morton, where the young Thomas More was serving as a page. Early Tudor interludes soon grew more elaborate, incorporating music and dance, and some, especially those by John Heywood, were heavily influenced by French farce. Not only were plays shifting emphasis from teaching to entertaining, they were also slowly changing focus from the religious towards the political. John Skelton’s Magnyfycence (1515), for example, while on the face of it resembling the medieval allegory plays with its characters of Virtues and Vices, was a political satire against Cardinal Wolsey. Magnyfycence was so incendiary that Skelton had to move into the sanctuary of Westminster to escape the wrath of Wolsey. The first history plays were written in the 1530’s, the most notable of which was John Bale’s King Johan. While it considered matters of morality and religion, these were handled in the light of the Reformation. These plays set the precedent of presenting history in the dramatic medium and laid the foundation for what would later be elevated by Marlowe and Shakespeare into the English History Play, or Chronicle Play, in the latter part of the century. Not only was the Reformation taking hold in England, but the winds of Classical Humanism were sweeping in from the Continent. Interest grew in the classics and the plays of classical antiquity, especially in the universities. Latin texts were being â€Å"Englysshed† and latin poetry and plays began to be adapted into English plays. In 1553, a schoolmaster named Nicholas Udall wrote an English comedy titled â€Å"Ralph Roister Doister† based on the traditional Latin comedies of Plautus and Terence. The play was the first to introduce the Latin character type miles gloriosus (â€Å"braggart soldier†) into English plays, honed to perfection later by Shakespeare in the character of Falstaff. Around the same time at Cambridge, the comedy â€Å"Gammer Gurton’s Needle†, possibly by William Stevens of Christ’s College, was amusing the students. It paid closer attention to the structure of the Latin plays and was the first to adopt the five-act division. Writers were also developing English tragedies for the first time, influenced by Greek and Latin writers. Among the first forays into English tragedy were Richard Edwards’ Damon and Pythias (1564) and John Pickering’s New Interlude of Vice Containing the History of Horestes (1567). The most influential writer of classical tragedies, however, was the Roman playwright Seneca, whose works were translated into English by Jasper Heywood, son of playwright John Heywood, in 1589. Seneca’s plays incorporated rhetorical speeches, blood and violence, and often ghosts; components which were to figure prominently in both Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. The first prominent English tragedy in the Senecan mould was Gorboduc (1561), written by two lawyers, Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton, at the Inns of Court (schools of law). Apart from following Senecan conventions and structure, the play is most important as the first English play to be in blank verse. Blank verse, non-rhyming lines in iambic pentameter, was introduced into English literature by sonneteers Wyatt and Surrey in the 1530’s. Its use in a work of dramatic literature paved the way for â€Å"Marlowe’s mighty line† and the exquisite poetry of Shakespeare’s dramatic verse. With a new ruler on the throne, Queen Elizabeth I, who enjoyed and encouraged the theatrical arts, the stage was set for the body of dramatic  literature we today call Elizabethan Drama. The Social and Political Climate In 1600, the city of London had a population of 245,000 people, twice the size of Paris or Amsterdam. Playwriting was the least personal form of writing, but clearly the most profitable for literary men since the demand was so great: 15,000 people attended the playhouses weekly. What is often exploited in the plays is the tension between a Court culture and a commercial culture, which in turn reflected the tension between the City government and the Crown. The period from 1576 (date of the first public theatre in London) to 1642 (date that the Puritans closed the theatres) is unparalleled in its output and quality of literature in English. The monarchy rested on two claims: that it was of divine origin and that it governed by consent of the people. The period was one of great transition. This period of history is generally regarded as the English Renaissance, which took place approximately 100 years later than on the continent. The period also coincides with the Reformation, and the two eras are of course mutually related. Imposed upon the Elizabethans was a social hierarchy of order and degree—very much medieval concepts that existed more in form than in substance. The society of Shakespeare’s time had in many ways broken free of these rigidities. It was not that people were rejecting the past; rather, a new more rigid order was replacing the old. This was set into motion during Henry VIII’s reign in the 1530s when he assumed more power than had hitherto been known to the monarchy. The Act of Supremacy of 1534 gave to Henry the power of the Church as well as temporal power. By Shakespeare’s time the state had asserted its right in attempting to gain authority in secular and spiritual matters alike. The so-called â€Å"Tudor myth† had sought to justify actions by the crown, and selections for the monarchy, as God-sanctioned: to thwart those decisions was to sin, because these people were selected by God. The population of the City quadrupled from Henry VIII’s reign to the end of Shakespeare’s life (1616), thus adding to the necessity for civil control and law. The dissolution of the monasteries had caused much civil unrest, and the dispossessed monks and nuns had been forced to enter the work force. Thus the employment, or unemployment, problem was severe. Puritanism, which first emerged early in Elizabeth’s reign, was a minority force of churchmen, Members of Parliament, and others who felt that the Anglican Reformation had stopped short of its goal. Puritans used the Bible as a guide to conduct, not simply to faith, but to political and social life, and since they could read it in their own language, it took on for them a greater importance than it had ever held. They stressed particularly the idea of remembering the Sabbath day. The conflict between the Puritans and the â€Å"players† of the theatre—who performed for the larger crowds that would turn out for productions on the Sabbath—was established early. The Elizabethan Worldview The English Renaissance began with the importation of Italian art and philosophy, Humanism, during the reign of Henry VIII. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, imported and translated classical writings, such as Virgil’s Aeneid, the first English work to use Blank Verse. Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt in their sonnets also imitated classical writers such as Petrarch, and are credited as â€Å"Fathers of the English Sonnet.† While the â€Å"Great Chain of Being† (an idea suggested from antiquity; all that exists is in a created order, from the lowest possible grade to perfection, God Himself) was still asserted, the opposite, the reality of disorder, was just as prevalent. Not surprisingly, a favorite metaphor in Shakespeare’s works is the world upside down, much as Hamlet presents. The analogical mode was the prevailing intellectual concept for the era, which was inherited from the Middle Ages: the analogical habit of mind, with its correspondences, hierarchies, and microcosmic-macrocosmic relationships,  survived from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Levels of existence, including human and cosmic, were habitually correlated, and correspondences and resemblances were perceived everywhere. Man was a mediator between himself and the universe. An â€Å"analogy of being† likened man to God; however, the Reformation sought to change this view, emphasizing man’s fallen nature and darkness of reason. The analogy can be seen in the London theatre, correlating the disparate planes of earth (the stage), hell (the cellarage), and heaven (the â€Å"heavens,† projecting above the top of the stage). Degree, priority, and place were afforded all elements, depending on their distance from perfection, God. Because he possessed both soul and body, man had a unique place in the chain—the extremes of human potential are everywhere evident in the drama of the English Renaissance. Natural degeneration, in contrast to our optimistic idea of progress, was everywhere in evidence too—the primitive Edenic â€Å"golden age† was irrecoverable, and the predicted end of the world was imminent. With changes in the ways that man looked at his universe, disturbing discoveries suggested mutability and corruption: the terrifying effect of new stars, comets, etc., added to a pessimism that anticipated signs of decay as apocalyptic portents of approaching universal dissolution. Hierarchically, the human soul was threefold: the highest, or rational soul, which man on earth possessed uniquely; the sensual, or appetitive soul, which man shared with lower animals; and the lowest, or vegetative (vegetable; nutritive) soul, concerned mainly with reproduction and growth. The soul was facilitated in its work by the body’s three main organs, liver, heart, and brain: the liver served the soul’s vegetal, the heart its vital, and the brain its animal faculties—motive, principal virtues, etc. Man himself was formed by a natural combination of the four elements: the dull elements of earth and water—both tending to fall to the center of the universe—and air and fire—both tending to rise. When the elements mixed they shaped man’s temperament. Each element possessed two of the four primary qualities which combined into a â€Å"humour† or human temperament: earth (cold and dry: melancholy), water (cold and moist: phlegmatic); air (hot and  moist: sanguine); fire (hot and dry: choleric). Like his soul and his humours, man’s body possessed cosmic affinities: the brain with the Moon; the liver with the planet Jupiter; the spleen with the planet Saturn. Assigned to each of the stars and the sphere of fixed stars was a hierarchy of incorporeal spirits, angels or daemons. On earth, the fallen angels and Satan, along with such occult forces as witches, continued to tempt man and lead him on to sin. Familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries were the Aristotelian four causes: the final cause, or purpose or end for which a change is made; the efficient cause, or that by which some change is made; the material cause, or that in which a change is made; and formal cause, or that into which something is changed. Renaissance concern with causation may be seen in Polonius’ laboring of the efficient â€Å"cause† of Hamlet’s madness, â€Å"For this effect defective comes by cause† (2.2.101-03). In the Aristotelian view, change involves a unity between potential matter and actualized form. Change is thus a process of becoming, affected by a cause which acts determinately towards a goal to produce a result. Implicit in the Elizabethan worldview was the Aristotelian idea of causation as encompassing potentiality and act, matter and mind. The London dramatist’s pre-Cartesian universe, indeed, tended to retain a sense of the purposefulness of natural objects and their place in the divine scheme. Towards the mid-seventeenth century a major cleft between the medieval-Renaissance world-view and the modern world view took place, effected by Renee Descartes (1596-1650). Cartesian dualism separated off mind from matter, and soul from body—not a new idea, but reformulated so that the theologians’ doctrines became the philosophers’; the problems of Predestination were suddenly the problems of Determinism. For Descartes, all nature was to be explained as either thought or extension; hence, the mind became a purely thinking substance, the body a soulless mechanical system. Descartes’ philosophy held that one can know only one’s  own clear and distinct ideas. Objects are important only insofar as man brings his own judgments to bear upon them. Cartesian skepticism and subjectivism led to the rejection of the previous centuries’ Aristotelian perspectives, as meaningless or obscure. According to Aristotle, to know the cause of things was to know their nature. For the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, objects influenced each other through mutual affinities and antipathies. Elizabethans accepted the correspondences of sympathies and antipathies in nature, including a homeopathic notion that â€Å"like cures like.† Well into the seventeenth century, alchemical, hermetical, astrological, and other pre-scientific beliefs continued to exert, even on the minds of distinguished scientists, a discernible influence. Concerned with the need to believe, in an age of incipient doubt, theatre audiences often witnessed in tragedies such struggles to sustain belief: Hamlet has a need to trust the Ghost; Lear has a wracked concern for heavenly powers; and Othello feels a desperate necessity to preserve his belief in Desdemona—†when I love thee not, / Chaos is come again† (3.3.92-3). For Othello and Lear, belief is sanity. Theologically, in the later sixteenth century, divine providence seemed increasingly to be questioned, or at least to be regarded as more bafflingly inscrutable. The medieval sense of security was in a process of transformation. Those changes coincided with such circumstances as the Renaissance revival of Epicureanism, which stressed the indifference of the powers above to man’s concerns. In its place was a special personal power, which was emphasized in the works of Machiavelli (1469-1527) and other Renaissance writers. Such changes in the relations of man and his deity inevitably provided a climate for tragedy, wherein both divine justice (as in King Lear) and meaningful action (as in Hamlet) seemed equally unattainable. Lear appears to question the forces above man’s life, and Hamlet the powers beyond his death. Hamlet’s task is further complicated, for example, by his meaningless  quest for action—from a Reformation standpoint—of works toward salvation. The path to salvation, of great concern to most Elizabethans, was not through works or merit but by inscrutable divine election. The post-Reformation man, alienated from the objective structure of the traditional Church, as well as from the release of the confessional, with a burdened and isolated conscience, turned his guilt inward. The Renaissance epistemological crisis emphasized the notion of the relativity of perception, present in the appearance-versus-reality motif recurrent through Renaissance drama. The Renaissance dramatists’ works mark a transition between absolute natural law bestowed by God, and relativistic natural law, recognized by man. The Playhouses The old Medieval stage of â€Å"place-and-scaffolds,† still in use in Scotland in the early sixteenth century, had fallen into disuse; the kind of temporary stage that was dominant in England about 1575 was the booth stage of the marketplace—a small rectangular stage mounted on trestles or barrels and â€Å"open† in the sense of being surrounded by spectators on three sides. The stage proper of the booth stage generally measured from 15 to 25 ft. in width and from 10 to 15 ft. in depth; its height above the ground averaged a bout 5 ft. 6 in., with extremes ranging as low as 4 ft. and as high as 8 ft.; and it was backed by a cloth-covered booth, usually open at the top, which served as a tiring-house (short for â€Å"attiring house,† where the actors dressed). In the England of 1575 there were two kinds of buildings, designed for functions other than the acting of plays, which were adapted by the players as temporary outdoor playhouses: the animal-baiting rings or â€Å"game houses† (e.g. Bear Garden) and the inns. Presumably, a booth stage was set up against a wall at one side of the yard, with the audience standing in the yard surrounding the stage on three sides. Out of these â€Å"natural† playhouses  grew two major classes of permanent Elizabethan playhouse, â€Å"public† and â€Å"private.† In general, the public playhouses were large outdoor theatres, whereas the private playhouses were smaller indoor theatres. The maximum capacity of a typical public playhouse (e.g., the Swan) was about 3,000 spectators; that of a typical private playhouse (e.g., the Second Blackfriars), about 700 spectators. At the public playhouses the majority of spectators were â€Å"groundlings† who stood in the dirt yard for a penny; the remainder were sitting in galleries and boxes for two pence or more. At the private playhouses all spectators were seated (in pit, galleries, and boxes) and paid sixpence or more. In the beginning, the private playhouses were used exclusively by Boys’ companies, but this distinction disappeared about 1609 when the King’s Men, in residence at the Globe in the summer, began using the Blackfriars in winter. Originally the private playhouses were found only within the City of London (the Paul’s Playhouse, the First and Second Blackfriars), the public playhouses only in the suburbs (the Theatre, the Curtain, the Rose, the Globe, the Fortune, the Red Bull); but this distinction disappeared about 1606 with the opening of the Whitefriars Playhouse to the west of Ludgate. Public-theatre audiences, though socially heterogeneous, were drawn mainly from the lower classes—a situation that has caused modern scholars to refer to the public-theatre audiences as â€Å"popular†; whereas private-theatre audiences tended to consist of gentlemen (those who were university educated) and nobility; â€Å"select† is the word most usually opposed to â€Å"popular† in this respect. James Burbage, father to the famous actor Richard Burbage of Shakespeare’s company, built the first permanent theatre in London, the Theatre, in 1576. He probably merely adapted the form of the baiting-house to theatrical needs. To do so he built a large round structure very much like a baiting-house but with five major innovations in the received form. First, he paved the ring with brick or stone, thus paving the pit into a  Ã¢â‚¬Å"yard.† Second, Burbage erected a stage in the yard—his model was the booth stage of the marketplace, larger than used before, with posts rather than trestles. Third, he erected a permanent tiring-house in place of the booth. Here his chief model was the passage screens of the Tudor domestic hall. They were modified to withstand the weather by the insertion of doors in the doorways. Presumably the tiring-house, as a permanent structure, was inset into the frame of the playhouse rather than, as in the older temporary situation of the booth stage, set up against the frame of a baiting-house. The gallery over the tiring-house (presumably divided into boxes) was capable of serving variously as a â€Å"Lord’s room† for privileged or high-paying spectators, as a music-room, and as a station for the occasional performance of action â€Å"above† as, for example, Juliet’s balcony. Fourth, Burbage built a â€Å"cover† over the rear part of the stage, called â€Å"the Heavens†, supported by posts rising from the yard and surmounted by a â€Å"hut.† And fifth, Burbage added a third gallery to the frame. The theory of origin and development suggested in the preceding accords with our chief pictorial source of information about the Elizabethan stage, the â€Å"De Witt† drawing of the interior of the Swan Playhouse (c. 1596). It seems likely that most of the round public playhouses—specifically, the Theatre (1576), the Swan (1595), the First Globe (1599), the Hope (1614), and the Second Globe (1614)—were of about the same size. The Second Blackfriars Playhouse of 1596 was designed by James Burbage, and he built his playhouse in the upper-story Parliament Chamber of the Upper Frater of the priory. The Parliament Chamber measured 100 ft. in length, but for the playhouse Burbage used only two-thirds of this length. The room in question, after the removal of partitions dividing it into apartments, measured 46 ft. in width and 66 ft. in length. The stage probably measured 29 ft. in width and 18 ft. 6 in. in depth. The Staging Conventions In the private theatres, act-intervals and music between acts were customary from the beginning. A music-room was at first lacking in the public playhouses, since public-theatre performances did not originally employ act-intervals and inter-act music. About 1609, however, after the King’s men had begun performing at the Blackfriars as well as at the Globe, the custom of inter-act music seems to have spread from the private to the public playhouses, and with it apparently came the custom of using one of the tiring-house boxes over the stage as a music-room. The drama was conventional, not realistic: poetry was the most obvious convention, others included asides, soliloquies, boys playing the roles of women, battles (with only a few participants), the daylight convention (many scenes are set at night, though the plays took place in mid-afternoon under the sky), a convention of time (the clock and calendar are used only at the dramatist’s discretion), the convention of â€Å"eavesdropping† (many characters overhear others, which the audience is privy to but the overheard characters are not), and movement from place to place as suggested by the script and the audience’s imagination. Exits were strong, and when everyone departed the stage, a change of scene was indicated. There was relatively little scenery. Scenery was mostly suggestive; for example, one or two trees standing in for a whole forest. The elaborate costumes—for which companies paid a great deal of money—supplied the color and pageantry. Minimal scenery and limited costume changes made the transitions between scenes lightning-fast and kept the story moving. There was often dancing before and after the play—at times, during, like the peasants’ dance in Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale. Jigs were often given at the end of performances, a custom preserved still today at Shakespeare’s Globe. The jigs at the theatre were not always mere dances, they were sometimes comprised of songs and bawdy knockabout farces filled with commentaries on current events. Perhaps the most famous jig was the one performed by Will Kemp, the clown in Shakespeare’s company, over a nine day period in 1599, on  the road from London to Norwich. It was published in 1600 as Kemps nine daies wonder. After 1600, the bawdy jigs fell into derision and contempt and were only performed at theatres such as the Red Bull, which catered to an audience appreciative of the lowest humor and most violent action. The clowns were the great headliners of the Elizabethan stage prior to the rise of the famed tragedians of the late 1580s, such as Edward (Ned) Alleyn and Richard Burbage. Every company had a top clown along with the tragedianæ ¡ ½hakespeareæŠ ¯ company was no exception: Richard Tarleton was the clown until his death in 1588, Will Kemp was the clown until forced out of the company in 1599, to be replaced by another famous clown, Robin Armin. The clowns not only performed the aforementioned jigs, but also played many of the great comic characters; Kemp most likely played Peter in Romeo and Juliet and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Armin the parts of Feste in Twelfth Night and the Fool in King Lear. From contemporary documents, we know there were over a thousand actors in England between 1580-1642*. Most were poor, â€Å"starving actors†, but a few dozen were able to make names for themselves and become shareholders in their respective companies, and make a good living. The repertory system was demanding esides playing six days a week, a company would be in continual rehearsal in order to add new plays and to refresh old ones in their schedule. A player would probably learn a new role every week, with thirty to forty roles in his head. No minor feat, especially considering that an actor would only get his lines and cues (in a rolled up parchment, his â€Å"roll†, from which we get the word â€Å"role†), not a whole script! Over a period of three years, a tragedian such as Edward Alleyn, lead player for the Admiral’s Men, would learn not only fifty new parts but also retain twenty or more old roles.