An Unlikely Murderer Essays - American Folklore, Axe Murder

An Unlikely Murderer Essays - American Folklore, Axe Murder An Unlikely Murderer One would think that crimes with such a gruesome nature would be committed by a hatchet-wielding maniac as put by Russell Aiuto (1). But rather, the suspect was that of a church-going, Sunday-school-teaching, respectable, spinster-daughter(Aiuto 1). The young woman, Lizzie Borden, was charged with the killing of her father and stepmother, a crime worthy of Classical Greek tragedy (Aiuto 1). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to research the life and trial of Lizzie Borden in order to determine if she was innocent or guilty of parricide, the murder of ones parents. It was on the 19th of July, 1860, that in Fall River, Massachusetts Lizzie Borden was born (Radin 268). She grew up there alongside her father, Andrew Borden. He was a very prosperous man, starting out as the towns undertaker and ending up investing his profits into the textile industry. When Lizzie made it in to her teens, Mr. Borden was worth $500,000 (Paton 432). Being as prosperous as he was, he only had to places to spend his money: his two daughters, Lizzie and her older sister Emma (Paton 432). Andrew Borden also had a wife, Abby Borden. She was the stepmother of Lizzie and Emma and a hated one at that. Whenever Lizzie and Abby were together in the house, which happened a lot, the atmosphere was electric (Paton 433). Abby was called Mrs. Borden, and Lizzie did not eat when Abby was around. Their relationship was so distant, that Lizzie only spoke to her when it was needed (Paton 433). Lizzie first despised Abby when Andrew decided to purchase Abbys sisters home and have it in his wifes name. This prevented his sister-in-law from getting evicted, but Lizzie saw it as a chance for Abby to take advantage of Andrews money (Paton 433). What most people do not know, is that Lizzie had somewhat of a criminal record before she was charged with the murder. The first was committed in her own home. She had reported to her father that some of Abbys stuff had been stolen by a thief. Andrew called the police but stopped them in the middle of their investigation because he noticed that the only person that could have committed the crime was Lizzier herself (Paton 433). Perhaps the only reason Lizzie may have had any hate for her father was when he laid her pigeons to rest. Intruders had broken into the garden of the Bordens, where Lizzies pigeons were held. Mr. Borden assumed that the intruders were after the birds and therefore, decapitated the birds with and ax (Paton 434). Could this be a sign? 1892 was a year of record breaking heat. It seemed to have been 12 months of total summer (Paton 434). That summer, Lizzie bought small doses in several visits of prussic acid, a lethal drug. The drugstore owners started to notice, which caused her to make her visits more discreet (Paton 434). The day of August 4th was a day that would make history. It started out normal. Emma was not in town, and there was a guest staying in the house, Uncle John Morse. Bridget Sullivan, the maid, was up with Uncle John as she did her daily chores. She stopped short, however, because of a sickness she had had recently (Paton 435). Then, with John gone into town and Bridget cleaning the windows, the murders happened. At 9:00 AM, Abby Borden was killed. With nothing more worse happening, Andrew Borden was then killed two and a half hours later, at 11:30 AM (Sams 1). There were 20 wounds from a sharp instrument on Abby and only 10 on Andrew (Paton 432). Lizzie supposedly saw only her father dead. She ran to the neighbours and cried that her father had been killed. She said her mother had gotten a note, asking her to go aid an ill person. So obviously, Lizzie did not know that Abby was in the house dead. The police got there, and they found Abbys corpse in a bedroom. Then for some odd reason, Lizzie remembered that she may have heard her come back in to the house earlier (Paton 436). Lizzies alibi was rather odd. She said she had went out in to the outbuilding

Antarctic sea ice melt and its implications Essay

Antarctic sea ice melt and its implications - Essay Example mosphere and polar oceans; and changes the force of ocean buoyancy by redistributing fresh water through transportation and subsequent melting of comparatively fresh sea ice. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this essay is to investigate Antarctica sea ice melt, examine the ocean-atmosphere interaction, and evaluate the environmental and societal impact of rising sea levels and other impacts of the sea ice melt. Globally, there is a decline of snow and ice over the past several years, particularly since 1980, with an increasing downturn during the last decade. In the South Pole, the east and west Antarctic Ice Sheets are â€Å"two unequal parts, with different histories and characteristics† (Mercer 1978: 323), Figure 1 below. Unlike the vast, older and mostly land-based ice sheet in East Antarctica, the Western Antarctic ice sheet is younger, much smaller and marine-based, anchored to a distance of 2,500 meters below sea level. Further, West Antarctica is not a single continent, but is a series of islands covered by ice, touching the ocean floor, and not based on land (NASA 2010). Two-thirds of the continent is East Antarctica, a high, frozen desert. If all the ice melted, it would increase the global sea level by about 60 meters or 197 feet. The results from a recent National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/ German Aerospace Center’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) study, indicate that since 2006 there has been greater ice loss from interior East Antarctica than earlier believed (Chen et al 2009). In the Southern Ocean, sea ice forms a fringe around the entire Antarctic continent (Figure 2. below) which is surrounded by the waters of different seas. The Antarctica is subdivided into 5 sectors by researchers, each impacted by diverse geography and weather conditions. This results in greater yearly variations in Antarctic sea ice, as compared to Arctic sea ice (Nasa.Gov 2010). â€Å"Across the Antarctic Peninsula lies one of the

Building of the Holocaust Memorial Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Building of the Holocaust Memorial - Movie Review Example ions of the gay and lesbian population, and not including these people in this Holocaust memorial could make it seem like they are less valued by the German people, like their murders were less of a travesty than the murders of Jews. On the other hand, many point out that the main targets of the Holocaust were Jews, and the main ideology and iconography of the Nazi party were anti-Jewish, and it is thus important to single out the attacks on Jews against the attacks on everyone else, and perhaps give other people who were victims of the Holocaust their own memorials to honour their deaths. One of the most interesting sections of this video is the opinions of the original architect and designer of the memorial on what has been done around it. One of the biggest disappointments for the designer was the fact that other people chose to put an underground informational center (the Ort) as part of the installation. He was against this decision, and it is interesting to see how even the lead designer of a project like this does not necessarily have complete control over their project. â€Å"Building the Holocaust Memorial† is an interesting take on the construction of an important site in Germany. It shows that even a simple act of goodwill, like building a memorial to the victims of one of the most atrocious assaults on humanity in history can be fraught with political and ethical difficulties, and that nothing is as simple as it seems on the

Cambridge City A Great Place To Visit Tourism Essay

Cambridge City A Great Place To Visit Tourism Essay As we used questionnaire in our research, and we asked different questions from 39 visitors in Cambridge city centre for observing their opinions. Pie charts are used to display results in visual form. All information gathered from visitors, converted in to pie charts and displayed above. Pie charts are showing opinions obtained from real visitors with the help of questionnaire. Very first question was about their general information. General information included nationality, age and occupation. Nationality asked from visitors. Among the 39 visitors, our sample, 44 percent were female and 56 percent were male. Age of 41 percent were in between 18 to 30 years and 26 percent were in between 31 to 40 years. 12 percent were in between 41 to 40 and remaining were above 41. Question about occupation, 36 percent visitors said that they are currently unemployed and 31 percent visitors were students. 10 percent were businessmen and outside the Cambridge and 21 percent are doing job anywhere. 13 visitors out of total 39 said that they are visiting very first time Cambridge and 9 visitors sad they have second trip. 6 visitors said they have third trip and 11 visitors are enjoying their fourth or more trip. In the question in which type were asked, 33 percent were enjoying their independent trip and just 18 percent said they were with their friends and family. Large portion of visitors, 31 percent, were on their educational trip, trip to Cambridge University, ant 13 percent visitors were on business trip. How long they stay here? 13 percent said just for half day and 26 percent said for full day. 38 percent were living more than 2 days in Cambridge and 8 percent answered, not yet decided. In the question, what they do in Cambridge, 8 percent said enjoying boat tour and 18 percent said they are enjoying weather by walk. 36 percent said they are here for train trip and 31 percent said on road. 2 percent use to spend time by horse carriage trip. What services they used in Cambridge? All visitors vote for sightseeing tour with 5 percent, local transportation with 20 percent, food and beverages with 31 percent, accommodation with 9 percent and 24 percent they consumed other facilities and services. Unique question, did they enjoy Cambridge? 92 percent, definitely, said yes. 8 percent respond with No, due to some reasons. Quality of services used, good response seen in Cambridges favour. 0 percent vote for low quality, 8 percent vote for fair and 39 percent visitors said quality of services was good in Cambridge. 20 percent said quality of service was very good and 8 percent vote for excellent. 25 percent give no answer to this question. In the last, simple question were asked and that is will they visit Cambridge again? 58 percent, more than half of total visitors said yes of course they will surely visit. 28 percent said it depends on future conditions, they are not sure yet and 21 percent said you way, they are now finding new better place for tour. With the help of questionnaire and other methods used in our research, Tourists motivation and experience towards Cambridge, different opinion collected from real visitors. Results showed that most of visitors are male, under 40 years age, students, employed and businessmen, and visiting Cambridge for more than 2 time and willing to revisit it again. Reasons behind these answers are somehow related to culture and nature of Cambridge. Cambridgeshire is famous for University initially and then city of technology. Students like to visit the university and more than 25,000 students are resident of Cambridge. University of Cambridge is included in worlds top five universities. Thats why major portion of visitors is consist of students in different area. Cambridge city is also famous for technology. Software and bioscience are core industries operated in Cambridge and thats the reason of business trips. All technology related organizations have offices and research centres in Cambridge. Meetings and convocations are being held in this city. Other reasons behind these results are games being held in Cambridge city. Cambridge city is famous for cricket, football, rugby, water sports and varsity sports. Varsity sports are sports play under Cambridge University against different universities and have lots of attractiveness for the visitors inside and outside the Cambridge city. Strawberry flavour music and art festival are also reason behind motivations for the visitors coming in Cambridge. Questions about services used in Cambridge and quality of used services indicate that visitors like the way they enjoy in Cambridge and they liked food, transportation system and accommodations in Cambridge and they selected these services and facilities as a good quality services. This is also reason behind the motivation of being visited Cambridge again and again and some visitors visited Cambridge for more than 4 times due to facilities provided here. Cambridge skyline, Quayside, Silver Street, Kings Parade and Trinity Street, places famous for trips in Cambridge and different festivals and events are also reasons behind the tours and trips in Cambridge. Conclusion From the questionnaire, what we collect from the real visitors and tourists is data of our research and. Conclusion can be easily drawn through or finding as reasons are simple and logical behind the motivation for tourism in Cambridge. Visitors are most likely, students, businessmen, sports lovers, independents, willing to stay here for longer period because of verity of services provide and quality of services used. Primarily there are some reasons visitors used for motivation to visit Cambridge. Results shown that visitors from different area have same characteristics and main factor forcing behind motivation is age and occupation of sample visitors. Under 40 years are in large quantity visiting Cambridge and by occupation, students and businessmen are large art of tourist. People who are free also visit more Cambridge. University of Cambridge and industry of technology is main source of motivation for tourists. City of sports, festivals and events are also motivation for visitors and people who like picnic and visiting different places used these motivations for Cambridge. Question asked from sample visitors, did they like trip in Cambridge, showed the density of likeness Cambridge and question, will they visit again, showed the attractiveness of tourists toward the Cambridge. Overall, research helped to indicate the source of motivations behind the visit to Cambridge. One finding is, friends and family tours are more preferable from the tourist because of nature and culture of Cambridge city. Results indicate that tourists are more willing to use this place again for their trips and visits. Due to technological city, business world compellingly need to have visit this place. Recommendations Cambridge city is a great place to visit for family tours, educational tours, sports and music lover. Cambridge is not place where you can find some historical places ad old thing. Cambridge is full of urban tourism and based on new beauty. As Cambridge city is famous for education and technology, government must take more steps to increase efficiency in these areas because people point of view about Cambridge is good and green. Events and festivals are another sources of motivation for tourists. Local authority should promote events in worldwide in order to increase the strength of visitors. Varsity sports can be used as another main source of motivation for tourists because varsity sports are included large numbers of games and there is need to launch them as a regional festival. From the evaluation of peoples opinion, most of them said that beside the spots, technology and educational motivation, there is also need to motivate children for tourism. Creating attractiveness for children and young generation can be great source of tourism. Improvement in facilities and supporting services can also help to increase the attractiveness of visitors. There is need to plan for vocations in order to grape more visitors time and money. With beginning of 20th century, economy was rapidly growing so managing Cambridge is quite easy in betterment of tourism. Use of different ideas in tourism plan, can influence in future. Entertainment companies can be used for attracting tourists.

Phony and Nice Worlds in Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut :: Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut Essays

Phony and Nice Worlds in Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut Salinger expresses his view of the world through his use of "phony" and "nice" worlds. Salinger uses the "phony" and "nice" worlds to express his pessimistic view of the world. Although "phony" and "nice" worlds exist in many of Salinger's stories, "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut" is perhaps the best story to illustrate the difference between "phony" and "nice" worlds. "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut" is one of the few stories which offers views of both "phony" and "nice" worlds in relatively few pages. The action of "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut" takes place in the living room of the protagonist, Eloise. Eloise is reminiscing about her past with her friend Mary Jane. "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut" is divided into three scenes. In the first scene, we see Eloise as she is; in the second, we learn what she has been in the past; in the third, we witness her sudden recognition of what has happened to her. The contrasting worlds are epitomized in the title of the story. Uncle Wiggly is a reference to children's stories about a whimsical rabbit. Connecticut is the chosen gathering place of the phony Madison Avenue exurbanites (French 22). The protagonist of "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut", Eloise, has experienced both the "phony" and the "nice" worlds. The "phony" world is the world into which we have the best view because Eloise is essentially living in a "phony" world. Eloise is stranded in a loveless marriage and uses alcohol to drink away her sorrows. Eloise's husband, Lew, is one of the Madison Avenue exurbanites and is a stark contrast to Eloise's first husband. Eloise is very critical of Lew and everything that he does. The phoniness of Connecticut has transformed Eloise from the nice woman she was to the cruel, pessimistic woman she is now. Eloise realizes how far she has fallen near the end of the story. Eloise has scolded her daughter and chastised the maid when she reaches her epiphany. Eloise asks her friend "I was a nice girl, wasn't I" (Nine Stories 38). The "nice" world is now only a distant memory to Eloise. Eloise reflects happily about her time with her first husband, Walt. Walt was a GI, one of the Glass twins, and far from the egotistical Madison Avenue businessman (French 22). Eloise remarks that Walt was the only man who could make her laugh.

1949 and the early 1960s in Communist China: Women; Landlords and Businessmen; Peasants Essay

How far did life improve for the following groups between 1949 and the early 1960s in Communist China: Women; Landlords and Businessmen; Peasants. The years of 1949-1960 in China were indeed ‘Years of Great Change’. Who could have predicted a civil war, a Communist takeover, a complete turnaround in the land ownership system (and the economy in general) and the launch (and failure) of a near-Industrial Revolution? Mao and co heralded a headfirst launch into the twentieth century for China’s governmental system, that’s for sure. But amid all the â€Å"reforms†, how much did life actually improve for the Chinese population? This essay aims to examine what reforms were made, and how they affected the peasants, women, landlords and businessmen of China. Before China’s Communist â€Å"liberation†, it had been ruled by Chiang Kaishek and the Guomindang. Their Nationalist regime had favoured the businessmen and landlords of China. Chiang Kaishek ruled as a dictator and had his army of â€Å"blueshirts† to enforce order, just like Hitler and Mussolini. By the late 1940s, however, his rule was starting to become unstable, with massive inflation causing poverty for many people in the cities. He realised that his regime was doomed, and retreated to the island of Taiwan, leaving the Communists to rule China. Nearly everyone, even the landlords and businessmen, would have been happy about any kind of takeover at the time, as everyone’s future looked bleak under the collapsing Guomindang government. The Communists came as a breath of fresh air. But were they? The Communists were not exactly verbose in their Common Programme when they said â€Å"Women shall enjoy equal rights with men†. Likewise, Mao wasn’t when he said â€Å"Women hold up half the sky†. Yet that was the Communist attitude towards women: equal to men, no more, no less, and it was a refreshing one at the time. The traditional attitude to women was that they were strictly possessions of their husbands. Consider that women had been oppressed virtually since the start of Chinese society: it was traditional to practice such things as foot-binding and child prostitution. Under the Communists, the 1951 Marriage Law abolished both of these barbarities, as well as arranged marriages, child marriages and bigamy. Two of the most significant events equality-wise were the property and divorce law changes: husbands and wives now jointly owned property and either one could divorce the other (before only men could divorce women). Nearly all women would have been pleased about this, and the Party now had a whole gender, so to speak, on its side. However, there were downsides. For the older generation, who were fierce traditionalists, this would have been shocking and disruptive, and since they had not much time left to enjoy the newfound freedoms brought by Communism, they might be opposed to these changes. The only women not affected at all by these reforms were those living in the remote parts of China. These places refused to break with tradition, even under pressure from the Communists. Also, the Marriage Law and social reforms meant that women were now treated exactly the same as men; i.e. they were expected to work just as hard regardless of their state of fitness. A lot of the Maoist policies towards women were fuelled by the wish to turn the currently unworking half of the nation into a productive force; for example, the crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ches organised for children were designed not really for the benefit of the women as such, but to get them out working in the fields again. Not to be unfair to them though, some policies were selfless: the law to give mothers maternity leave with full wages for two months does seem to be fully aimed towards helping women. In general, I believe that life for women definitely improved under the Communists. There was still quite a way to go, but Communist policy in this area was in many ways quite prescient. Landlords and businessmen probably came off the worst under the Communists. Under the Common Programme, they were defined as being â€Å"capitalists† and â€Å"reactionaries†. The same document stated that they would be â€Å"deprived of their political rights†, so their harsh treatment did not come entirely as a surprise. Under the Agrarian Reform Law, landlords lost an average of 93% of the land they had own. They were also subject to abuse, heavy fines and sometimes, in cases where they had been particularly cruel to their tenants, execution, at â€Å"speak bitterness† meetings. Around three million landlords were killed during these meetings. Businessmen had it nearly as bad. If you had business with the Guomindang or had ripped off the peasantry, you could be sure of at least re-education, if not complete deprivation of any form of rights (in society; no-one in Communist China really had any â€Å"political rights†). Even if you hadn’t committed any â€Å"offences†, you would face fines. Life wasn’t good if you were either a landlord or a businessman in China. It was probably worse if you were a landlord; businessmen at least weren’t executed. At least, not very often; the Communists had something nasty against anyone who had dealings with their old enemy, the Guomindang. Considering that most of Mao’s Communist policies were targeted towards peasants, they are the most important part of this essay. Under Mao, there were three types of peasants, â€Å"rich†, â€Å"middle† and â€Å"poor† peasants. Rich peasants meant those who could afford to hire other peasants to work for them. Middle peasants were those who could afford some basic equipment, while poor peasants formed the vast majority of China’s agricultural system, and were employed by landlords who paid them a pittance to work the land. Mao was very ambitious when it came to China’s work system. First he turned the land-ownership system around full circle. Then he launched the country into the industrial era of the twentieth century. He had to start somewhere, however, and that place was the Common Programme, where it was stated that â€Å"[the party] must systematically transform†¦the land ownership system into a system of peasant land ownership†¦It must steadily transform the country from an agricultural into an industrial one†. This was some goal, considering that the years of warring between the Communists and the Guomindang had lain waste to farms and peasants, causing the agricultural output to drop radically. And through all this there was massive population growths, so there were more mouths to feed with less crops. Mao and his ragtag band of Communist officials had the peasants’ support, though. Many peasants supported the Communists already; after all, they were the original worker’s party, and they had been very popular in the liberation areas, respecting the locals and trying out some reforms with regard to land and women with great success. The first step he took towards his agricultural revolution was by profiling all the peasants and teaching them how to sort themselves into the classes mentioned above. Land was then redistributed between the peasants evenly. This table illustrates how the land reform system changed: % houses % crop area owned Before After Landlords 2.6 28.7 2.1 Rich peasants 3.6 17.6 6.3 Middle peasants 35.8 30.2 44.8 Poor peasants and others 58.0 23.5 46.8 The Agrarian Reform Law turned the land ownership system on its head. Rich peasants lost land, poor peasants gained the rich peasants’ lost land and middle peasants stayed roughly the same (the increase is due to the heavy imbalance between landlords and poor peasants; there was almost too much land to go round after the landlords had been stripped of their land). The peasants had troubles, however: they found that they hadn’t enough money or equipment to cultivate the land. Mao suggested that peasants therefore organise themselves into Mutual Aid Teams, groups of peasants who would share each other’s land and equipment. So far, Mao’s plan was going extremely well; he was popular with the peasantry, having given them the land that had been their dream, and allowed them a chance to get back at their landlords (the â€Å"speak bitterness† meetings were known for becoming quite bloody). The Communist government, however, refused to leave its land reform manifesto at this stage. The Five-Year Plan to revolutionise China’s economy was underfoot, and mutual aid teams were not efficient enough to hit the high economic targets that Mao had set for China. So the co-operatives were introduced: first lower and then higher stage. The lower-stage co-operatives were simply an extension of the mutual aid teams idea, only with many families (around forty) pooling their resources. Only when the higher-stage co-operatives went into action was what Mao probably would have called true Communism in action achieved: two to three hundred families, all having surrendered land, animals and equipment to the co-operative and being paid nothing except for what they earned in the fields for it. The immense pressure and control on Chinese society (wall-posters, censorship and propaganda everywhere) was borne out by the fact that by 1956 ninety-five percent of Chinese peasants had joined higher-stage co-operatives, an idea that must have looked unattractive even then. As you can see, even for peasants Communism was not without big downsides. Perhaps one of the biggest was the onslaught of conformity and control inherent in the whole Maoist idea. â€Å"Propagandists† ensured a constant stream of pro-Communist posters. The media broadcast tutorials on how to defeat American imperialist pigs. Anyone who might be anti-Communist was either forced to leave the country or sent to a camp to be â€Å"re-educated†. And what happened when the censorship was relaxed? Mao decided to let the people say what they wanted about the Communists for a while. From 1956 people said exactly what they pleased, and many of them were rather vocal in their criticisms of the regime. In June 1957 Mao suddenly stopped the period of free discussion, known as the Hundred Flowers period, and clamped down on the more vocal opposition to his regime. Chinese society was back to its closely-controlled state, and if anything, the censorship was even harsher than before. â€Å"Perhaps†¦because of the steely control, China was more stable in 1956 than at any time this century. Foreign occupation, civil war, widespread death from starvation†¦inflation –all seemed to be things of the past. Stability, the dream of the Chinese, sustained the faith of people.† Perhaps the Chinese forgave all of the Communists’ flaws just for a little stability. They abided by their standards and conformed purely to stop any of these other tragedies occuring, and the Communists realised this, and even called meetings to remember how bad things were under the Guomindang. Overall, peasants would have been initially pleased but quite dubious in the long term about the benefits of Communism. They would have enjoyed the land – for the short period that it was available to them. By the end of the first period of land reform, the Communists would be losing their popularity. Mao liked the peasants to seem selfless, and working towards a common good, and depending on how brainwashed they truly were, this might have been the case to an extent. But I am sure that peasants secretly longed to have back the privately owned land it felt like they’d fought for. Some of them would also be unhappy about the repression and censorship, but this would have been even harder for most to see because of the controlled media’s constant presence. In 1958 a â€Å"Great Leap Forward† was announced: a plan to make China into a competent world power, both industrially and agriculturally. It was similar to the first Five-Year Plan in that it relied heavily on the organisation of society into steadily larger parts. These parts were called â€Å"communes†, and were created as groups of villages containing about 5000 families who gave up land, animals and equipment to common usage and ownership by the members of the commune. This was the ultimate unit of control in Chinese society: it was something that was everywhere you went, you ate there, you worked there, you slept there, and anything you felt was also felt by your whole commune. Or so Mao hoped. Posters, speeches, newspaper articles and all the other standard propaganda mechanisms were much more effective there because there really was no escape. The communes were a great success, producing things in record time, and the workers were well motivated. The Communist brainwashing was so total that people were working harder and were motivated because of the propaganda and censorship. However, only a year later, the honeymoon period was over, the Great Leap Forward was having serious marital issues, and the only marriage counsellor was too busy telling his workers to work harder. In short, Mao pushed too hard. Equipment fell apart. Workers fell asleep at their tasks. To add to this, lack of field workers, bad weather two years running and government lies caused a horrific famine, killing over twenty million people. Mao Zedong really should have been forced to resign after this; indeed, if Chinese society had not been so utterly brainwashed I believe he would have. Instead, he was forced to step down slightly, but was still a very prominent figure. And, crucially yet unbelievably, he retained the public’s support after all his crimes against them. The peasants were still with him. But I do not believe life got better for peasants under the Communists during the period I have described. An improved living standard cannot justify the removal of identity from an entire nation and a famine killing millions. I do not believe that the Communists did a lot of good for the vast majority of China. The only segment of Chinese society whose lives improved markedly were women, and when evaluating the importance of the reforms to end sexism, you have to take into account that most women were also peasants. So, whilst they were freed from being killed at birth and so on, they were also left to die later on in the famine, or through overwork, since women now had to work just as hard as men. The lives of landlords and businessmen could hardly be expected to get better under the Communists. However, perhaps they were unnecessarily cruel; execution hardly seems necessary. But Mao’s regime’s performance regarding peasants is unforgivable. A peasant-focused regime making thing worse for peasants is unforgivable, and life indeniably was worse for peasants by 1961.

The High Scope Curriculum For The Children Who Become A...

Throughout the last 60 years or so, the High Scope curriculum has been proven to be successful through research studies and everyday successes for the children who become a part of the program. This curriculum incorporates developmentally appropriate activities, curriculum content, approaches, and environment to support a child focused atmosphere and active learning. Because of the daily routine, active participation, and learning centers; the child gains a sense of self direction and independence as they become comfortable with the routine and get the chance to make their own choices and find out their interests. Using key development indicators the teachers are able to make assessments about the child and figure out where they are†¦show more content†¦Weikart and his colleagues created the high scope model and began the High Scope Perry Preschool as a local district project. According to Dr. Lawrence Schweinhart who joined the evaluation team in 1975, â€Å"The purpose of the study was to evaluate the High Scope model, in which teachers help children plan, carry out, and review their own educational activities.† (Schweinhart, 2002) According to our text book, Early Childhood Education Today by George S. Morrison, the High Scope method is made up of five key elements and three basic goals that make up a curriculum aimed at the children’s different stages of development including intellectual and social skills along with encouraging constructive processes of learning. The first three principles include active participation, daily planning by teaching staff, and setting developmental goals for the children. In active participation, the children are encouraged to choose their activities and are observed by the teacher who acts as a guide. Regular daily planning requires a developmentally based curriculum with observation of the children, which are done by the teaching staff. High Scope uses â€Å"key developmental indicators† meaning that the activities support developmentally vital skills and abilities, so the teachers set developmentally sequenced goals based on those indicators. These key developmental indicators, or KDIs, make up