The House On Mango Street :: essays research papers

The House on Mango Street is a collection of mini stories wrapped around a Latin-girl’s view of her neighborhood and neighbors. Esperanza hates her name, it’s hope in English but has too many letters in Spanish. She is named after her free-spirited Grandmother, and lives with her parents and two brothers and one sister. Esperanza has moved every year to a new rental. Her parents always talk of owning their own home, and what it would be like. They finally move to Mango Street and don’t have to bother with landlords banging on the ceiling or floor, and they don’t have to share space. It definitely isn’t the home of their dreams, but even when Esperanza leaves this street, she will always remember the roots it gave her. The main character in this book is Esperanza, who is also the narrator. Esperanza has a way of finding everyone’s little idiosyncrasies that make us unique individuals. Boys and girls live in separate worlds, so Nettie, her sister is her responsibility and tags along everywhere. Lucy and Rachel are sisters that are her friends; they play games and watch the coming and goings of Mango Street. Louie, who lives in an apartment down the street, has a cousin, Marin, visiting from Puerto Rico. Marin tells the girls things about make-up and boys. One of Louie’s cousins visits with a beautiful yellow convertible and takes Marin and the girls for a ride. The white leather upholstery is like a beautiful sofa. They ride around the neighborhood. The girls are really impressed, and then he stops suddenly and tells them to get out quick. He speeds away and they hear sirens. He crashes and the beautiful car looks like an accordion. He is handcuffed and taken to jail. The girls wave and thank him. Esperanza is vaguely aware of what is going on, she is telling the story as a little girl with no concept of the significance of what is happening. Some of these stories told are from the innocence of youth, but the harsh reality makes some of the stories about the people sad and unfortunately true.

Shakespeares Sonnet 19 :: essays research papers

Shakespeare's Sonnet 19 In his Sonnet 19, Shakespeare presents the timeless theme of Time's mutability. As the lover apostrophizes Time, one might expect him to address "old Time" as inconstant, for such an epithet implies time's changeability. But inconstant also suggests capricious, and the lover finds time more grave than whimsical in its alterations. With the epithet "devouring" he addresses a greedy, ravenous hunger, a Time that is wastefully destructive. Conceding to Time its wrongs, the lover at first appears to encourage Time to satisfy its insatiable appetite. Indeed, he familiarly addresses Time as "thou" as he commands it harshely to "blunt, n "make the earth devour, n "pLuck," and "burn." Not onLy are the verbs "blunt,n npluck," and "burn" linked by assonance, but also by their plosive initial consonants, so that the Lover's orders sound off Time's destructiveness as well. Each line offers a different image of Time at work: on the lion, the earth, the tiger, the phoenix-bird. Time is indiscriminate in its devouring. In the second quatrain, the lover grants to Time its own will: "And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time," acknowLedging priorly that in its fleet passage Time does "Make glad and sorry seasons. n For the first time one sees Time in other than a destructive capacity--in its cycLical change of seasons, some Time does "make glad" with blooming sweets. So the lover changes his epithet from devouring to swift-footed, certainly more neutral in tone. For now the lover makes his most assertive command: "But I forbid thee one most heinous crime. n The final quatrain finds the lover ordering Time to stay its antic "antique pen" from aging or marring his love. It is a heinous crime to carve and draw lines on youth and beauty. ere the Lover no Longer speaks with forceful pLosives; his speech, for all the appearance of imperative command, sounds more

Institutional Racism in the United States :: Sociology Racism Prejudice Essays

The history of the United States is one of duality.   In the words of the Declaration of Independence, our nation was founded on the principles of equality in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet, long before the founders of the newly declared state met in Philadelphia to espouse the virtues of self-determination and freedom that would dubiously provide a basis for a secessionary war, those same virtues were trampled upon and swept away with little regard.   Beneath the shining beacon of freedom that signaled the formation of the United States of America was a shadow of deception and duplicity that was essential in creating the state. The HSS 280 class lexicon defines duality as â€Å"a social system that results from a worldview which accepts inherent contradictions as reasonable because this is to the believer's benefit.† The early years of what would become the United States was characterized by a system of duality that subjugated and exterminated peoples for the benefit of the oppressors. This pattern of duality, interwoven into our culture, has created an dangerously racialized society.   From the first moment a colonist landed on these shores, truths that were â€Å"self-evident† were contingent on subjective â€Å"interpretation.†Ã‚   This discretionary application of rights and freedoms is the foundation upon which our racially stratified system operates on.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   English colonists, Africans, and Native Americans comprised the early clash of three peoples. Essentially economic interests, and namely capitalism, provided the impetus for the relationships that developed between the English colonists, the Africans, and the Native Americans. The colonialization of North American by the British was essentially an economic crusade.   The emergence of capitalism and the rise of trade throughout the 16th century provided the British with a blueprint to expand its economic and political sphere.   The Americas provided the British with extensive natural resources, resources that the agrarian-unfriendly British isles could not supply for its growing empire.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When Britons arrived in North America, the indigenous population posed an economic dilemma to the colonists.   The Native Americans were settled on the land that the British colonists needed to expand their economic capacity.   To provide a justificatory framework for the expulsion of Native Americans off their land, the English colonists created a ideology that suited their current needs.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The attitude of Anglos toward the Native Americans began as one of ambivalence and reliance.   When the English first arrived in North America, they needed the Indians to survive the unfamiliar land and harsh weather.   Once the English became acclimated to their surroundings and realized that the Indians were living on valuable land, it was only a matter of time before guns and

The Portryal of Women

This also includes any female emotions they might encounter such as pain, sorrow and frustration leading them to surrender. In Exile of the Son's of Gillis, Dermis's destiny was already determined while she was in the womb. She was raised apart from everyone else and isolated from the world. After she was born all of her power was taken in the hands of society. She was fully under the control of Connector, as he announced â€Å"This Woman I'll keep to myself'(131). As only being seen as an object the types of men she was Introduced to would never eve her, but would take control of her and battle for her ownership.The full year she was taken under Schooner's control she never gave one smile, she had no strength to eat or sleep, or even Lift her head from her knees. At this time, Dredger was taken full advantage of the most by being degraded and raped repetitively by Connector and Eagan. Despite the men that Derider has been through, no one captured her feelings as much as Noises. Thi s is where Derider had taken it upon herself to have Noises convince Connector allow them to escape together.Since Cinchonas made no exceptions, Derider urged Noises to return home where she would remain unprotected. In order for this physical and mental pain she was experiencing to stop, she was left nothing more but to kill herself. One of her last words spoken was, â€Å"Break my heart no more today, In a short while I'll be no more, Grief is heavier than the sea, If you were but wise, Connector†(136). Due to not having any control In this situation she rebelled against them proving her ultimate power over her body, mind and spilt.When Dredger committed seclude, she knew that by taking her own life she would never be dominated by Connector and Eagan, the two men she hated the most. Similar themes are encountered in The Wife's Lament. The main character is also feeling the same emotions as Derider in the Exile of the Sons of Gillis. In the beginning, this poem it describes the wife's resentment she has towards her husband who left her feeling empty and alone in the world. This can be compared to Derider were both of these women do not know how to react to their different tuitions or able to move on from it.Also, they both are longing for a love that they will never have. Since her life was revolved around the well being of her Lord, once he is gone she feels helpless in this unfamiliar and hostile world. Her misery Is expressed when she recites, â€Å"There I weep my exile, the many burdens. Therefore I can never set my cares at rest, nor still all this life's longing, which Is my lot†(1 14). This quote overlooks all her sorrows being left In the dark and deserted, that she will never overcome her suffering pain of separation.She was left with no control under ten solution Ana let to accept near loneliness. Her last tongue was auto near husband and convinced herself that he too was suffering. â€Å"Whether my friend has all the world's Joy his bidding or whether, outlawed from his homeland, he sits covered with storm frost beneath a rocky cliff – my weary – minded friend, drenched in some dreary hall – he suffers great anguish†(114). Overall, this poem is mainly focuses on the speaker's grief suffering through her state of hopelessness.Today, women are till experiencing the issues of degrading and being looked at as an object. Each of the women in The Exile of the Son's of Gillis and The Wife's Lament showing the corruption that degrading had caused. This is where they both took action and tried to escape their feeling of constant misery. They had no control or power in any situations leading them to their feelings of pain, sorrow and frustration. Leading us to have higher hopes for the future that will always be taken into consideration in positions of leadership and appreciated for what they stand for.

Carl Jung’s Theory on Personality

All across America, literacy and early education of children has become the focus of concern for parents, teachers, and policy makers. Education has been positively linked to students’ future success in school, their likelihood to continue education past high school, and their future career opportunities. A strong foundation in reading and linguistics is a key factor in children’s academic development and future opportunities.As a result, a great deal of time, money, and energy has been invested in designing programs that focus on developing children’s knowledge and use of the English language in order to provide them with this necessary educational foundation. However, upon close inspection, it seems as though many of these programs focus on correcting only one or two of the many factors at work in the issue of illiteracy in America’s urban youth. While a variety of reading programs are available in almost every school, there are still a significant numbe r of illiterate and struggling students across the nation. Of particular concern is the school preparation of children from economically disadvantaged homes – children who continue to fare less well in school than more advantaged children† (Stipek 711). 40% of America’s fourth grade students lack basic reading skills, but the illiteracy rate increases to 68% for low-income rural and urban areas (Literacy Rates).Research has shown that children who grow up in poor, urban areas struggle the most with reading for a variety of reasons. Despite significant federal and state investments in compensatory education programs, persistent achievement gaps among students of various ethnic, socioeconomic, and linguistic backgrounds have been difficult to close† (Neuman 92). This shows that resources are available to schools and districts that face issues with low literacy rates, but the problem persists. In a study of gaps in reading achievement by Parkinson and Rowan, s tatistical analysis was done on the test scores of high-, average-, and low-risk students upon entering kindergarten through the end of third grade (Neuman 80).Placing these scores on a statistical normal curve helped determine how much the gap between these groups increased as education progressed, and showed significant evidence that socioeconomic factors impact the education of young children. These test scores were then used for further statistical analysis to determine the amount of additional instruction time it would take at-risk students to reach the same achievement level as average and low-risk students.By calculating the standard deviation of each group’s test scores, Parkinson and Rowan were able to then convert that to months of additional instruction necessary to decrease the gaps in reading achievement. In order to match high-risk students achievement with that of average-risk students, 1. 6 months of extra instruction would be necessary at the beginning of kin dergarten, but by the end of the third grade, the time had increased to 4. 7 months. When comparing high-risk and low-risk students’ achievement, 2. months of instruction were needed at the beginning of kindergarten, whereas the end of third grade required 7. 8 months (Neuman 80). While Parkinson and Rowan acknowledge variations and possible issues with the data they collected and analyzed, these calculations still show the effects of socioeconomic factors on educational achievement. In a similar study by Stipek and Ryan on disadvantaged preschoolers and academic motivation, this education gap is explored as a result of lack of motivation.Surveying and calculating the academic achievement of several classroom groups in preschool and kindergarten proved a similar gap in academic achievement to that found by Parkinson and Rowan. â€Å"The results of this study paint a clear picture of children from relatively low-income homes beginning school at a considerable academic disadva ntage† (Stipek, 720). Through several cognitive assessments of skills including problem solving, reading, and language skills, this study attempted to identify where students of low socioeconomic backgrounds struggled the most.Statistically significant differences were found in each of these assessments for each age group, so to further investigate these results, motivation and gender factors were researched as well. â€Å"In contrast to the findings on cognitive variables, the results revealed almost no motivation deficits for the economically disadvantaged children† (Stipek 721). What little differences were found connected to gender were rare and did not suggest any real pattern of academic achievement. While this study ooked into gender and motivation as factors in academic achievement differences, these proved insignificant to explain the achievement gap between students of varying socioeconomic backgrounds. Rather than continue to focus on individual factors, like gender and motivation, that had been proven to have little significance in explaining the education gap, other researchers have taken up the banner of family involvement and home environment on children’s academic development.According to McLoyd and Purtell, â€Å"contemporary esearchers tend to interpret links between family income and home environment within an investment model (i. e. , the notion that income is associated with children’s development because it enables families to invest in the human capital of their children by purchasing materials, experiences, and services that benefit the child’s development and well-being) rather than within a cultural deficit model† (Neuman 58). Reasoning behind this focus can be found in the history of urban areas and the families that live in them, presented by Shirley Heath.In the article Oral and Literate Traditions Among Black Americans Living in Poverty, Heath explains, â€Å"in the late 1980’s, nea rly half of all Black children lived in poverty, and most of these, especially in urban areas, grew up in households headed by a mother under 25 years of age who was a school dropout† (Heath, 3). She continues to explain how ethnic groups, linguistic differences, and religious or regional factors can make finding trustworthy childcare difficult for single mothers, putting further financial strain on the environment.Financial strain can have a negative effect on the focus put on education in homes with both parents and/or high socioeconomic status. This can also erode family bonds and leave students more vulnerable to the presence of drugs and other negative inner-city influences. By getting involved in drugs, gangs, and other harmful influences, education is forgotten, crippling academic achievement and future opportunities, and prolonging the cycle of poverty in poor urban households.While Heath explains the prevalence of this cycle of poverty through interviews and personal perspectives she collected, Manuel Bueno explains the many and persistent affects it has on early childhood development. â€Å"A shortfall in early childhood development will have irreversible consequences on individuals’ future lifetime opportunities. This will reverberate later in life in the form of lower quality jobs, lower wages, shorter life-spans, worse health and lower cognitive abilities, thus perpetuating an intergenerational cycle of poverty† (Bueno).Unlike many articles regarding early childhood development, Bueno also acknowledges the importance of non-nuclear family structures, emphasizing the importance of involving a child’s primary caretaker rather than the mother or father. Especially in poor urban areas, a household can include members of the extended family just as often as it can exclude a child’s biological parents. Bueno suggests creating early childhood development programs that are both multi-faceted and family inclusive.The most successful of the programs Bueno suggests is referred to as ‘parenting programs’ that work to include parents in children’s education to give them an active and responsible role in their child’s development, and provide reinforcement at home for the things learned in school. The value of these programs is also emphasized by a number of other authors. Charles R. Greenwood is one of the forerunners in the argument for the ecological-interactional-developmental model that investigates the home environment effects on early childhood development.He explains the Hart and Risley Code used to â€Å"measure individual children’s growth in learning to talk as well as the child’s language environment, consisting of parents’, siblings’, and friends’ talk heard by the child in the home and addressed directly to the child† (Neuman 116). By recording audiotapes of conversations and interactions, Greenwood was able to analyze thes e observations using Hart and Risley Code. Similar observations and analyses were made in classroom settings to study student’s responses to instruction.These findings were compared to those found in the home environment, where Greenwood explains some interesting connections. Through the use of Hart and Risley, Greenwood was able to find that children from families of low-socioeconomic status were spoken to less frequently and with fewer words. Children from similar socioeconomic statuses also scored lower on vocabulary tests and struggled with basic academic skills, which crippled their early literacy and school readiness by kindergarten age. By this research, Greenwood was able to conclude that children from low ocio-economic status were less exposed to language and therefore did not learn as much. Further investigation showed that this put a strain on the children’s school readiness, resulting in an education gap similar to that found by Parkinson and Rowan, which g rows as students’ progress in their schooling. Class wide peer tutoring is a program developed and implemented by several researchers, including Greenwood, to investigate whether or not students of lowsocioeconomic status families respond better to one-on-one instruction with a tutor outside of the classroom.For ninety minutes a day, four days per week, students met with a tutor on top of regular instruction to complete lessons in reading, spelling, and math instruction. Results indicated that these lessons â€Å"significantly improved students’ classroom engagement during instruction and reduced socially inappropriate behavior, while accelerating reading, language, and mathematics performance on standardized tests† (Neuman 125). Once the positive impact of this supplemental instruction was established, further research was conducted with peer-assisted learning strategies in which students share the role of teacher in small reading groups.Thirty-five to forty-fi ve minute sessions were conducted daily, in which students were broken up into groups of three to practice reading aloud to each other. Individual points are awarded and group totals are used to determine a ‘winner’ each day. The immediate affects this peer-assisted strategy were significant increases in accuracy, fluency, and comprehension of the material read by students (Neuman 122). After explaining the details of both the one-on-one tutoring and peer-assisted learning strategies, Greenwood discusses their effectiveness as the results showed about 59% of participants exceeded the achievement of non-participants. Students in urban settings, from low-income backgrounds, and of minority status experienced larger gains than students from suburban middle- to high-income backgrounds† (Neuman 126). It was also noted that younger students were affected greater than older students. This study shows that while peer tutoring and one-on-one instruction outside the classro om can improve student achievement, it cannot be used as a panacea for the achievement gap. While Greenwood put his focus on supplemental instruction programs to improve literacy in students from low socioeconomic households, Come andFredericks chose to investigate the involvement of parents in reading programs. They claim that poor families avoiding schools is frequently perceived by educators to be a lack of parental interest in children’s education and, upon investigation of an inner city Georgia school, found that 45% of the children had no one to read to them at home (Come 567). This school had developed several programs designed to help increase the self-esteem of children through parental encouragement and involvement in literacy development.One program designed to include parents in children’s reading was a monthly rewards system. If a student read with a parent for at least fifteen minutes each day for a month, it was marked on a calendar, submitted to the tea cher, and the student was rewarded for his or her accomplishment, boosting confidence and reading proficiency. This program was assisted by a school wide book exchange, in which the students themselves improved access to new reading material. When they brought two books to school, they could exchange one book for a book to keep and the other for a book to donate to their classroom library† (Come 569). Accompanied by a cross-age reading program that paired students in different grades for cooperative reading groups, this book exchange reinforced by parental involvement proved to have significant improvements on children’s reading aptitude in the inner city Georgia school. These programs proved to be useful in the development of student’s reading ability and confidence, as well as the involvement of parents in their children’s education.However, inner-city schools are frequently a melting pot of ethnicities and languages, which can put more strain on childre n’s education if schools do not include language development in reading programs. In a study done by William Louden, a project called Literacy in its Place was investigated to compare literacy programs in rural and urban schools. Initial research â€Å"suggested that the reported difference in urban and rural scores could be explained by differences in social class distribution between the country and the city† (Louden 1).When these factors were taken into account, surprisingly little significance was found. Instead, it was found that children from working class homes, specifically homes in which English is a second language or dialect, were more academically disadvantaged than other students. Louden focuses the rest of his research on professional development for teachers to better assist multilingual students and their parents become actively involved in mastering the English language and developing reading skills. While this supports the consensus of the previously discussed authors that hildren from low-income homes struggle more with school, it introduces language development as a new focus for further research. Mahiri and Sablo introduce research into language as a factor in academic achievement and literacy by investigating the voluntary writing of African American students in a California high school. â€Å"This study was initiated because, in our overall quest to look at ways that African American and youth culture could be used as a bridge to writing development, we wanted to learn more about the kinds of writing these students do for their own purposes outside of school† (Mahiri 165).In this case, writing is seen as an outlet through which students are free to express themselves in whatever vernacular they are most comfortable with, without conforming to school standards or expectations. By investigating students’ use of language in out-of-school settings, Mahiri and Sablo hoped to better link what schools view as importa nt and meaningful in lessons, and what students find meaningful in their daily lives.In this study, it was found that minority students were predominantly in basic and academic classes, as opposed to honors or advanced placement, and performing well below the average scores on standardized tests. Statistics provided by the school, which remained unnamed, showed a 44% failure rate for African American students that began as freshman there. Through an analysis of several pieces of literature written by the students included in the research, and the methods for instruction used by their teachers, little connection was found to suggest culturally relevant topics were being included in instruction.Students were applying information obtained at school to improve their skills and express themselves, but instructors made little effort to do the same. The teachers included in the study recognized that urban culture and schools were changing and that these changes would require them to adjust as well, but were having trouble doing so. Mahiri and Sablo also recognize that including culturally relevant material in school instruction and literacy activities would not solve the problems students faced with literacy development.However, their research suggests that it may help with the development of language and reading skills by giving students something that they can relate to and understand based on their own interests. Ernest Morrell addresses this in the article, Toward a Critical Pedagogy of Popular Culture: Literacy Development among Urban Youth. Ernest Morrell, a former teacher in urban schools, claims that low academic achievement is not the result of a lack of interest, intelligence, or other personal factors in urban students.Instead, he suggests that the issue lies with a lack of access to curriculum and resources. Working from the correlation Mahiri found with urban youth literacy practices and the types of practices emphasized by schools, Morrell suggests that â€Å"any investigation of popular culture must emanate from and serve the interests of members of marginalized groups†¦where students and teachers learn from and with one another while engaging in authentic dialogue that is centered on the experiences of urban youth as participants in and creators of popular culture† (Morrell 2).As an example, he explains programs he designed and used in his own classroom, where hip-hop culture, popular film, and the media were incorporated into each unit. When beginning a unit on English poetry, Morrell introduced the importance of learning the context in which poetry was written to obtain a better understanding of the literature. The same idea was applied to hip-hop and rap music that students in the class were familiar with.For the final project, students were given rap songs to choose from and interpret based on contextual concepts and interpretations that apply to English poetry. As a result, students were inspired to create their own rap/poetry, and were able to better engage with the material because it was tied to larger social issues they could relate to. A similar idea was used in units on popular film and current media. Several movies related to books and assigned reading material were watched in class while students took notes comparing characters, writing styles, and story structure.News segments were also watched to help students analyze portrayals of stories in the media, conduct interviews, and complete a research project on a current topic in the news. Based on his observations of the students in his classroom, Morrell found that â€Å"critical teachers and teacher educators can use classroom-based research to prove that there are ways to meet the challenges the new century offers and turn them into opportunities to connect to the worlds of students, to promote academic achievement, and to prepare students for critical citizen ship in a multicultural democracy† (Morrell 4).Through an inves tigation of current studies being done on reading programs and language development in urban schools, it is easy to see what students struggle with and why. Students from urban neighborhoods tend to be poor working families where English may not be the primary language. Some researchers have interpreted the struggles of these students as a lack of involvement from parents and programs have been designed to better include them in their child’s education. While these have proven to be somewhat successful, they do not solve any issues beyond increasing parental involvement.Other less successful programs have been designed to increase students’ access to school resources, thinking that increased access will increase reading comprehension and proficiency. While this also proved somewhat successful, it can only be applied to schools where budget issues do not limit those resources. Family structure, student motivation, and gender have also been investigated as possible facto rs in the literacy of urban youth, but proved to have an insignificant effect.The most successful research and program development has been a result of combined individually researched ideas. Developing programs that incorporate popular culture has proven to engage students better than regular classroom material and often on more a personal level. Peer tutoring and other cooperative learning programs have proven to be somewhat successful because they allow students to encourage each other in their responsibilities, but this can by further increased by the inclusion of popular culture in the material.These ideas, in addition to increasing parental involvement and increasing students’ access to resources, have had the most significant impact on education and literacy development. It is the incorporation of urban culture into education that further research should be conducted on. By understanding what is important and relevant to students and including that in their education, a platform can be created from which literacy and language skills can be developed.

Facing Violence and Oppression Essay

The Kurds comprise a population in the Middle East that is currently mostly dispersed throughout the outskirts and borders of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Having their own way in expression through arts and sociopolitical organization, they are characterized with their own culture and history (Levinson 175). In relation to the fact that they are dispersed along such locations, an implication arises that they currently do not belong to a country that unifies their race. Hence, as a result, the Kurds have often been considered as the oppressed in the Middle East and selected against by the governments of the countries in which they reside. In some instances, the Kurds have even opted to engage in conflicts in order to preserve their history, culture, rights, and even their lives (Amnesty International 6). Through history, there have been several cases wherein the Kurds have been heavily violated. One significant proof of such was the event in 1965 where an Arab Cordon was decided to be made by the Syrian government. The Kurds, during that time, were found to live in the borders of Turkey which is considered part of the Jazira region; however, upon the actualization of the Arab Cordon, the Kurds were displaced and were transferred into a desert area (Kurdish Canadian Congress [KCC]). This was significantly a breach upon the lives of the Kurds in the area since the place they considered as their home was suddenly stripped away. In fact, the Kurds already integrated their culture into what was originally their home. In addition, even though they were originally from a desert area, relocating the Kurds to a desert area without further support posed several problems such as reestablishment. Additional aggravating details regarding the production of the Arab Cordon include the changes that they made in the location. Aside from simply taking away the homes of the Kurds, the Arabs also prevented any trace of the culture of the Kurds to remain in the area; in fact, they even opted to rename the villages to fit their own language (KCC). As expected, such an event was not well-received by the Kurdish locals, and as a result, some refused to comply. Those who did not choose to be relocated were branded as outsiders by the Arabs and were not allowed to regain any type of settlement in the area (KKC). Understandably, due to the continuous oppression towards their kind, groups of Kurds that saw fighting as the only way to gain recognition started to appear throughout the Middle East. In response to these resistance forces of the Kurds, the Iraqi government decided to mobilize an attack which would eliminate most Kurds in the Iraqi territory; the attack was referred to as Al-Anfal. Biological and chemical weapons were used against both Kurd resistance members and Kurd villagers alike; this resulted in the death of over 180,000 Kurds (O’Leary). Such an outright attack upon a large group of Kurds is considered as genocide. The reason behind the Al-Anfal, which was led by Ali Hasan Al-Majid, was to destroy and eliminate saboteurs (O’Leary). Although it was more of a case of ethnic cleansing rather than just eliminating the threats or defeating the opposition, the occurrence of such attacks to the Iraqi Kurd population did not actually begin and end with the Al-Anfal. In fact, throughout the course of such violent attacks, over 300,000 Kurds have died (O’Leary). In contrast to the blatant attack of the Iraqi government towards the Kurds, in Turkey, they were considered as people that one should never speak of. In fact, even though there were a considerable number of Kurds in Turkey, decades ago the Kurdish language was banned and was not to be used in Turkish regions in order to cause further cultural repression. In addition, public perception and knowledge towards the Kurds were maintained to a level wherein Kurds were thought of as mountain Turks (Bruno). As a result, several groups that were against such treatment, including the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), decided to fight for their beliefs and rights. The original aim of the PKK was to acquire an independent state for Kurds and hence, be able to govern their own kind; the PKK was considerably stronger and more radical in their ways compared to previous resistance groups discussed, as they usually resorted to kidnapping and terrorism (Bruno). Even with such a difference in those aspects, the general aim of the resistance groups, and probably the whole Kurd population, is to be able to develop their own state or country where they may freely express their own culture and other aspects of their population without the fear of being selected against, discriminated, or oppressed. The same trend can be observed in the history of Kurds in Iran. It is important to note that Iran played an important role in the destruction of the first step of the Kurds towards autonomy. In 1946, after gaining control of Mahabad, wherein the Kurds established the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad, the Iran forces seized the area without giving much time for the republic to at least develop (Kweskin). Hence, the opportunity of the Kurds to experience autonomy was definitely cut short, and as a result, movements that aim to bring autonomy to their kind began anew. In 1979, further cases of oppression towards Kurds were documented in Iran, one of this being the aggressive way of control towards the Kurd revolution initiated by the Ayatollah Khomeini, which was inducing revolutionary rule upon the area of Mahabad; the Ayatollah Khomeini branded the Kurds as atheists in order to explain their actions (Kweskin). The leader of the Kurds in Mahabad strictly denied any form of religion-based actions or motives. The leader exclaimed that the only thing they wanted to attain was for Kurds to achieve independence once more and again be able to rule themselves and let their own ways of living flourish (Kweskin). In the current times, the treatment towards the Kurds has become better, as exemplified by the recent move of the Turkey government to allow Kurdish language to be used as well as several Kurdish media to be transmitted (Bruno). However, in general, the Kurds are still commonly associated with oppression and abuse. For example, in Iran, the oppression towards Kurdish individuals is still evident in the unequal treatment of the laws and government of Iran towards them; evident risks for Kurdish women causing illiteracy and deaths due to improper treatment were found as well (Amnesty International 14). In addition to this, due to the formation of several Kurdish militant groups which aim to fight for their rights through force, the Kurds are becoming associated with terrorism as well; this is rather expected due to the fact that groups such as the PKK have conducted acts of violence in other parts of the world (Bruno). Given the current trend of the global community to prevent and extinguish any form of violence that arises from terrorist acts along with the fact that the masses have a tendency to generalize based on minimal facts, such activities definitely do not help in placing the Kurdish population in a positive light. However, it must be considered that all of these are based on the goal of the Kurds to establish their own identity and to be able to express aspects of their culture, including language, music, arts, and history, without outside intervention. It must be understood that if only this was fulfilled, then it is probable that the unnecessary oppression, death, and violence associated with the Kurds may never have manifested. Given the chance to form their own government and parliament, as seen through the Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurds would be able to sustain themselves rather peacefully (O’Leary). Therefore, after all the dreadful events that these people had to experience throughout history, the Kurds should not simply be given several areas within current countries in order to practice a sense of autonomy as this still enables the presence of events of oppression; it is undeniable that the Kurds are more than deserving to finally form a true Kurdistan, a whole country in the Middle East with a future that the Kurds themselves will have the power to decide. Works Cited Amnesty International. â€Å"IRAN: Human Rights Abuses against the Kurdish Minority. † Amnesty International Online Library. 2008. 24 Apr. 2009 . Bruno, Greg. â€Å"Inside the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). † Council on Foreign Relations. 19 Oct. 2007. 24 Apr. 2009 . Kweskin, Benjamin. â€Å"Kurdish Nationalism from World War I through 2007: An Incomplete Historical Narrative. † Kurdish Media – News about Kurds and Kurdistan. 4 Sept. 2008. 24 Apr. 2009 . Levinson, David. Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume IX: Africa and the Middle East. New York: G. K. Hall & Company, 1995. O’Leary, Carole A. â€Å"The Kurds of Iraq: Recent History, Future Prospects. † Middle East Review of International Affairs. Dec. 2002. 24 Apr. 2009 .

Reservation in India Essay

Reservation policy fails to achieve its purpose of giving equal opportunity to everyone because of lack of infrastructure in the rural areas of the country where the proportion of backward classes is significant. A number of people living in some remote areas in Orissa, M. P. or Bihar are not even aware of these policies. They are deprived of even primary education and basic employment which make them more backward financially. It fails to establish which causes disequilibrium in the status of the states. The total reservation quota stands at 49% in many states of India and this includes the SCs, STs and OBCs. The trend seems to have shifted to reverse discrimination rather than more affirmative action. Some backward class’s elite have gained political and economic clout based on this reservation. However a majority of the backward classes is not living any differently than before because their subsistence is meagre and rural lifestyles do not provide them with any of the benefits. The worst thing is that many are not even aware of these policies, especially in the interior parts of the nation. Thus a distinct economic class system exists within the backward classes. Mostly undeserving people have gained the advantages and the deserving ones are still without any significant positive change in their plight. It is interesting to note that the constitutional provisions regarding reser ­vations which explicitly single out certain castes for special preferential treatment contradicts the documents prohibition on discrimination based on caste, race and other such other criteria. Besides, despite the creation of commissions to monitor the implementation of reservation policy by the centre the constitution gives great liberties to the individual states to determine the quantity and limits of reservation which often lead to exploitation. In reality there is no abolishment of caste system. Instead the disparity increases because of antagonistic attitude on both sides. The member of lower class strongly feel that they do not have sufficient reservation and  the members of upper classes feel that inspite of their hard work and merits they do not have the same opportunities. Despite constitutional prohibitions and laws, violence and injustices against untouchables continue even today, particularly in rural areas. The other minorities are demanding reserved representation too, which would ultimately lead to a situation where the seat left for the majority would not be proportional to their population. Thus the whole purpose of providing equal opportunity gets defeated. The caste system and discrimination have persisted in spite of the reservation quota. The reservation policy has brought a climate of antagonism between people belonging to different castes. Regional political parties have sprung with an agenda to promote casteism for their partisan gains. Reservation has become an electoral tool nowadays. Reservation policy has also bluntly promoted caste over intellect and hard work. As a result we are producing substandard engineers, doctors, bureaucrats and other professionals under the present reservation policy. The policy just does not stop at such opportunity. It promotes incompetent people and promotes these people over deserving and qualified individuals. The reservation policy has started to divide India’s future generations at a very small age. Children not belonging to a reserved category have to work twice as hard compared to a kid with a reserved future with already much better financial means. May be the reservations policy has double crossed as we see today are mostly held by the upper class people because they have been thought to excel since childhood to the lack a reserved future and opportunities. If we continue to bring people in our colleges, filling our jobs and promoting the decision making positions based on the caste, soon we would be only country with the least number of competent people. We need a policy which really helps people deprived of education and means of better life. Reserving a certain percentage of seats in the higher education and jobs in the high ranks of the government is not going to help to solve problems of 85% of total backward castes population. The above picture clearly shows that the reservation policies in the last 64 years have failed for what they meant to do. It is time to try new approach to abolish reservation because merit and efficiency are in great danger. At this point of time the abolition of the reservation quota and a better system of affirmative action would be beneficial to the whole nation. We can propose that (1) Further policies or entreaties for any kind of reservation need to be discarded and disconnected. (2) There is need for a slow but a steady removal of reservation quotas. (3) Development of more and better infrastructure in the rural areas to remove disparities is necessary. Education and knowledge in a modern society would lead to removal of some, if not all, discrepancies in treatment of people based on caste, culture and religion. (4) We could also develop a system to find the neediest economically backward classes to work for that upliftment of backward classes. (5) For already entered categories (in employment) we could make the promotions of the jobs merit based. There have been improvements due to the reservation policies, which can not be denied at any cost. But it is not easy to pinpoint as to now much of these improvements can be credited to reservations and how much might have occurred without them as a result of government’s general development policies and economic growth. It can be concluded that reservation policy and its persistence is likely to increase the caste gap rather than help decrease it. The bitter truth is  that these policies will never help reach the long cherished goal of equality. So here comes a need for serious consideration for the reservation policy in India, especially when it comes to educational institution and employment. Let us stop it. We can not pay for our faults for long. Part XVI of the constitution deals with special provisions for certain classes, viz. Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes. However the constitution does not specify the persons who fall in these two categories but leaves it to be determined by the President of India. Some of the important measures made by the constitution for this purpose include. (a) Reservation of seats for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and State Legislatures on the basis of their population. (b) Bestowal of certain special powers on the State Governments to impose some special restrictions on the right of SCs and STs to protect their interests. (c) Provisions of special grants by the centre to the state for meeting the cost of scheme of welfare designed for the scheduled tribes and raising the level of the administration in scheduled areas. (d) Appointment of a National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Tribes by the President. It is the duty of the Commission to investigate the matters relating to safeguards for SCs and STs and to submit necessary report to the President. That report is laid before each House of Parliament. (e) To pay special attention to the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of society to prevent their exploitation. Backward Classes—besides special provisions for the SCs and STs, The Constitution has made separate provisions for the improvement of all. Backward classes are not defined in the constitution but since it comes in addition to the terms STs and SCs. We may conclude that there are other backward classes as well. Article 340 provides for the appointment of  commission to investigate the conditions of backward classes. Two Backward class commissions were set up under Article 340 after the constitution was adopted. The Kakkasaheb Kelkar commission, appointed in 1953 submitted its report in 1955 and used four criteria for identifying other Backward Classes (OBCs) (1) Low social position in the traditional hierarchy of Hindu Society. (2) Lack of educational progress among majority of a particular caste/ community. (3) Inadequate representation in trade, commerce and industry. (4) Inadequate representation in Government, The commission used the first criterion to relate with social backwardness. The report was considered too vague and impractical. The centre’s next initiative come in 1978 when the Janta Government appointed a commission under B.P. Mandal to find out how many backward classes there were in the country. The report of this commission which identified 3743 backward class was shelved till 1990 when the V.P. Singh Government brought out the order for 27% reservation in central services for other backward classes. Now, the air is now thick with the sense of dejavu which we experienced in early 90s. In one swift the present UPA Government again raised the bogey of reservation thereby again dividing India. Besides imposing a quota in cnetral universities and institutes it is also pushing companies for a job quota in the private sector. The Common Minimum Programme promises reservations for OBC in higher educational institutes. In fact it speaks of being very sensitive to the issue of affirmative action including reservations in the Private sector. It is sheer politics. The desperation is reflection of the fact that the Congress is unable to reinvent itself in its quest for a majority. Neither BJP nor Congress can boast of social diversity that is necessary to represent the plurality of India. The country’s two largest parties are controlled by upper caste. The Congress believes it can alter its state of irrelevance in over 200 Lok Sabha seats by wooing back Dalits and OBCs. Instead of giving reservations, scholars say, we must take a series of sequential steps ranging from education to vocational training to financing enterprises though some parties prefer quick fix solutions. The Congress is one of them. It has taken diagnosis of a physician and approached a quack for prescription. Our population is 1.02 billion and the SC/ST population is around 240 million (24 crore). Let us have a look at some telling figures about reservations. (1) The number of OBC MPs sitting in Parliament is 110. (2) 12 Chief Ministers of the states belong to OBC in present. (3) The literacy rate of SCs is 37.82% (4) 79.88% of high school drop out are from Scheduled Castes. (5) 1 lakh estimated number of Government jobs under quota lies vacant across the country. (6) 6% class I Central Government jobs are held by Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes. (7) 89% class I Central Government jobs are held by others who constitute only 25% of the population.