Children

Genie was called the “wild child. ” This term was defined as a child who grows up in severe isolation. When Genie was one year of age, her father found out that Genie was going to be slightly slow. He felt this to be unacceptable and locked her in a room tied to a potty-chair for the fist ten years of her life. Her blind mother was seeking help for herself and Genie was with her. When the social worker saw the terrible condition Genie was in, she reported it immediately (class discussion). The father committed suicide after he found out the social workers discovered her.

Dr. James Kent was the hospital psychologist who worked with Genie. He was captivated by her intense way of observing her environment. He felt she had the capacity to learn attachment (video). Attachment is defined as an especially close affectional bond formed between living creatures (161). It was once thought that attachment was formed between an infant and caregiver because of the need to fulfill primary biological needs. However, Harry Harlow conducted a study using rhesus monkeys that proved this theory wrong. The monkeys were placed with two surrogate mothers; one made of wire, the other of cloth.

Both provided an equal amount of nursing and primary biological needs however, the monkeys spent as much time possible cuddling and hugging the cloth mother as opposed to the wired mother (161-162). This relates to humans because there is more to life than biological needs. An infant needs to continue to be social so he/she could develop and show attachments. Attachments were absent in Genie’s life because of the fact that her parents did not acknowledge her other than when it was time to eat.

However, when Genie was discovered, Dr. Kent was able to develop a relationship with Genie. He noticed her ability to become sad when he left her and happy when he was in her presence. Kent felt that Genie needed a surrogate parent. She needed to develop a relationship with one family so she could form an attachment and not have to be with a number of different people. She needed someone to be there as her “friend. ” No one felt attachment was important to the study of Genie except for Kent. When she was with Jean Butler, her first foster parent, she was happy and treated with a lot of care.

Jean wanted to adopt her, but the Children’s Hospital turned it down claiming she wanted Genie to make her famous. However, a few hours after Jean had to give her back, Dr. Rigler became her foster parent. Having Genie go from foster home to foster home was not healthy for Genie and had affected her progress greatly. Genie did not have the opportunity to form attachments because she was too busy getting pushed around from test to test and home to home. The “Genie team” felt that studying her progress in language was more important than her development of attachment.

All the doctors became more interested in gaining popularity from the studies while Kent and Jean Butler were only in it for the welfare of Genie. He was eventually kicked out of the study because of this (class discussion). When Genie was found, her language ability did not exist. It has been said that Genie was abused when she made any type of noise. She made sure she kept extremely quiet. Because of the tremendous amount of love and care Genie received, she was able to learn and speak words quickly. Genie became extremely interested in learning vocabulary.

When Genie was in the care of Susan Curtiss, a graduate student in linguistics, she wanted to learn a word for every thing in sight. Genie discovered the world. When Genie lived in the Rigler home, she was also treated with a lot of care. Marilyn Rigler taught her “bad time” to stomp her feet and slam doors so she could make a physical world connection to express herself. Genie experienced a developmental breakthrough because she was able to use words for past events including bad memories, sleeping on a potty-chair etc. Genie learned to read simple words, learned emotion words, shape words, and even colors (video).

In this assignment, I intend to consider the possible differences between the way in which children and adults learn. For instance, Piaget believed there to be schemes with four distinct stages of cognitive development. Between birth and the time a child is ready for school, he/she will pass through two of the four stages. These stages are the Sensorimotor Stage and the Preoperational Stage. Alternatively, it could be argued that our parents, teachers, and society as a whole condition us, to learn in a particular way, to take our place in society.

This, then in the words of Freire is: the banking concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the student extends only as far as receiving, filing and storing the deposits. (Freire, 1970) On the other hand, it is suggested, that adults learn from experience and reflection, therefore, it is the way in which people: understand, or experience, or conceptualise the world around them. (Ramsden, 1992) The focus for them then, is gaining knowledge or ability through the use of experience.

These are two extremes of the spectrum of learning and there are, according to theorists such as Piaget, several stages in-between, these are: sensory-motor, pre-operational, concrete-operational and formal-operational. I intend to look at these stages in detail in the main body of this assignment. Firstly, I intend to consider the meaning of learning and briefly look at the terms pedagogy and andragogy. Learning What is learning? Learning is a process by which we change our behaviour and understanding. We learn in many ways.

For instance, the cognitive orientation to learning, this could be said to be how children learn, (see child learning section). Secondly, there is the humanistic orientation to learning, this could be said to be a personal act to fulfil potential, through experience and reflection. Finally, we have the social/situational orientation to learning; this refers to the way we are pre-conditioned by society. Child learning: Pedagogy Firstly, we will look at the term pedagogy, pedagogy means the art and science of educating children and often is used as another word for teaching.

More correctly, pedagogy embraces teacher-focused education. In the pedagogic model, teachers assume responsibility for making decisions about what will be learned, how it will be learned, and when it will be learned. Therefore, teachers direct the learning. This then, according to Friere (70) is the banking method of education. This term will be considered in greater depth later in this assignment. Piaget believed schemes apply the basis for future learning, the earliest schemes setting the stage for constructing new and more sophisticated schemes.

Even in a newborn baby, we can find the simplest of schemes. For example, infants can suck from a bottle, but they quickly apply this to dummies and thumbs. Later in life, schemes move from a physical sensory-motor focus to more mental aspects. Toddlers can imagine blocks for stacking and put them to different uses, and eventually learn number schemes, which allow them to further organise their world in new ways.

Action applied to objects Primarily sensory and motor systemsMental processes for organising action Objects, numbers and spatial relationsMental processes for organising self-concept and awareness. IdentityOrganisation of the abstract Meanings of abstract laws and notions, such as physics, life and origins. Piaget believed there are four distinct stages of cognitive development. For a complete explanation of these stages, see the table on Piagets stages of cognitive development.

Stage Age Characteristics Sensorimotor 0-2 Years Your child will begin to make use of her ability to imitate, to think, and to memorise. She will begin to realise that objects don’t cease to exist when they are out-of-sight. Her actions will become more goal-oriented, rather than motivated through reflexes. Preoperational 2-7 Years Your childs language skills will begin to develop. She will be able to think in symbolic forms. Your child will be able to think mental operations through in one direction.

Your child will have difficulty seeing another persons point of view. Concrete Operational 7-11 Years Your child will be able to solve concrete, hands-on problems in logical fashion. She will be able to understand laws of conservation and will be able to classify and serrate. She will also understand reversibility. Formal Operational 11-15+ Years Your child will be able to solve abstract problems in a logical fashion. Her thinking will become more scientific and she will develop concerns about social issues and her identity.

From his observations, Piaget concluded that as children develop, they form cognitive structures, or schemata, that are a collection of ideas and concepts. These schemata allow a child to make sense of his/her environment and to progressively uncode how the world works. Therefore, a scheme is a mental structure that underlies a co-ordinated and systematic pattern of behaviours and thinking. It can be applied across similar objects or situations and develops over time. Hence, schemes are a means by which a child interacts with their environment, and are the driving force behind the childs cognitive development.

In addition, because the child, through interactions with the environment builds them, he/she is seen as an active agent of its own development. Although Piagets developmental stages of learning are considered a major contribution to teaching and learning, educators and curriculum developers do not always take these stages into account when designing curriculum and learning experiences for young children. If children are to learn and be literate, educators must choose appropriate content and experiences to match childrens cognitive capacities at different stages of their development.

Therefore, as I suggested in my introduction, the way in which children learn is possibly pre-conditioned by their teachers, to conform to societys norms and are therefore taught accordingly. Therefore: The goal of the education of children is not only to teach them, more or less intellectual knowledge, nor only to teach them virtues in the sense of honesty, courage, etc. The functions of any individual, within society, go far beyond the above mentioned: they must learn to work and to consume within the norms demanded by the means of production and the consumption patterns of their group and the society in which they live.

The image of a child hero or trickster is seen in many cultures. This kind of role can tell a lot about how a culture acts and reacts to things. The idea of the child hero in stories written and told before the birth of Christ probably reflect the peoples beliefs that the child is the future, and therefore carries some sort of power or gift. For stories that were written after the birth of Christ, the child could reflect the idea stated above, or it could also be the peoples belief in an infant savior, that a child will make everything right again.

Whether the story comes from before Christ or after, the one uniform aspect about these stories is that they are present in every culture, all around the world. The image of the trickster is also very prevalent in the different cultures. It is seen in many different fables and moral-based stories. You cannot go against the Philistine, you are but a youth, and he has long been a man of war(Metzger 145). This is what King Saul of Israel said to David when he proposed that he fight the Philistine warrior Goliath.

The story of David and Goliath is quite possibly one of the oldest child hero stories. It was part of the Bible, in the Old Testament. In this story a young man named David proposes to the king of Israel that he fight and attempt to kill Goliath, the giant that had been plaguing Israel. The king agrees, however hesitantly, and David goes on to slay the beast using just a slingshot. While this story is not one that was made up, it still shows us that the ancient Hebrews believed in the fact that a child, or in this case teen, has the will and motivation to do the impossible.

Staying on the eastern side of the world, we will next see examples of Russian stories. In the former Soviet Union, a lot of the time stories, books and other types of art were hard to come by. In a broader sense, though, recent years have witnessed genuine cultural enrichment, as Gorbachevs glasnost policy permitted the works of previously forbidden writers, artists, and cinematographers to become accessible(Grolier Multimedia). After the public was able to get at the mass of stories that had been kept from them, there was even more of an increase of books and other forms of art.

The Russian people now had much more of an incentive to write. In a certain village, not near, not far, ot high, not low, there lived an old couple with one little son named Ivashko (Wyndham 32). This is the line that begins the story of Ivashko and the Witch. This story takes place in a small village in Russia, and the main character is a small boy named Ivashko. Ivashko was a very independent boy who wanted to go of on his own and go fishing. He begged and pleaded with his parents, and finally they gave in.

His father built him a canoe and off he went. Ivashko was doing well while he was fishing, but and one point was lured to shore by an evil witch. The witch grabbed him and took him to her house deep in the woods. She showed him to her daughter and they decided that they would eat him. At this point the witch left to get some of her friends. Ivashko seized this opportunity, and when the witches daughter went to sit down on a shovel in order to demonstrate to Ivashko how to do it, he through her into the fire.

He then left and ran up a tree. The witch found him and started gnawing at the tree. Luckily for Ivashko, a flock of geese was flying overhead and one flew down to sweep him up. Just as he left the tree fell over on the witch and all her evil friends, crushing them. Ivashko lived happily ever after. This shows that in the Russian culture there is a presence of the child hero, and even shows the image of the trickster in the way Ivashko tricked the witchs’ daughter into showing him how to sit on a shovel.

Ivashko is a hero in this story not only because he killed the witch, but because he rid the lake and the woods of the evil that kept most people from going there. Although this isn’t one of the newly released works in Russia, I think that the children’s stories, sometimes being all that the Russian people had to read that wasn’t corrupted by the government, made a reat contribution to the development of the Russian culture and also had a great impact on many people. The image of the trickster is also very prevalent in different cultures.

In the African culture the trickster comes to the forefront in many different folk tales and fables. He is usually used to teach a lesson or to show a moral. In most cases the trickster ends up getting the short end of the stick, but in the story I’m going to relate to you, Sungura and the Leopard, the trickster comes out on top. In the African jungle there lived a leopard. One day it started to rain, nd fearing that he may lose his spots, the leopard decided to build a house. A short distance away, a rabbit (Sungura) had the same idea.

Both chose the same spot to build a house. They both then started to go and gather wood. Each was adding to the same pile, but neither one knew that the other was also going to build there. They just thought that their ancestors had put the extra wood there. Leopard then went to get mud for the roof, and came back to find the house already framed. He attributed this to his ancestors and went on to finish the house. The two slept in the house that night not knowing that they were together. In the morning they found each other and agreed to build a small wall and share the house.

After a while, Rabbit started a family. The noise got too annoying for Leopard, so he decided that he would kill them. Rabbit overheard and decided that it was time to play a trick on Leopard. He started having his kids cry for elephant meat. Leopard overheard this and got scared. He figured if he can kill an elephant then he can kill me. So he left. He then saw a baboon, and was called foolish for believing the rabbit. Then he went back. He then overheard Rabbit say I can’t believe that leopard listened to the baboon! What a fool! Knuston 19). Rabbit then had his children cry for Leopard meat, and when Leopard heard Rabbit say that he would go out and hunt some, he left for good. Rabbit now had the house all to himself. This is a tale that came out of the Ashanti tribe, and the point of it was to say that even if you are small, if you use your brain then you can prevail. Ashanti artistic creations include a wealth of myths and tales… (Miller 2). Tales such as this one are seen throughout the African tribes, and he trickster is usually the one who prevails.

The Ashanti, as well as the other tribal Africans, believed that it was more important to use ones mind and to be able to think quick than to just rely on brute strength all of the time. Using the image of the trickster also served as an educational tool. It displayed to the young children that they can get out of a conflict without fighting. It also taught them that pride was bad, because Leopard only wanted the house so that he wouldn’t lose his spots, and Rabbit, the winner, only wanted the house so he could raise a family.

European culture also has its fair share of trickster tales in Aesops Fables. In these stories, which were said to have been written by a Greek man named Aesop some time in the sixth century BC, there is always a moral for an ending. While Aesops Fables is more of a collection of stories from different, unknown authors, Aesop gets the credit for it. The most commonly used trickster in the fables is the wolf. He is shown to be very sneaky and mean, but also very smart. In many of the tales he is successful as the trickster, and his main objective is usually to eat ome sort of defenseless animal.

One example of the wolf as a trickster is the story of the Wolf and the Crane. In this story, the wolf has a bone stuck in his throat and asks a crane to use its long neck to pull it out. The wolf offers a reward, so the crane reluctantly accepts. After the bone is out the crane asks for her reward, and gets this reply, You can go about boasting that you once put your head into a Wolf’s mouth and didn’t get it bitten off. What more do you want? (Santore 3). this showed the cunningness of the wolf whereas he got the service that he eeded for nothing in return.

One fable where the trickster didn’t come out on top was in the fable entitled The donkey in the Lion’s Skin. In this case the trickster was a donkey. He found a lion skin, dressed himself in it, and then went around scaring friends. When he neighed in happiness at his triumph, the fox heard him, and exposed him for what he was. Here the fable taught the moral that if one is to be a trickster, then make sure you are very careful about it. Probably the most famous tricksters and child heroes ever to be introduced to the world were Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.

These two boys, created by Mark Twain, spent their entire lives tricking people for different reasons and also becoming heroes by getting themselves into many interesting adventures. In the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer the two boys end up capturing a criminal and bringing him to justice before the whole town. Another example of Tom Sawyer’s heroics was when he and a girl were trapped in a cave, and when she passed out from exhaustion he took it upon himself to get her water and keep her alive. In the end they were rescued from the cave and Tom was given accolades as a hero.

Fifty five million Americans are age fifty five and older, according to the United States Census Bureau, of that number, thirty five million are age sixty five and older. By the year 2030, the sixty five and older population will double to seventy million, and the fastest growing segment of the older population is age eighty five and older. The baby boomer generation will soon reach the retirement age, and expected to redefine old age.

Just as they have redefine every stage of their lives because boomers will be the largest generation of elderly, they will impact everything from housing to health care as the market and society caters to their wealth, longevity, and interest in new technology (Dytchweld K. 1999). The baby boomer generations also the first to have the luxury to examine personal issues and raise questions concerning work, health care, technology, politics, and social and moral issues (USA Today Magazine, November 19, 1999).

No other generation reflects the complex world we live in today. The baby boomers have left their indelible mark on Americas social landscape. The baby boomers created pop culture and a new form of political activism (Breaux J. November 1999). Education, medical advances, and technology afforded more freedom and independence. Soon America will look different; the average age of the population will go up to fifty-five. The baby boomers will have the benefits and face the challenges of longevity.

Can America afford the social, medical, and political issues the aging baby boomers demand? Will our transportation system ensure more old drivers have safe alternatives? How will our national housing policy adapt to the senior boom? How about the pension and financial plans that allow older Americans to move in and out of retirement (Breaux, J. November 1999). The size and distinct characters of the baby boomers will not only create a sense of urgency to current issues, but also create a whole new set of aging issues.

Among the many cultural contributions of the baby boomers along with the free love, the drug scenes and Grateful Dead ties, was the concept of generation gap (Veith G. ). In every other culture and throughout history, children were socialized to be adults. When children grew up they took their parents places, roles and their values. There was no separate subculture, no music and fashion to set off the younger generation from their parents.

Children were dressed, for the most part, like little adults, but in the mid twentieth century, American culture became stratified along generational lines (Veith G. The generation prior to the baby boomers, after World War II, had extra ordinary prosperity and better living through technology, may have spoiled their children a little. The baby boomer generation never concentrated on learning their parents skills and disciplines, but worked hard on entertaining themselves. This process was helped along with not only television, but perhaps even more importantly radios and record players, which made possible the mass production and nationwide distribution of music (Veith G. )

The baby boom generation has always been in the spotlight reshaping every American institution. As children, the public school systems were reinvented to meet their needs. As young adults, music and pop culture was drastically changed by their participation. As they move towards old age, they will also redefine and revolutionize the American aging experience. Baby boomers have reaped the benefits of change. They grew up with more education and high expectations, technology and medical research have blossomed throughout their lives and they have come to expect lifestyle improvements in every turn.

With their political clout, they will expect the government, corporate America, the research community and the health care sector to meet their growing needs. Government policies should encourage private sector investments in products and services to help the needs of the aging baby boomers and reflect the diversity in lifestyle, race and income of the future senior citizens. For the last few decades the influential baby boomer segment of the population dominated the American culture virtually in any aspect.

Television programming may not specifically target baby boomers, but since baby boomers fit into the prime eighteen to forty nine year old or twenty five to fifty four year old demographics that are preferred by most advertisers, the baby boomers are, by default, the biggest part of many network audiences (Walther C. 1998). Because the baby boomers capture the lions share of attention from programmers and advertisers, programming might change to attract the demographics.

We are now seeing a change on todays cable programming, we now see more cable network stations that cater to travel, such as the Travel Network, educational programs like the ones shown in the Discovery Channel, technology and information systems like Tech TV and many more. The biggest network that is boosting high following from baby boomers is the Home and Garden TV (HGTV), which profiles people who have undertaken midlife career or lifestyle changes; and vacation living, a program targeting the more affluent and older baby boomer segment considering extended vacations (Walther C. 98).

Networks will also use on air talents with a little gray hair, use older music that is familiar to the boomers, or try to reach or alter programs for boomers to fir their lifestyle (Walther C. 1998). Music videos are even changing nowadays, Music Television (MTV) still caters to younger viewers, but Video hits One (VH1) has change their focus. Rather than focus on a general audience, they are specifically targeting baby boomers with their shows. They are featuring artists that the baby boomers listened to while growing up.

Artists like the Beatles and the Beach Boys just to name a few. The supermarket of the future will be redesigned; they will carry more varieties of foods and products that will be geared towards the needs of the baby boomer segment. Prepared take-out food, more organic fruits and vegetables, specially prepared and raised meat products are some of the varieties that we can expect to be a main staple on future grocery store. Services such as banking and laundry services will also be provided to consumers to maximize the consumers shopping experience.

The baby boomers will influence how our food will be manufactured, the concern on health and moral values will force the food manufacturers to reshape the way they prepare and select their ingredients (Saccomano A. 1999). They have to offer foods that will benefit health or fortified products that contain vitamins and nutrients. Since the boomers will be the leading edge of expectation and preference, with their demands on quality and convenience, will also benefit all consumers, young and old. One impact that the boomers might have on the next generation is family values.

Because the boomers have singularly devoted to their personal needs and wants one consequence on that attitude of self-centeredness is the high divorce rate of baby boomers (Monaldo, F. 2000). The high divorce rates of the baby boomer generation have deprived their children parental guidance and love. Unfortunately payback maybe looming. A new study led by Lilliana Pezzin , a Professor of medicine at John Hopkins University, documented what common sense would have predicted. Children learn from their parents, even the unintended ones (Monaldo F. 2000).

The children of divorced parents offer far less care for their aging parents than other children whose parents stayed together; they also receive far less financial help from their children. A large number of baby boomers may find themselves in a lonely old age cared for by institutions and uncomforted familial ties. The generation that thought mostly of themselves may find themselves living on their own with out any family support (Monaldo F. 2000) Americans longer life span mean that many will continue to invest, and they will be spending more money during their retirement years.

From age sixty-five to seventy five, they will be spending as much money as usual (Fahey M. 2001). From age seventy-five to eighty five to eighty five they will be slowing down and may want to start helping their children and grandchildren. After age eighty-five they will be spending more of their money for medicinal purposes. Investment brokerages, banking institution and financial services will benefit from the infusion of savings and financial planning that they will be involved in. The growing numbers of baby boomers with medical situations are on the rise.

In the article, A Baby Boomer Boom (Kirchheimer, B. 2001) Trent Healthcare Corporation (A For Profit Hospital), during the six month period which ended November 30, 2000, say that volume at the hospital rose twelve percent for people aged fifty one to sixty years old. They expect that the usage of the hospitals by the elderly will increase in even greater numbers in the years to come. With this knowledge they plan to focus on treating the types of medical problems they are most likely to experience: cardiology, gynecology, orthopedics, oncology and neurology.

Other fields of healthcare will be in optometry and audiology. As people grow older, eyesight and hearing are usually the two senses that will deteriorate before the body gives way. Pharmaceuticals, and drug store chains will be affected greatly by the emergence of the baby boomer into the retirement age. The youth obsessed baby boomers will want to maintain a youthful appearance, long life cycles of anti-aging creams, hair color treatments, nutritional supplements, and a host of future products that can promise to make people look and feel younger.

Retirement communities will be growing tremendously, for those who are physically and mentally independent. There are more people now that are into physical fitness these days, as a result future seniors will be more healthy and capable on caring and providing for themselves. They will have future needs for recreational activities, so businesses that cater to different types of physical activities and leisure for the aging will do very well. There is a downside to this.

After age sixty-six, the likelihood of a person developing Alzheimers Disease doubles about every five years (Dytchwald, K. Dec. 18. 2000). Unless a cure is found in our lifetime, it is estimated that the disease will strike fourteen million baby boomers by the middle of this century, up from four million today. Dytchwald also notes that the duration of the disease, which currently averages eighth to ten years before death will continue to be prolonged to fifteen to twenty more years or more.

One of the first support groups businesses will be interested in are the children of the retiring people. Most retirees will not want to or can not afford to live in a retirement home, especially with the increase of elderly abuse in retirement homes that are always featured on the news media. The children of retirees will not want to place their loved ones in such facilities, therefore businesses should look for ways to help or change the situations to make the children of the aging population to feel more at ease on placing their loved ones in retirement facilities.

In home care for those who are disabled and living with their loved ones, will be something that the family will need so that their normal life activities, will not be affected with the burden of an incapable elderly staying in their home. The need for more nurses and doctors for in-home and hospital care will be greatly in demand, for there will be many more people in the future because of the influx of the aging boomers, that will need specialists to care for them.

There will also be needs for more health care facilities such as nursing homes, hospitals and retirement homes for those who are sick and do not have the support of their families to care for them. Healthcare insurance is another business that will profit greatly as the boomers enter the retirement stage of their lives. There will be a great demand for medicines, most, of which will far exceed the income of the elderly. People will be looking for the best and cheapest way of filling prescriptions, making them shop smarter for insurance carriers causing these companies to compete and give better assistance to the consumers.

Private transportation companies are another business segment that will be positively influenced by the need of the elderly for mobility. We have seen recent reports on TV on the problems of the elderly driving and controlling their vehicles. At a certain age people lose their ability to operate motor vehicles, and people are still unsure of public transportation especially places like Southern California where people are dependent on driving around by themselves. Once drivers license are taken away from the elderly do not mean that they will lock themselves up into isolation.

There will be a great need for alternative transportation for the ones that need mobility and do not want to be dependent on other people to get them to places that they need to go, like medical facilities, recreational facilities and grocery stores. Gays and lesbian baby boomers are another group that specialized businesses will cater to. The demand for housing communities, social organization facilities and lots more will be rising because the gay and lesbian communities will intend to invent their own way of retirement, one that celebrates being part of a like-minded community (Rosenberg, D. Jan. 15, 2001)

One change that the baby boomer population has changed is the way they do and deal with politics. The baby boomers will be very influential in the political arena, changes that they have demanded are more directed to problems of the population as a whole. The baby boomers have brought together all races to the bargaining table. Realizing the past generations mismanagement and prejudicial incompetence, the baby boomers are now exercising their own judgement to mend the thinking and past practices of the pervious generation in politics.

Baby boomers no longer believe in follow the leader, they will question whatever they think is wrong or they will need explanations and justifications on issues that will affect them. The boomer generation has enacted laws regarding discrimination in the workforce, childcare and safety laws, environmental issues, just to mention a few. Baby boomers know that in order to have a strong and united country, we must learn to change our thinking, attitudes and behavior on diversity.

This attitude of the baby boomers will be an example for the generations to come, who in turn can make any type of prejudice a thing of the past. To truly show the attitudes and positions of the baby boomer generation, an article from the Suburban Boomers Take on City Hall from Macomb Township to Westland (Detroit News Oct. 10, 2000) showed their activism in politics. They are voicing out their opinions and feeling to the city hall politicians about their discontent on the way things are enacted on their city.

The article also claims that the baby boomers have been awakened and are desperate for change on issues like environment and government, it says that the baby boomers are now in the drivers seat and they will make changes according to their needs. (Celente G. ). Baby boomers are taking control of their lives. They will be changing politics for the good of everyone else. Changes in world trade, globalization, social security, Medicare and human rights will be enacted as they take control of the voting majority.

The baby boomer generation is getting old and wiser, changes in policies toward health care and other needed reforms will be expected to conform to their retirement needs. They grew up independent and would like to stay that way and not depend on the next generation for their retirement needs. To elaborate more on the subject of health care concerns of the baby boomers, an article written by Amy Turnbull, (Morning Star November 15, 1999) Quoted Mr. Patrick Brady, who is the executive director of Citizens for Long Term Care (CLTR), a non partisan Washington D. C. sed nonprofit organization that wants to raise awareness of problems in the long term care system.

He talked about problems that can be exacerbated as baby boomers age. Mr. Brady told residents and others at the Manorhouse that in thirty one years, more than twenty percent of the population will be sixty five or older and the cost of long term care will be astronomical. By 2030, unless significant changes are made in Americas entitlement programs, social security spending, Medicare and federal civilian and military pensions, spending will exceed the governments revenues.

In conclusion, The baby boomer generation will be the largest retiring population that our society will experience. They will affect decisions that in turn will be the basis on how society will live in the near future. Because of their political clout and voting power the baby boomers will basically decide the future of the nation, how society will view beliefs, how laws will be enacted and create more laws that will be made for the needs of the retiring baby boomers.

Because of their wealth and longevity, many businesses will cater to their needs, changes on food manufacturing will be affected for the better, and we will see more nutritious food and many more facilities offering convenience. The medical fields will be impacted the most by the retiring baby boomers, the need for more facilities, better services and care, and effective prescription drugs will be in high demand in the near future. Future careers of people will also be impacted by their retirement; people will get jobs that are related to directly or indirectly to the needs of the retiring baby boomers.

Research and technology will also benefit from their retirement; their usual demands for better things will predict what new ways people will be doing or making in the near future. Everyone should be made aware of the consequences of the retiring baby boomers. There will be lots of technological advances and exciting changes that will happen, but there are also issues that the nation as a whole should start thinking and finding ways to solve right now, issues like social security benefits, Medicare, aging society issues, medical care and many more.

Facing issues at an early stage will not only benefit the retiring population, but the nation as a whole. The near future can be an exciting place to be the benefits that the aging baby boomers will demand can also make everyones life better. They will affect all aspects of life; politics, businesses and social life will change to conform to the aging baby boomers needs. So get ready, The baby boomers are coming.

Child labor is a serious moral issue. There have been many controversial debates over whether it should be legal or not. Two different viewpoints on the subject exist. Many argue that child labor is morally wrong and that the children should not work, no matter how poverty stricken their family might be. Advocates and major corporations that support child labor argue that it is good because it gives poverty-stricken families a source of income. Child labor first appeared with the development of domestic systems (when people became civilized).

It was widely practiced in England, America, and other countries during the 16th-18th centuries. Children were paid very little for the dangerous conditions and the long hours they were required to work. Many of these children worked in factories, mills, mines, and other horrible places. Some families sold their children into labor for money to pay off debts. These children worked off the debt and were a source of income for the family. Today, child labor is illegal in most developed countries. There are strict laws that monitor the jobs, hours, wages, etc. that children have if they do work.

An example of these laws, is one that requires all children to go to school until they are 16 years of age before they can drop out and be employed full time. Most third world and under-developed countries are where the majority of child laborers can be found. Child labor is morally wrong. The children shouldnt be forced to work. Most children who work are little more than slaves to their employers. They put up with abuse, starvation, and sometimes never being paid for their work. One eight year-old boy, Munnilal, from Varanasi, India, was freed when a raid was lead on the factory in which he worked and was kept in a slave-like environment.

His Master gave him no money for the long hours he worked. He also stated that he was hit again and again. (Kielberger, 6. ) Children who are forced to work also miss out on life and their chance for a good education. In Pakistan, I talked to a boy making bricks. He had been sold into labor by his grandfather to pay a debt. Would you like to go to school? I asked him. What is school? he asked me. (Kielberger, 5. ) In India, only 64% of males and 39% of females are literate. When children are forced to work at a young age, they can also develop serious health problems.

Health problems are compounded for children because they are more susceptible than adults to the types of illnesses and injuries associated with occupational hazards. (Parker, http://www. busph. bu. edu/Gallery/Introp. html. ) Child labor is necessary in some places because poor families need the extra income this will bring. Poverty is the reason many children go to work. In India, 37% of the urban and 39% of the rural populations live in poverty. (Unknown. ) Studies have revealed a positive correlation- in some instances, a strong one- between child labor and such factors as poverty.

Melara-Kerpelman, 1996. ) Also, a poll taken of child laborers revealed that 63. 74% said the reason they worked was poverty. (Unknown. ) Many parents make their children work because there are no alternate sources of income. In many economically depressed countries where child labor exists, there arent any welfare systems and easy access to loans. The money for these types of programs isnt readily available. The shortage of money is due to the fact that there are economic problem within the country. Not all of the places where children work in third world countries are dangerous and dirty.

Some major corporations move their businesses to places like Pakistan and China because the people there will work for less. Many times the people who work in these factories are children. Not all of these companies pay just a few cents a day though. Mattel, the maker of Barbie, is one of these corporations. In their factory based in Chagnan, China, workers are paid a $1. 81 a day. (Holstein. ) The factory they work in is also kept up to higher standards than most factories in China are. It is clean and they are very rarely forced to work in dangerous conditions. I feel children should be allowed to work only if they absolutely need to.

The conditions in and hours which they work, as well as the pay they receive need to be improved. Governments need to pass laws that will do this. There have been laws passed that limit and reduce the amounts of child labor. An example of this is the Keating-Owen Act passed in 1916. This law barred articles produced by child labor from interstate commerce. Many organizations are working to improve child labor conditions. They are succeeding in some cases. Free The Children (FTC) is one such organization. FTC was created by Craig Kielburger when he was twelve years old.

They petitioned for the release of a childrens rights advocate, Kailash Satyarthi, from prison. Their petition helped free him. After his release, he led raids on carpet factories that freed some children from bondage labor. In my opinion, children around the world should not be forced to work at all. They shouldnt be coerced into getting jobs until they are legally adults. They should be given a chance to live their life before it is virtually taken away from them. I also feel that if they dont start working until they are older the quality of their work will improve greatly.

The definition that Suzanne Kessler, The writer of Lessons from the Intersexed, gives us is that a true hermaphrodite is where a baby has either testes or ovaries, but the genitals are indistinct. This birth defect has been happening to a small percentage of babies throughout history ( ). A lot of Kessler’s essay deals with the interviewing of six medical experts in the field of pediatric intersexuality. They supply the reader with plenty of information on the topic of intersexuality and babies born with ambiguous genitals.

Kessler also supplies us with a great deal of information on the process parents have to go through with the diagnosis and the waiting period between knowing whether or not the baby is going to be a boy or girl. In Judith Lorber’s essay, Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender, she talks about gender and what a man or a women have to do to that is required in their specific gender. Both these essays deal with the idea of choosing what sex a child is going to be based on their ambiguous genitals and how their gender will affect them in the society.

There are three factors that in this present time that deal with the intersex condition. Two specialists, John Money and Anke A. Ehrhardt, constructed a theory saying that gender identity can be manipulated up to eighteen months of age ( ). People who have been born into the intersex condition, nowadays, have many options to choose from on how to fix the so called problem ( ). Since technology advances everyday, there have been newly discovered ways to perform the surgery to repair the genitals ( ). Feminism also plays a part in the intersex condition.

Now, feminists say that if a person has the presence or absence of gonads, it is no longer the only decisive factor for that gender he or she is in ( ). To continue, if a baby is born with ambiguous genitals, then it needs to be assigned a gender as quickly as possible ( ). I agree with that statement because I have a family friend that had to go through the same ordeal and she had to hide the fact that her newborn wasn’t assigned a gender yet. That is sometimes hard for people to deal with because they want to know whether their baby is a boy or girl.

The doctors play a huge role in the choosing of the baby’s gender. The parents depend on the doctor for insight on everything because the doctor is the expert. If the doctor doesn’t have a quick and comforting answer to the parents question, Is it a boy or a girl? then the parents may feel uncertain and very upset. Therefore the doctor needs to be decisive and unambiguous, so that the parents are settled, their credibility is not questioned and they help keep Money and Ehrhardt’s theory valid ( ).

I also think that this is a necessity, because its hard enough hearing that your child is neither fully male nor fully female, but if the doctor doesn’t know how to deal with it, then who do the parents turn to. If I were in that position, I too would be going crazy, trying to figure out what to do about my child. Its like thinking, Do I want a male or a female child? I would need some assistance in that choice. Keller discusses some things doctors should have not said in post delivery. For example, You have a little boy, but he’ll never function as a little boy, so you better raise him as a little girl, ( ).

What do the parents say to the family and friends during the time the infant is getting surgery? One of the doctor’s told one of the stories she heard, saying that the parents lied and told everyone they had twins, then when they found out the baby’s gender, they had told everyone that the other twin had dies ( ). As I was reading this, I had also thought that if I were in that position I would probably do the same thing and tell a white lie. It may be hard to do, but since this society is very cruel, a birth defect can put someone in a different social class when that person grows up.

Judith Lorber discusses the idea of gender and how it is a social institution. Lorber explicitly explains to us that since gender is a social institution, it is one of the major ways that human beings organize their lives ( ). I believe that explanation, because gender revolves around everything you do that fits your gender group. If you are a female you will do female things because that’s just what you are supposed to do. If you are male then you will do male things. Lorber makes reference that in order to understand gender as a social institution; there is a need to know the difference between a human being and an animal ( ).

She gives much description as to how humans are dependent upon the social structure of their lives and how animals live their lives all through instinct and imitation ( ). Lorber states that the roots of gender are socially constructed statuses ( ). In the United States and all around the world, there are two gender statuses, man or woman. Also, modern western societies consider transsexuals and transvestites, not as a third gender, but just changing over from man to women or vice versa ( ). Everybody is has a social status that he or she abides by.

Ray Birdwhistell, who studies how body motion is a form of human communication, says that humans need to have a gender of a male or female because that just the way the human specie needs to be set up. Genitalia are the only thing that differentiates a male from female. In my view, I think that if one person has to be in a gender, then that person should be able to chose what they want to be. I think that genitalia shouldn’t matter at all as to if you are considered a male or female. It should be the choice of that human being if it wants to be considered a male, female, or any other gender it wants to make up.

Gender much at all to me. I think a person should be what they want when they want. Nobody should have a say in it but that person. But in our society, that will never happen without being harassed or tortured by the rest of the world. Our society has set the standard for the normal male and the normal female. Our society says that any of the people born with ambiguous genitals should somehow mend the problem and get surgery done so that it can live a normal life. I think that a person should have the choice of just living the natural life they were given if they want to. If they don’t, then they are free to do what they want.

For many people in the 1930s living conditions were not as adequate as they needed to be. The stock market had just crashed in 1928, and the US was in the midst of the Great Depression. Many people suffered from lack of money, and many others suffered from lack of food. One group of people who suffered greatly during this time period were the southern share croppers. Factors that caused the substandard living conditions of the southern share croppers in the 1930s include lack of education, poor health care, and inadequate living facilities.

The first factor that caused the substandard living conditions of the southern share croppers was their lack of education. There were several reasons the share croppers didnt get the education they needed. One main reason was because many children didnt go to school. Harold Walker writes that Southern cotton states ranked lower in rate of attendance for each student enrolled than any of the other states in the nation (4). A factor that contributed to this was their excessive mobility, which inhibited many children from going to school (Corder 27).

It is common knowledge that any child who constantly moves around will not be able to attend school on a regular basis, and even if they go to a school when they get a chance they will be so far behind they would have a difficult time catching up. Another factor that impeded on a childs attendance at school was the fact that they never went to school when there was cotton to be picked (Walker 8). This may not seem like a large task, but some times it could take weeks to pick all the cotton.

These few weeks that a child spent picking cotton was valuable learning time, and missing it could put a child too far behind to catch up. Another reason share croppers didnt get the education they needed was because many southern rural schools had short terms (Gentry 21). Because of this teachers would not be able to cover all of the material that they needed to cover, or they would have to rush through the material they did cover. A final reason the education of the southern cotton states was not as good as other states was because their teachers were not as good.

This was reflected in the fact that the salaries of Southern teachers were not as high as the salaries of other teachers (Mckeon 98). Back in the 1930s the higher a teachers salary was the higher their quality and training was (Mckeon 98). This meant that when children did go to school they did not get adequate teaching. Because of all of these reasons education of the Southern cotton states was at an all time low. The children were not getting the education they needed, so they were forced to work the substandard jobs such as sharecropping. This meant that their children would not get the education they needed, either.

It was a cycle that led to the lowering of the general living conditions of southern share croppers, but lack of education was not the only factor that lowered the living conditions of the share croppers. Another reason the living conditions of the southern share croppers were so low was because they had poor health care. To begin with the tenant farmers did not eat in a healthy manner. Mckeon writes that many tenant farmers in the South said that garden vegetables, milk, butter, and eggs were never a part of their diet (116). One of the main things that they did eat was sowbelly, a fat salty pork (Walker 33).

Because they ate so poorly it was hard for them to stay healthy. Another health concern of the tenant farmers was that their clothing was very coarse and not warm enough (Gentry 38). Many of the men wore denim overalls and the women wore cheap cotton and homemade underwear, if any at all (Gentry 38). Wearing clothing like this could be very hard on a person during the winter months, and could easily lead to diseases such as the flu or pneumonia. These diseases were hard for the poor sharecroppers to combat because it was hard for them to afford any medication, if there were any medications at all to help them out.

Another disease that plagued the southern sharecroppers was typhoid fever (Gentry 31). This disease was spread through contaminated wells and took a heavy toll on the life and energy of a person (Gentry 31). Malaria, which led to several fatalities, was also a serious problem for the tenant farmers (Corder 98). It was a major problem for many of the unfitting men, and the men who worked long energetic hours (Corder 98). With all of these health hazards it was hard for the southern share croppers to stay healthy. To make the problem even worse there were not enough health care facilities to take care of the sick.

Walker writes that in the 1930s there was an average of 210 persons per hospital bed in the south, while the national average was only 120 (10). This led to many overcrowded hospitals, and many times the sick had to be sent home and took care of there. The bad thing about this was that the disease could be spread around the family, and soon around the community because there was nothing to contain it. Because of this the living conditions of the southern sharecroppers continued to decline, and it became harder and harder for them to make a better life for themselves.

Another major problem many of the southern sharecroppers faced was poor housing. In many cases the houses of the southern sharecroppers were in horrid condition. Walker writes that many of the houses were huts on the verge of collapsing (17). Many of these huts were on the verge of collapsing into the water that surrounded them (Walker 4). To get to these houses surrounded by water logs were placed in a makeshift manner, and it was very dangerous to cross (Walker 4). A misplaced foot or a slippery log could easily have led to a severe injury, or maybe even death.

The surrounding water could have also been an easy place for diseases, or dangerous animals to manifest, yet creating another health problem for the tenant farmers. Houses for the southern share croppers of this time were usually only two or three rooms, which made it almost impossible for anyone to have privacy or decency (Walker 87). The close living conditions also made it easier for germs to spread, which meant that when one person in a family got sick the rest of the family got sick along with them. The construction of these shacks that the tenant farmers lived in was also very poor.

In many cases the roofs were leaky (Walker 40). In other cases the houses were never even painted, which meant that the houses were more susceptible to rotting or water damage. After looking back at the way the southern sharecroppers lived it is easy to see that their way of life was well below what is considered decent. These tenant farmers were plagued with disease, they lacked a thorough education, and they lived in wretched little shacks that were well below societys standards. It was hard for the sharecroppers to get out of this way of life, though, because they had little money, and their education was lacking.

Should parents pay a blood bank to store the blood from their newborn baby’s umbilical cord and placenta, in case that child or another family member ever needs it to treat cancer or leukemia? Expectant parents are being urged to do so by companies that have sprung up during the past few years to sell cord-blood banking as a form of “biological insurance” against such dreaded diseases. The pitch is based on reports in medical journals, such as a major study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, showing that cord blood can sometimes be used in place of a bone marrow transplant.

Like bone marrow, cord blood is rich in stem cells, which can churn out many different types of cells to rebuild a patient’s blood supply and immune system after high doses of radiation and chemotherapy. And a patient’s own cord blood, or that from a relative, is more likely than cord blood from an unrelated donor to be a good tissue match and to be accepted by the recipient’s body. Some experts in bone-marrow transplantation and blood banking frown on the cord-blood business, arguing that people are being frightened into wasting money on a service they will probably never need.

Moreover, private companies are growing in tandem with public banks, and some scientists worry that private banking will limit public access to cord blood. They are concerned because the cord blood in private banks remains the property of the donor family and is not available to patients seeking a compatible donor. But the companies say that however remote the possibility that the blood will be needed, people who choose to bank their own cord blood have a right to do so.

In most cases their cord blood would be thrown away in the delivery room if they did not pay to bank it. There are only a few cord-blood banks in the United States, and most hospitals do not have specially trained staff members to collect the blood. Like bone marrow, cord blood must be matched to the recipient by tests for six inherited traits that determine an individual’s tissue type. Cord blood does not have to be as precisely matched as bone marrow, but still, the closer the match, the better the odds of success.

The weaker the match, the more likely it is that the recipient’s body will reject the transplant, or the transplant will attack the recipient’s tissues, in life-threatening reaction called graft versus host disease. The companies that freeze cord blood and bank it point out that a person’s own cord blood is a perfect match, and a sibling’s cord blood a more likely match than a specimen from a stranger. And so, the argument goes, the best way to protect an entire family from the unthinkable is to save the newborns’ cord blood.

Promotional literature for one company, Cord Blood Registry, in San Bruno, Calif. , emphasizes that people with cancer in the family may have a special interest in cord-blood banking, along with those who have the hardest time finding matches, hich includes members of racial minorities, especially families in which the parents are of different races. According to a spokeswoman, Scoti Kaesshaefer, the company reaches parents-to-be by promoting itself to doctors, nurses and childbirth educators, and by leaving information at hospitals.

Among the promotional materials the company provided to the New York Times were copies of articles from other newspapers suggesting that cancer among children is on the rise. The company also has a Web site and an 800 number with a recorded greeting that instructs callers to have their credit cards ready. The idea of saving one’s own cord blood seems to be catching on. Cord Blood Registry, which describes itself as the largest private cord-blood banking firm in the United States, has stored 10,000 samples during the past three years: 1,500 in 1995, 3,000 in 1996 and 6,000 in 1997.

The company charges an initial fee of $1,200 to collect a sample and freeze it, and then $95 a year to keep it stored in liquid nitrogen at the blood bank at the University of Arizona. Customers include people with perfectly healthy children, who just want extra peace of mind, as ell as some families who have lost a child to leukemia or another disease and fear for the health of their other children. In its three years of operation, eight customers have retrieved their cord blood for use in medical treatment, said Kaesshaefer.

All eight samples were used for siblings or relatives, she said. By contrast, the largest public-access bank of cord blood, at the New York Blood Center in Manhattan, has collected only 8,686 specimens in six years. But nearly 800 of those samples have been used to treat patients, many of them children, in the United States and overseas. Critics of private cord-blood companies point out that even if a person with banked cord blood does need a transplant later, the stored blood may not be the best choice. Dr.

Pablo Rubinstein, who directs the cord-blood program at the New York Blood Center, said there was a compelling medical argument against using a patient’s own cord blood in some cases. In some young children with leukemia, he said, malignant cells were already present at birth in the cord blood, and transfusing those cells back into the child later might contribute to a relapse. In addition, he aid, bone marrow from a donor could help destroy diseased cells, an effect known as graft versus leukemia. A person’s own cord blood might not have that effect, and in some cases even a sibling’s might not.

Dr. John Wagner, associate director of bone marrow transplantation at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said that for a child being treated recently, he deliberately rejected cord blood from a sibling in favor of a well-matched unit from an unrelated donor, hoping to take advantage of its antileukemic effect. Dr. Robertson Parkman, director of bone marrow transplantation at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, said he saw no point in banking cord blood for most families. “It’s motivated by fear,” he said.

But in families with an ill child who might need a bone-marrow transplant, he said, it makes sense to collect cord blood from any siblings born later and save it. Medical centers with transplant programs will often perform that service, he said. So will some of the private companies, without a fee. When a bone-marrow donor could not be found for 4-year-old Joshua Kelton, who was suffering from leukemia, his parents, stationed at a military base in Honolulu, conceived another child in he hope that the baby’s tissues would match Joshua’s.

They did, and Cord Blood Registry collected the cord blood at birth, stored it in Arizona for a month, and then, when Joshua was ready for the procedure, transported it to a medical center at Stanford University. Joshua was treated with his infant brother’s cord blood in August, and has been declared free of leukemia. “Right now, he’s 100 percent,” his father said in a telephone interview, “a normal child, the way he was before this happened. ” But the Keltons’ experience is hardly representative.

That the family was certain it would need the cord blood sets it apart from most families that store the blood. Wagner is wary of the hard sell of some of the cord-blood companies. “My concern is that it be presented fairly to expectant mothers, who are already fairly vulnerable,” he said. “I have a lot of obstetricians and parents calling me and complaining it’s too late, they missed the opportunity. Others call saying, ‘Should I do this? ‘ It’s hard to answer. I don’t want to bias them. We have someone now who takes the calls for me because it got to be overwhelming. “

Infants grow at a very rapid rate during the first one and a half years of life. Their development is not only physical, it is also mental, emotionally, and social. These developments are the blue prints for further development in life. During development, there are three basic developmental laws. The first one is the babys development in the head region, followed by the upper body, followed by the trunk portion, and lastly the legs and feet. For example, a baby can hold up their heads first before they can grab an object with their hand. The second law is the babys motor skills. Motor skills are the childs ability to control movement.

There are two basic types of motor skills; they are arge motor skills and fine motor skills. Large motor skills deal with all the large muscles, fine motor skills deal with smaller muscles in the body. The 3rd developmental law is Brain development. As the brain develops, a child responds more and more to sight and sound. Babies are born having some sort of reflexes in order for them to adapt to their surroundings. In the first 2 weeks after birth, infants develop some new reflexes. Babies begin to explore their grasping reflex where they can hold tightly to an object.

A lot of these behaviors are important for a childs survival, without these a child would not be able to hysically develop. The absence of reflexes in a newborn is signals of possible problems in brain development. A babys attention span is very limited. In the first two months, they can only focus on an edge of an object, however by the end of the 2nd month they can see a whole object. Newborns can hear soft voices as well as loud voices and can also notice differences between different sounds that are made. When babies hear someone talking they are inclined to open their eyes wider and look for the speaker.

Infants love the sounds of children since their voices are in a high pitch. This is why they like to hear baby alk Cognitive thinking development is the reasoning and logic of an infant. The first 18 months of development is the sensory motor. In this stage infants develop basic units of knowledge. During this stage infants can form these units only when objects are present. They cannot think about missing objects because they cant act on them. When a very young infant sees an abject and then looks away, the infant thinks the object is no longer there.

They do not have the concept of knowing its there, if its out of sight. Infants will begin to develop the idea of permanent objects at around 4 months. Also, at this part of life they are beginning to learn that a disappearing object can still exist. Infants between 4- 8 months will follow a moving object with their eyes until it has vanished, but they dont search for it. From about 8-12 months infants for the first time will search manually for an object that disappears out of their sight. Social and emotional teaching is an important concept for parents to be aware of.

A nurturing environment can build trails that encourage emotional stability, while repeated stress may cause problems further in development. Infants learn from the people around them the most. Infants learn how to handle a situation through what other people are doing. During the first hour after birth an emotional tie begins. From an early age infants are alert to the people around them. They prefer to look at children and at attractive faces. Infants also communicate through their feelings by crying and screaming. From 0-4 months babies show the majority of their emotions through crying.

Also they can communicate that they want to be alone by turning away and sucking their thumbs. A baby that smiles and is looking around is enerally showing signs that they want to interact with others. Not responding to an infants emotional sign can slow down their social development. Its at this point that they also develop a sense of trust. This strong sense of trust establishes their trust for a lifetime. Without this a baby may have problems communicating with others later on in their development. Often at 5 through 7 months infants develop a sense of fear or shyness of strangers, which is completely naturally.

Infants at this age will sometimes cling to their parents and will not want to be touched by people who they see as being nfamiliar. From 0-4 months babies show the majority of their emotions through crying. They have many cries in which they show different emotions. From 4-8 months infants begin to express a wider range of emotions. Pleasure, happiness, fear, and frustration are shown through gurgles, cools, and wails. They also show movements such as kicking, arm waving, rocking and smiling. From 8-18 months they develop a sense of self. They begin to recognize their image in a mirror and start to become more and more independent.

Babies at this stage have a wide range of emotional states. One minute they could be happy and playing and the next minute they could be kicking and screaming. Moral development begins early in an infants life. Moral develop depends on the type of training and attention an infant gets through its parents. If they are disciplined early enough in age they will grow up knowing things that are right and wrong. If a parent ignores a child and lets them think that the bad things are ok to do, they grow up having no morals taught through their parents.

Children most likely will first learn to respond to the words such as “no” and “hot”. There are 3 stages to moral development. These are preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. Moral development begins with preconventional thinking, which children obey in order to avoid punishment. What determines a childs position in these stages is weather or not they choose what they have done is right or wrong. Speech development beings within the first week after birth. A childs first form of communication is crying. Crying is a babys way of usually saying that they are hungry, tired, or need their diaper changed.

By 3 months babies begin all the gurgles and “woos”. This is the beginning of their development of vowel sounds. By the age of 5 to 6 months most babies will begin to babble and may even slip out the words”ma”, or “da. ” Although a baby might say these words, they cant tie them to a certain person. 10-15 months toddlers can understand a few more words. Names and objects that they hear often are the most easily understood. The most common of these words are mama, dada, cookie, doggy, and car. At this stage in communication babies also learn inflection, which is raising your voice when asking a question.

At 18-24 months their vocabulary has increased and toddlers re most likely to repeat any word they hear. Their vocabulary may include as many as 200 words or more. From this stage on they begin to put words together and can eventually speak a sentence. There are many factors that also contribute to the development of a child. Many things can slow down the development such as low birth weight, being premature and drug use. Birth weight is an important factor associated with an infants overall development and health. Children who were born under 5 pounds are more likely to have serious medical problems and to also have developmental delays.

The topic of child welfare is quite a broad one. There are numerous programs and policies that have been put in place to protect children. One of these policies is that of Adoption. Adoption was put into place to provide alternate care for children who cannot live with their biological families for various reasons. One of the more controversial issues surrounding adoption is that of Transracial adoption. Transracial Adoption is the joining of racially different parents and children (Silverman, 1993). Adoption is as old as time itself, even if it wasnt formally called that.

It has been spoken about in old Greek texts, and in the bible itself. However, not until the 1850s was adoption legally sanctioned. At this point, adoption was usually a matter of financial circumstances. Children were given to farmers to help tend the land during Industrialization, because some families were unable to financially care for the children in their new lives in the city. As the need for adoption laws increased, Massachusetts instituted the first formal statute. These statutes however, did little to protect the child.

Finally, in 1917, Minnesota required the state agency of child welfare to investigate these cases and make recommendations to the court. In present day, now that racism prejudice and segregation is something that children learn about in history books, there is a new issue surrounding adoption. It is now considered controversial when a couple of one race wishes to adopt a child of another race. Transracial adoption is a topic that must be confronted and dealt with so that all children in need of a permanent home can get the best family possible.

Although it does not state in Social Work Policy Statements that Transracial adoption is unacceptable, it does state, The social work profession stresses the importance of ethnic and cultural sensitivity. An effort to maintain a childs identity and his or her ethnic heritage should prevail in all services and placement actions that involve children in foster care and adoption programs (NASW 2000). This statement was made to ensure that we do not lose the importance of our childrens heritage.

However, it also states that Barriers that are unsupported by tested experience, such as resistance to using single parents, foster parents (for adoption), and nontraditional family patterns. (NASW 2000). The relevant policies also states The recruitment of and placement with adoptive parents from each relevant ethnic or racial group should be available to meet the needs of children (NASW 2000). This is geared more towards preventing racism against the adoptive parents. For instance, and African American adoptive parent is just as capable as a Caucasian or Asian in raising a child.

There are many laws that are in place to protect adoptive children and their families as well. One of these laws is the Howard M. Metzenbaum Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994, herein referred to as MEPA. MEPA prohibits an agency or entity that receives Federal assistance and is involved in adoptive or foster care placements from delaying or denying the placement of a child on the basis of race, color or national origin of the adoptive or foster parent, or the child involved.

In addition to this, in 1996 congress amended MEPA, with the Interethnic Adoption Provisions (IEP). IEP prohibits agencies from denying or delaying a childs placement solely because of race or national origin. The provisions included removing misleading terminology. It was changed to discrimination is not to be tolerated; this new terminology strengthens the enforcement of procedures. MEPA and its IEP also have some very specific intentions. First, its intention is to decrease the length of time that a child waits to be adopted.

It is also meant to facilitate the recruitment and retention of foster and adoptive parents that can meet the distinctive needs of children. Lastly, it intends to eliminate discrimination on the basis of the race, color, or national origin of the child or the prospective parent. Many agencies are involved in adoption. These systems are involved on the micro, mezzo, and macro level. The systems that are the most involved on a micro level are the families and the children themselves. Adoption agencies are affected and involved at a macro level.

A practitioner has many roles when working within the adoption system. They must be able to mediate, agitate, broker, and advocate. A practitioner must do all these roles on the micro, mezzo, and macro level. In order to mediate on a micro level, they must be able to mediate between the adoptive families-the children-and the families who have given up the child. On a mezzo level, they must mediate between agencies and families. A practitioner must also agitate the systems on all fronts.

They must do this by working within the families to find the appropriate family for each individual family, and if none seem acceptable, they must stir up the need for better placements. They also must agitate the agency in which they work, so that their coworkers do not drop the ball, or leave a child in limbo for too long. If a practitioner sees that there are problems within the policies and laws with adoption, they must take on the responsibility to agitate the government and show the need and initiative to make policy changes.

Realistically speaking, a social worker that works in adoption has to be a broker. They have to provide the services that the child, and each family may need. If they cannot themselves do the follow up services, then they must refer the families and the children to the appropriate service agencies. As social work professionals constantly say, the clients best interest is our top priority. In the instance of adoption, the child is your number one priority. Therefore, a practitioner must advocate for the child.

A child cannot take care of itself, so it is up to the practitioner to keep the childs best interests in mind. It states clearly over and over again in Professional Social Work research that racism is unacceptable. Continually, we read about Social Work competencies dealing with cultural diversity issues. We are expected as Social Workers to respect all family systems, even non-traditional ones. However, the National Association Of Black Social Workers (NABSW) made a policy statement in 1972 vehemently opposing Transracial adoption.

More specifically, they claim that the future placement of black children with white families must cease immediately. The reasons for this are that raising a black child in a white family denies the blackness of the child. They cannot learn about their culture, ethnicity, or heritage appropriately from a white family. Furthermore, this belief is supported by research that states, Agencies do not intentionally seek to be culturally destructive but rather lack the capacity to help minority clients or communities.

Our Code of Ethics states that we must have certain competencies. Within these competencies are competencies dealing with cultural issues. Cultural competence is paramount for all adoption issues. If we cannot understand the clients culture that we represent, we cannot represent our client. Our cultural competencies state, Social workers shall use appropriate methodological approaches, skills, and techniques that reflect the workers’ understanding of the role of culture in the helping process.

More specifically they must] assess the meaning of culture for individual clients and client groups, encourage open discussion of differences, and respond to culturally biased cues (NASW 2001). Understanding a culture is still different then being completely aware of that culture. A practitioner must be able to find the appropriate fit for the adoptive child within their adoptive family. For some children, they would rather just have a family, for other children, they may want to wait for a family from their national origins.

When children are older, they can express their preferences, however, as social workers we do not want to deny an infant of their heritage. In order to know the full effect of Transracial adoption, longitudinal studies must be done. Fortunately, these studies began in the Sixties and Seventies, so the research results are available to us now. There have been nearly a dozen studies to research the effect Transracial adoption has had on preadolescent and younger children. The results are conclusive, that nearly 75% of transracially adopted children adjust well in their adoptive homes (Silverman 1993).

It shows us that Transracial adoption is a viable means of providing stable homes for waiting children. In 1995 a study was performed, and Transracial adoption was shown not to be detrimental for the adoptee in terms of adjustment. Furthermore, these terms include self-esteem, academic achievement, peer relationships, parental, and adult relationships. What does this all mean Some say that the main issue isnt racial matching policies, but the need to address the reasons why there are so many more black children that go into foster care than other races.

Black women adopt the most frequently in the United States, however, there are no where near as many adoptive parents that could racially match the children waiting for a home. This is very disturbing, there should not be hundreds of thousands more of one race than another in adoption systems. This shows that there is a problem within the system. The root of this problem may be that adoption agencies are encouraged, one way or another, to be racist. There are fewer restrictions for whites to adopt a child of color internationally than domestically (Smith 1996).

In fact, many agencies will not allow white parents to adopt U. S. born black or biracial black children. Ever since the NABSW made their claim in 1972 that it was completely unacceptable for black children to be adopted by white families, there has been a halt in the progression of transracial adoption acceptance. The NABSW reaffirmed its opposition in the 1980s. However, the adoptive children in the United States are primarily black children. If they are not allowed to be adopted by white parents, than more and more black children will clog the child welfare agencies.

Perhaps more black children are removed from their biological homes for reasons such as poverty, lack of housing, or lack of jobs. However, research and studies show that whites are just as poor as blacks are. This means that child welfare workers are targeting black families, and that whites live in more rural areas, where they are less likely to be singled out by a welfare agency. This blatant discrimination needs to stop. Solutions to this ghastly problem are occurring few and far between. The NABSW will continue their strong opposition to transracial adoption, regardless of what the studies show.

As social workers, we must continue to become culturally competent. We must realize the worth and dignity of every ethnicity, national origin, race, and cultural heritage. This includes the fact that the NABSW must realize that white families can indeed provide a wonderful home for black children. The practitioners role would be to continually follow up the adoption, and broker services to help the white parents understand and expose themselves and their children to the childs diverse and rich cultural heritage. Reverse racism is a terrible way to raise our children.

Black children should not be prevented from finding a stable and permanent home because the family that is the best fit for them is a white family. The NABSW is being very protective of their children, which is quite respectable, however, their perspective is limiting the possibility for black children to find good homes. There is a plea for tolerance, and it is coming from the children. The older children get within adoption agencies the less adoptable they become. It is our responsibility as professionals to provide the best possible care for our clients.

The image of a child hero or “trickster” is seen in many cultures. This kind of role can tell a lot about how a culture acts and reacts to things. The idea of the child hero in stories written and told before the birth of Christ probably reflect the peoples beliefs that the child is the future, and therefore carries some sort of power or gift. For stories that were written after the birth of Christ, the child could reflect the idea stated above, or it could also be the peoples belief in an infant savior, that a child will make everything right again.

Whether the story comes from before Christ or after, the one uniform aspect about these stories is that they are present in every culture, all around the world. The image of the “trickster” is also very prevalent in the different cultures. It is seen in many different fables and moral-based stories. “You cannot go against the Philistine, you are but a youth, and he has long been a man of war”(Metzger 145). This is what King Saul of Israel said to David when he proposed that he fight the Philistine warrior Goliath.

The story of David and Goliath is quite possibly one of the oldest child hero stories. It was part of the Bible, in the Old Testament. In this story a young man named David proposes to the king of Israel that he fight and attempt to kill Goliath, the giant that had been plaguing Israel. The king agrees, however hesitantly, and David goes on to slay the beast using just a slingshot. While this story is not one that was made up, it still shows us that the ancient Hebrews believed in the fact that a child, or in this case teen, has the will and motivation to do the impossible.

Staying on the eastern side of the world, we will next see examples of Russian stories. In the former Soviet Union, a lot of the time stories, books and other types of art were hard to come by. “In a broader sense, though, recent years have witnessed genuine cultural enrichment, as Gorbachevs glasnost policy permitted the works of previously forbidden writers, artists, and cinematographers to become accessible”(Grolier Multimedia). After the public was able to get at the mass of stories that had been kept from them, there was even more of an increase of books and other forms of art.

The Russian people now had much more of an incentive to write. “In a certain village, not near, not far, ot high, not low, there lived an old couple with one little son named Ivashko” (Wyndham 32). This is the line that begins the story of Ivashko and the Witch. This story takes place in a small village in Russia, and the main character is a small boy named Ivashko. Ivashko was a very independent boy who wanted to go of on his own and go fishing. He begged and pleaded with his parents, and finally they gave in.

His father built him a canoe and off he went. Ivashko was doing well while he was fishing, but and one point was lured to shore by an evil witch. The witch grabbed him and took him to her house deep in the woods. She showed him to her daughter and they decided that they would eat him. At this point the witch left to get some of her friends. Ivashko seized this opportunity, and when the witches daughter went to sit down on a shovel in order to demonstrate to Ivashko how to do it, he through her into the fire.

He then left and ran up a tree. The witch found him and started gnawing at the tree. Luckily for Ivashko, a flock of geese was flying overhead and one flew down to sweep him up. Just as he left the tree fell over on the witch and all her evil friends, crushing them. Ivashko lived happily ever after. This shows that in the Russian culture there is a presence of the child hero, and even shows the image of the trickster in the way Ivashko tricked the witchs’ daughter into showing him how to sit on a shovel.

Ivashko is a hero in this story not only because he killed the witch, but because he rid the lake and the woods of the evil that kept most people from going there. Although this isn’t one of the newly released works in Russia, I think that the children’s stories, sometimes being all that the Russian people had to read that wasn’t corrupted by the government, made a reat contribution to the development of the Russian culture and also had a great impact on many people. The image of the trickster is also very prevalent in different cultures.

In the African culture the trickster comes to the forefront in many different folk tales and fables. He is usually used to teach a lesson or to show a moral. In most cases the trickster ends up getting the short end of the stick, but in the story I’m going to relate to you, Sungura and the Leopard, the trickster comes out on top. In the African jungle there lived a leopard. One day it started to rain, nd fearing that he may lose his spots, the leopard decided to build a house. A short distance away, a rabbit (Sungura) had the same idea.

Both chose the same spot to build a house. They both then started to go and gather wood. Each was adding to the same pile, but neither one knew that the other was also going to build there. They just thought that their ancestors had put the extra wood there. Leopard then went to get mud for the roof, and came back to find the house already framed. He attributed this to his ancestors and went on to finish the house. The two slept in the house that night not knowing that they were together. In the morning they found each other and agreed to build a small wall and share the house.

After a while, Rabbit started a family. The noise got too annoying for Leopard, so he decided that he would kill them. Rabbit overheard and decided that it was time to play a trick on Leopard. He started having his kids cry for elephant meat. Leopard overheard this and got scared. He figured ” if he can kill an elephant then he can kill me”. So he left. He then saw a baboon, and was called foolish for believing the rabbit. Then he went back. He then overheard Rabbit say “I can’t believe that leopard listened to the baboon! What a fool! (Knuston 19). Rabbit then had his children cry for Leopard meat, and when Leopard heard Rabbit say that he would go out and hunt some, he left for good. Rabbit now had the house all to himself. This is a tale that came out of the Ashanti tribe, and the point of it was to say that even if you are small, if you use your brain then you can prevail. “Ashanti artistic creations include a wealth of myths and tales… ” (Miller 2). Tales such as this one are seen throughout the African tribes, and he trickster is usually the one who prevails.

The Ashanti, as well as the other tribal Africans, believed that it was more important to use ones mind and to be able to think quick than to just rely on brute strength all of the time. Using the image of the trickster also served as an educational tool. It displayed to the young children that they can get out of a conflict without fighting. It also taught them that pride was bad, because Leopard only wanted the house so that he wouldn’t lose his spots, and Rabbit, the winner, only wanted the house so he could raise a family.

European culture also has its fair share of trickster tales in Aesops Fables. In these stories, which were said to have been written by a Greek man named Aesop some time in the sixth century BC, there is always a moral for an ending. While Aesops Fables is more of a collection of stories from different, unknown authors, Aesop gets the credit for it. The most commonly used “trickster” in the fables is the wolf. He is shown to be very sneaky and mean, but also very smart. In many of the tales he is successful as the trickster, and his main objective is usually to eat ome sort of defenseless animal.

One example of the wolf as a trickster is the story of the “Wolf and the Crane”. In this story, the wolf has a bone stuck in his throat and asks a crane to use its long neck to pull it out. The wolf offers a reward, so the crane reluctantly accepts. After the bone is out the crane asks for her reward, and gets this reply, ” You can go about boasting that you once put your head into a Wolf’s mouth and didn’t get it bitten off. What more do you want? ” (Santore 3). this showed the cunningness of the wolf whereas he got the service that he eeded for nothing in return.

One fable where the trickster didn’t come out on top was in the fable entitled ” The donkey in the Lion’s Skin”. In this case the trickster was a donkey. He found a lion skin, dressed himself in it, and then went around scaring friends. When he neighed in happiness at his triumph, the fox heard him, and exposed him for what he was. Here the fable taught the moral that if one is to be a trickster, then make sure you are very careful about it. Probably the most famous tricksters and child heroes ever to be introduced to the world were Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.

These two boys, created by Mark Twain, spent their entire lives tricking people for different reasons and also becoming heroes by getting themselves into many interesting adventures. In the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer the two boys end up capturing a criminal and bringing him to justice before the whole town. Another example of Tom Sawyer’s heroics was when he and a girl were trapped in a cave, and when she passed out from exhaustion he took it upon himself to get her water and keep her alive. In the end they were rescued from the cave and Tom was given accolades as a hero.

Throughout the world today one out of every six children under the age of six are suffering from health disorders due to a poisonous metal known as lead(Kiwanis, 1996). Lead is a natural occurring bluish-grey metal found in the earth’s crust. It has no taste or smell. Lead can easily be found in all parts of our environment today. Most of it comes from mining, manufacturing, and last but not least the burning of fossil fuels(Xintaras, 1993). In the United States lead poison has increased because of the lack of knowledge in our society. (Background information on the effect’s lead poison has on children)

Lead is released into the environment by industries, the burning of fossil fuels or wastes. When lead enters the environment, it starts to become a problem. After a period of about ten days, depending on the weather, it falls to the surface. Here lead builds up in the soil particles. Where it may make its way into underground water or drinking water due to the fact the grounds acidic or if it’s soft enough. Either way it stays a long time on the soil or in water. Months or years down the road after the lead has built up it starts to become a problem for children that play outside of their homes (Xintaras, 1993).

These lead containing soil particles get on the child’s hands or clothing and end up in the child’s mouth. After the build up of so much lead it leads to a problem commonly known as lead poison. Lead poisoning has been an issue since the early 1900s, when the use of lead started being banned from the manufacturing of paint in foreign countries such as Australia(Monheit, 1996). Unfortunately the United States did not start banding it until 1978, when it finally became illegal in our nation. Today 90% of the lead in the atmosphere comes from the burning of gasoline.

This problem has been a large issue since he 1920s, when the EPA(Environmental Protection Agency) started making laws on the amount of lead allowed in gasoline. There are many other ways that a child especially under the age of six can be diagnosed to lead poison besides air pollution. One of the most common ways of our past is when a child eats or chews on an object that has lead based paint chips in or on its surface. Parents can easily prevent this from happening by reading labels or buying objects which are not painted. Another way in a child can be affected is by drinking water that comes from lead pipes.

Houses built prior to 1978 have been found very unsafe due to the older pipes(Verstraaten, 1997). These pipes can be easily replaced in most situations. This process may be expensive but it pays off dearly when it comes to your family, and never let your child drink from a water fountain or a water hose that you are not sure is safe(Reducing Lead Hazards When Remodeling Your Home, 1994). The build up of lead in the soils another problem. Bare soil can easily contain lead from car exhaust, paint peeling, and near by industries pollution.

The easiest way to prevent this is by not letting you child play on bare soil or over the soil before letting the child play in the area(Handout IIa: Activities to Reduce Environmental Exposure, 1997). Breathing workplace air has been a problem in past also. When parents are not aware of the near by power plants or industries, which could be letting off lead into the air. It can lead to problems. So its always best that you know the area really well that you child is playing in. Another incident that occurred here recently in North Carolina was a young child was discovered having lead poison after eating some pool-cue chalk.

Researchers here found the cue chalk could actually be a source of nvironmental lead(Modica 1996). There are many effects or symptom that lead poison can have on a child if diagnosed at an early age. These injuries our so severe because the body and the brain are not fully developed, which can leave children with subtle but irreversible injuries that does not appear until many years after the exposure of lead(Monheit, 1). In young children, lead retards the development of the central nervous system and brain. Lower levels of lead can reduce their IQ, reading and learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder and behavior problems.

When these are added up it causes the student to become a dropout from school and a negative contribution to our communities(Monheit, 1996). The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta (CDC) have found that these injuries occur when blood levels rise to a mere 10 Micrograms per deciliter of whole blood. Lead poisoning is treatable in the early stages due to the great amount of investigation that the medical and environmental fields have put forth, but the damage that the lead does in a child’s body is not treatable, so once the lead has been damaged, its permanent (Monheit, 1996).

The CDC also asks parents to make sure that their child receives a blood-lead test at each pediatric checkup at least until the age of seven. If any of the following symptoms, are obtained by any child consult to immediate emergency care: sluggish behavior, apathy headaches staring periods, tremors, seizures, loss of consciousness abdomen cramps, loss of appetite, constipation irritability hyperactive behavior All of the following symptoms are early stages of lead poisoning and if not treated when possible the symptoms of this poisoning may lead to a child being put into a coma or even death.

Ways that people can stay informed on lead poison) Information on lead poison today is so easy to get access of. One of the easiest sources of information can be found on the Internet. Many people still do not yet realize how much information it releases. I found that this subject had thousands of documents over the Internet that could be easily reached by the touch of a few keys. Examples of this is: Preventing lead poisoning by the Kiwanis International, Lead Paint Poisoning of Children by the Law Offices of Herbert Monheit, and Lead by ToxFAQs.

Besides the Internet they’re other tools hat can easily be obtained such as Ebsco Host. This is a program in which one can find information in periodacles over a computer. It saves a lot of time because one doesn’t have to go to a library and look through periodicals that can take hours. Being this was my first time exploring this program I found many valuable keys of information in it such as: Preventing Childhood Poisoning, the FDA Consumer, which explains the steps that the FDA are taking in order to stay informed on lead and lead poisoning.

Lead in Homes Subject to Additional Disclosure by Business Journal of Charlotte magazine. This magazine tells about the new federal regulations on lead-based paint in 1996. If one doesn’t have access of either of these programs most libraries have many books and periodicals that cover this subject. Other programs that stay informed on this issue can be found governmental agencies such as the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, located in Washington D. C.. This Alliance staff offers technical assistance and will help clubs find local contacts who can offer expert advice for local preventing program.

Materials and requests are also found through the Alliance. Examples f this is: Guide to State Lead Screening Laws, Resource Guide for Financing, Lead-Based Paint Cleanup, and copies of fact-filled articles from news papers, magazines, and other organizations. Another governmental agency which seems to be on top of this subject is The Environmental Protection Agency. They make the law and requirements on lead in our environment today. The Lead Institute of San Francisco offers free pamphlet on lead poisoning and sells testing kits and books on lead poisoning.

Another is the National Lead Information Center/Hotline located in Washington, D. C. has a variety of brochures and facts heets aimed at Parents and explaining the dangers of lead poisoning, the importance of testing children, and safe home renovations(Kiwanis International, 1996). In Chicago Illinois the Films Incorporated Video is a programs that obtain video tape and study guides tilted for the awareness of kids in lead hazard areas. These developed films by Consumers Reports Television and Connecticut Public Television can be purchased for a small price(Kiwanis International, 1996).

The broadcast media doesn’t play a big role on lead poisoning unless an incident comes along which turns out to affect a large umber of people or an important individual. If one needs to stay informed on this information over a sustained period of time, I would direct them to the Internet, because its filled with so many resources and its always up dating its information on a daily bases. (Encouraging Governmental Actions) The government has many actions to protect human health.

One of the leading agencies in this field is the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA began in 1970 with the passage of landmark legislation. Much has been accomplished it those 27 years, but much remains to be done. Due to the earning and failure of the EPA an extensive study entitled Reinventing Environmental Regulations took place on March 16, 1995, the study makes several important points: Americans are committed to a healthy environment. Pollution is a sign of economic inefficiency. Profits can be improved by preventing pollution.

Better decisions result from collaborative processes than adversarial ones. Regulations allowing flexibility can provide greater protection at lower cost. (Hankinson,1996) These regulations would probably not of taken place if it was not up to the regional administrator for Region IV of the United States, John H. Hankinson Jr. (Hankinson, 1996). Today the EPA limits the amount of lead that can be in leaded gasoline to 0. 1 grams of lead per gallon of gasoline(0. 1g/gal), and unleaded gasoline to 0. 05g/gal.

The amount lead in the air is required under 1. micrograms per cubic meter average over three month period, and lead in drinking water to 15 micrograms per liter (Xintaras, 1993). If help is needed the EPA works with several different agencies such as: Occupational Safety and Health Administration that can be reached by this Number (202) 219-8151, the National Conference of State Legislatures at (303) 830-2200, nd the National Lead Information Center Clearinghouse at (800) 424-LEAD. The Food & Drug Administration(FDA) is one of the oldest protection agencies in our nation today.

The FDA is a public health agency, charged with protecting American consumers by enforcing the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and several related public health laws. Today the FDA is located in 157 cities across the country. It investigates and inspects around 95,000 FDA- regulated businesses(The Food and Drug Administration, 1995). This organization is taken steps to protect children from lead poisoning by proposing regulations hat will make it harder for small children to gain access to high-potency lead products.

FDA is also helping ensure that health-care providers and consumers are alerted to the dangers associated with accidental overdoses of lead- containing products (Hingley, 1996). Today the FDA is headed by the Commissioner David A. Kessler, M. D. Government officials face many key arguments or points each day. One argument that I would encourage governmental official to look at is the amount of lead allowed in gasoline. Today the burning of leaded gasoline is the number one pollution dealing with lead.

So in my opinion I would suggest that they reduce the amount of lead in gasoline so that are children and the following generations do not have to deal with this problem. Another point is what is the government and their agencies doing in order prevent this pollution from causing problems in our future. (Supporting non-governmental Organizations) Besides governmental organization there are organizations that work throughout different communities that try too help people that are in need. One example of this is the Program Development Department Kiwanis International.

Children all over the world are watching wrestling now more than ever. Some say it is very entertaining while others say it is garbage. Nonetheless, tickets are selling in less than an hour. Besides matches, which are when two or more wrestlers compete in a ring, there are also interviews where the wrestlers state how they feel to the fans. In these interviews, some wrestlers curse and say disgusting phrases that parents feel their children should not hear, said a high-school student-wrestling fan.

This is one of the many reasons why parents ban their children from watching wrestling. Although some strict parents would never let their children watch wrestling, it is still suitable for children over a certain age of about twelve or thirteen. Today, many people over the age of ten watch wrestling. Kids love to talk about Federation television programs with their friends. Attending a live event allows a family, friends and even football fans to exercise their First Amendment rights. Fans express themselves with self-styled signs that they bring to Federation live events.

They even take pictures of their favorite superstars and mock them as well said a student. It is not right for a child to know these words but they still do learn them in school and other social places, said a parent. Parents should not immediately think that their child is doing these things all from wrestling or something else on television. Wrestling teaches children some interesting things that they should know. The parent could let them watch it not only for the entertainment side of it, but also for its learning experience.

The announcers at the show call the match move-by-move and also use some interesting words that helped me on the SATs, said a student. Parents must not ban their children from wrestling all because they feel the wrestlers have no intelligence. The only reason why they might have a real reason to ban their children from watching wrestling is the sex appeal involved, stated a parent. It is not fair that if an eleven-year-old boy, who probably does not like girls yet, watches wresting and sees what happens. Parents do not want to let their children watch a woman and a man celebrate after a victory by kissing.

If parents do not want their children to watch the Monday Night Raw show and the Thursday night Smackdown show, then they should let them watch the two weekend shows. These shows (WWF Superstars and WWF Livewire) are summaries of what went on in the past week without showing any violence, stated another student. In conclusion, wrestling is suitable for children depending on the maturity of that child. It is up to the parent whether their child should watch wrestling although it is practically the same as watching a rated R movie or even HBO.

When most people think of their childhood, they think of happy times, when they had no cares, no responsibilities. Most people would never think of putting unneeded pressures on little kids. However, I feel that this has happened. Today children are put under a large amount of pressure in school, to pass the Ohio Proficiency Test (O. P. T). In 1995 the fourth grade O. P. T was administered for the first time, then in 1996 the science portion was added, and the sixth grade O. P. T was administered for the first time.

Surely a big test like this would put enough pressure on young kids. In July of 1998 it was decided the pressure was not enough, senate bill 55 was passed. Bill 55 required districts to assess reading skills of students at the end of grades, one, two, and three, identifying students reading below grade level. Third grade students reading below grade level, are offered an intense summer remediation. Districts must also offer summer remediation for students who are below proficient three or more fourth or sixth grade proficiency test.

Bill 55 also made it possible for districts to retain students who are below proficient in three or more fourth or sixth grade proficiency test. As of July 1, 2001 school year, districts must begin to administer the fourth grade reading section of the proficiency test during the fall, spring and summer. Districts must retain fourth grade students if they do not meet the score identified on the proficiency test in reading. They must also offer another chance to take the reading test in the summer after fourth grade.

Kids now have the fear of being held back if they are not able to score proficiently. Kids are of course offered an intense summer remediation for reading help. This however, still puts pressure on the child to pass. As for the other sections of the proficiency test, there are no extra courses offered to help the kids. The only second chance the children will get to take other parts of the test will be in their second year of fourth or sixth grade. Its understood that everyone wants younger generations to be well educated.

The O. P. T may not be the best way to tell if the children are learning well. Taking into consideration all the pressure the kids are put under to pass the test, the results may not be 100 % accurate. Childhood along with education is very important. When we take away the feeling of no responsibilities, and the care free feeling, we are taking away a big part of childhood. Kids should be able to cherish there childhood, rather than worry so much about school. Testing children is not a bad thing, however, putting so much pressure on a child to do good can be a bad thing.

The early childhood socialization plays a major role in a person’s life. Socialization is best described as “a process by which a society’s values and norms, including those pertaining to gender is taught and learned”. This is perhaps the first thing that a child goes thought. As soon as a child is old enough to play with toys, they’re thought that the boys play with the big and strong action figures, while the girls are playing with the Barbie’s. Studies have shown that children as early as eighteen months show preference for gender-stereotyped toys. That leads us to the category of learning gender.

It is also said that children by the age of two are already aware of their own and others’ gender. Also between the ages of two and three, they begin to identify specific traits and behaviors between genders. This leads us to the identification theory, which was presented by an Austrian physician by the name of Sigmund Freud. Freud says that children pass through a series of stages in their development. During the first two stages the oral and the anal stage, a similarity is shown between both boys and girls. Boys and girls know the difference of their own genitals and the genital difference between the two sexes.

This is referred to as the phallic stage the third stage of development. It is during this stage that identification takes place. The children start to model their parent of the same sex’s behavior. Considerably, identification occurs differently for boys and girls. The boys go through a castration anxiety where the love they have for their mother becomes more of a sexual feeling and he views his dad as a rival. The child is cured from this stage as soon as he gets his first glimpse of the female genitalia. The little boy is scared off by thinking that if he stays in competition with his dad he might castrated the same way the female was.

For girls in the other hand, they go through something different in a way but similar in others. Girls go through what is called penis envy. Penis envy is developed at a girl’s first sight of the male genitals. The girl builds a jealousy of the boys extra body parts. Where than she looks at her dad as a superior to her mom. And just like the male she feels she’s in competition with her mother. Although boys and girls are very much different, it is pretty safe to say that their learning theories of gender are very alike.

Innocence is such a precious gift. For those who do not know what exactly innocence is, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines innocence as, freedom from guilt or sin through being unacquainted with evil. When do humans in general have little or no guilt and worries? In the days of our youth, everything is much simpler. Remember never going to work, paying bills, supporting a family, and doing all the other things that is expected from an adult? All children worry about is having a good time. Children take almost nothing seriously.

They can care less about women, popularity, money, or the future. Some people however, feel that innocence is the worst time of anyones life. This brings up the question whether or not innocence is important in life or not. Although it seems as if decisions and events made during a persons childhood are totally irrelevant towards the rest of his/her life, these factors make a tremendous impact on the type of adult a person becomes. For example, it is commonly known that most children who had abusive parents have grown up to be just the same.

If a child had very loving and caring parents, chances are the child will grow to be very loving towards his/her children. A child doesnt know any better during the stage of innocence and is unable to reasonably distinguish the differences between right and wrong. The child who abuses his kids as an adult was brought up that way himself. In his own mind, he feels this is the right way to discipline his children. This shows that innocence does play an important part in everyones life.

Just imagine never having to worry about anything, having a guilt free mind, and being able to do just about anything that can not be done as adults. Holden Caufeild from the book The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, wishes innocence was never lost. To Holden, the perfect example of innocence is his little sister Phoebe. Phoebe has absolutely no hatred towards anyone or anything, as well as no worries. Holden wants to save this kind of innocence from being lost in the transition from childhood to adulthood. What would the world be like if innocence were never lost?

One way it would benefit humanity is the lack of hatred among the world. During youth, their may be an occasional argument of some sort, maybe even a little physical fight, but nothing like firing a handgun at a fellow human being. Children are blind towards the race and ethnicity of others. A kid will hang out with another kid no matter what, it is the lack of innocence and the ignorance we learn from adults that manipulate children otherwise. Think of all the things that the human race can achieve if we all put our minds together.

Another way keeping innocence alive would benefit humanity is the constant craving for fun and adventure. As adults, people have very little if any time at all do things that they enjoy. The adventurous mind is lost in time with the responsibilities that are bestowed upon adults. Once again, if innocence were kept alive, these ambitions would never depart from our lives. As adults people also have more freedom to go places and to do certain things, making it easier to do the things, which they wanted to but could not do during childhood.

Who wouldnt want to live in a world were having fun was always the main priority of life? Some people actually despise the idea of innocence lasting for all eternity. They do believe that innocence is probably the greatest time of anyones life. They do however, feel that the lack of organization and mental capacity of those without innocence would have a tremendously devastating impact on society in general. With the ongoing life of innocence, a large portion of individuals would never have the urge to learn, work, and act upon the necessary needs for humanity to survive.

Without a proper education which is usually provided by those who no longer live in a world of innocence, people would not have the mental abilities to get a good job in life, thus providing little income for families and hurting the lives of children. The lack of a good education and career would also harm the economy. Society would than take on a state much like communism. With the lack of hatred and worries people have as children, People would feel that work is simply something they need to do to raise money.

As long as innocence is kept alive, no one would be terribly angered at the lack of effort people put out in the workplace, resulting in a strong decline in production and quality of needed goods. Maybe Hodlen Caufeild was wrong in wanting to save innocence. It sure is a nice thought though. Perhaps innocence was meant to be lost. There are certain things in life that probably should not be toyed around with. It was gods will to make things the way they are, and I am sure god has a good purpose for everything. All that remains to be said about innocence is to enjoy it while it lasts. It certainly is the happiest time of anyones life.

There have been many classic rag-to-riches stories, and while they may seem almost cliche, there are so few that are overlooked. For example, many musicians in the rock era who we know today grew up in lesser homes, and they struggled to earn a dime. Elton John, as well known and wealthy as he is today, spent the greater part of 10 years fighting diligently to fill small clubs to make a living off of his wonderful musical talent.

While it may be hard for many people to believe, not all quintessential icons in our day ere bathed from golden faucets in oversized mansions; quite the contrary, rather. The famous William Shakespeare is a thriving example of this theory; however, there is a main difference between Shakespeare’s fame from the normal rag-to-riches story, and his eminence is most comparable to Van Gogh. During the time when he was alive, his literature was not taken seriously.

It was merely viewed as a form of writing not meant to be explored, and much less, praised. Aside from this, he came from an extremely poverty-stricken family, where most of them died from diseases. Also, the quality of education in those days was determined by how much money families could lay down to have their children accepted into pristine schools, which was not possible for the great William Shakespeare. In Shakespeares’ days of inadequate education, he must have had a very strong ambition to become a world-reknown writer and poet.

As mentioned, Shakespeare’s family was plagued with much sickness, and it spread like wildfire since they were such a large family crammed into a small, musty English cottage. Third-born William was accompanied by his 6 siblings, Joan, Margaret, Gilbert, Amney, Richard, and Edmund. According to “In the Days of Shakespeare’s Childhood,” most of his siblings lived only into their teen years due to diseases such as yellow fever and malaria. Because of so many child deaths, the exact number of children is debatable, because many died before coming out of infanthood.

In fact, when William was born to his parents, John and Mary, he was the first surviving infant. To give an idea of just how many people were affected by various diseases of the time, as stated by John F. Andrews, in 1592, there were 15,000 deaths. This number was significant enough to have the globe theater close down! The home they grew up on was in Stratford-Upon-Avon on Henley Street, a small village that now houses his home as a museum and it features much of his praised work.

At this time, children of the renaissance were considered to be young adults, and they were expected to exude the utmost of proper manners. Shakespeare’s work, along with all drama literature, was not taken seriously at this time. “Drama litereature was severely underpraised at this time,” as agreed in “Shakespeare’s life” . Also, the first attempts at learning Shakespeare’s childhood were made 50 years after his death, which is why there are so many conflicting pieces of information on his life.

Shakespeare’s home-life qualifies him perfectly for a rag-to-riches story. In addition to his mediocre family and upbringing, Shakespeare’s schools were not of very high quality unless families had enough money to pay for a higher tuition; thus, a better education. At this time, there were two main schools: grammar schools and petty schools, grammar schools being far more advanced than lesser petty schools. Top eve schools catered to the sons of elite businessmen, while the lower level schools had one grammar master and a few pupils.

As web. vic. ca points out, “If the modern primary school is a complex organic being, centrally controlled and elaborately articulated, the petty school of Shakespeare’s day was a primitive, unstable creation,” which shows the variation in schooling quality, as emphasized by Shakespeare-online. com: the grammar schools varied almost as much as the petty schools in size, wealth, and composition. At the top the great midevial colleges like Winchester (1387) nd Eton (1440) possessed buildings, endowments, and facilities comparable to Oxford and Cambridge.

The schools accessible to Shakespeare were clearly not as simpatico as Oxford or Cambridge. Also, pupils, at this time, were taught by usually a man in a classroom filled with both boys and girls. In Shakespeare’s school, many teachers were fired because of drinking problems which caused the students to fall behind. Even further so when a replacement came in, this new teacher had no way of knowing where the previous teacher left off, and this caused holes to be left in many chidren’s education.

Shakespeare finally started school around the age of 6 going on 7 at the Stratford-Upon-Avon Grammar School, which is a step above a petty school, but was still on the poorer side of the education spectrum. The Stratford-Upon-Avon Grammar School still stands today, and is also a museum of Shakespeare’s. Judging by John Shakespeare’s income (William’s father), it is assumed that the school was not of a very high quality. William also studied much Latin; mainly the famous Latin writers of the past, such as Seneca, Cicero, Ovia, Virgil, and Horace.

Many of William’s adored childhood writers name’s were made famous again in his plays, as one can easily note. Unfortunately, at the age of 13, John Shakespeare fell into financial debt, and William’s education ceased. William Shakespeare was not simply handed a life full of riches and a large cushion which he could fall upon, should he make wrong decisions in his life. For William to become world-reknown in a time when his style of writing was merely viewed as taboo, and coming from such a battered upbringing, it is obvious that William had a very strong internal drive to become so prominent.

Throughout the United States, more than one-third of children don’t live with their biological fathers, and about 17 million of those children don’t live with any father at all. Of those, roughly 40 percent haven’t seen their fathers in the last year. The over 500 Father’s Rights organizations are trying in a variety of ways to change these statistics because they believe that fathers are necessary to the intellectual, psychological and emotional well- being of all children. \”Family values\” groups encourage long lasting stable, marriages and tough divorce laws to increase the number of two- parent households.

Some organizations focus on reasonable child support and visitation, as well as creative joint custody arrangements to combat fatherless ness after divorce. Still other sects within the movement encourage responsible fatherhood through counseling for \”Deadbeat\” or \”Dead-broke\” Dads, job training and placement to increase the likelihood of child support payments and educational seminars to teach men how to be emotionally supportive fathers. The unique coalition of conservative pro-marriage groups, white middle-class divorces and low- income fathers is an unusual alliance.

But regardless of philosophical and tactical differences, the essential mission is the same- to improve the relationship between our nation’s fathers and their children. A Brief History Throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries, wives and children were considered property of the husband. Divorce was very rare, but when it did occur, children would automatically become custody of the father. Even if a father died, his wife was not assured custody of the children unless his will explicitly stated so.

In the Early 1900’s, courts and state legislatures began to support maternal rights, viewing the mother as the more nurturing parent. The \”tender years\” doctrine, implemented in many states, encouraged courts to place young children with mothers because mothers were seen as essential to emotional development. The maternal preference continued to increase throughout the 1950’s and 60’s. With the spread of no-fault divorce laws throughout the late 1970’s, and the increase of women’s participation in the work force, women were more able to obtain divorces from unhappy marriages.

Maternal preference in custody battles gave women a huge advantage, and a vast majority of women obtained sole custody of children in the increasingly more prevalent divorce proceedings. The 1980’s saw the emergence of a new and powerful father hood movement, focused on discrimination in divorce laws and unfair child support orders. 1986, The National Convention for Men, an umbrella group for 36 organizations representing roughly 6,000 men, centered their attention of the issues of child support and custody rights.

The men were outraged by the gender bias men suffer in courts, with 87 to 90 percent of divorce cases giving sole custody to the mother with our without visitation for the father . They emphasized that the feminist movement had changed parenting roles and equalized parental involvement, and demanded that custody laws be changed to reflect this. The president of the NCM, Peter Cyr, urged the men to fight against isolation and alienation from their children. In 51 percent of sole- custody arrangements, the children saw their father less than once a year, according to the Commission on Child and Family Welfare.

The NCM supported joint custody, which was a key issue of fledgling Father’s Rights movement and is still central plank of the father’s rights platform today. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, criticism of single mothers began to mount. The number of two parent families dropped over 11 percent from 1970 to 1980 and continued to drop into the 90’s. Between 1969 and 1992, the percent of AFDC cases involving children born to unwed mothers grew by over 20 percentage points, with over 77% of \”illegitimate\” children becoming enmeshed in the welfare system before they were a year old.

Pro- marriage father’s groups began to site empirical research which concluded that a lack of father influence can lead to a higher rate of juvenile delinquency, teen pregnancy and general neglect, according to the Children’s Rights Council. Activists reasoned that the break down of the family was leading to societal disarray, and that social policy should create incentives for marriage and decrease incentives for divorce. Feminist groups defended single mothers; citing studies that proved that income was a greater indicator of juvenile delinquency than female- headed households.

They also questioned the premise that fathers were an essential component of child development. They pointed to studies, such as the one recently released from Yeshiva University, which concludes \”raising a healthy child hinges on the quality and reliability of the parents relationship with the child. If the relationship is strong, it doesn’t matter whether the parenting is by the mother, the father, two moms, two dads… \” They were concerned that government incentives for marriage would increase the likelihood of negative involvement by abusive or substance- using fathers.

Feminist groups also challenge the premise that joint custody will serve the best interests of the child, saying that children are often torn between two fighting and emotional parents after divorce. The early Father’s Rights groups swelled with size and power until the early 1990’s, when harsh criticism of dead-beat dad’s was brought to public attention by President Clinton. The Child Support Recovery Act of 1992 allowed criminal prosecution of deadbeat parents, and created a Most Wanted Deadbeat Parents Website. States, such as Massachusetts and Illinois also began posting pictures and lists of parents behind in child support payments.

The state of Washington began demanding that fathers acknowledge paternity before leaving the hospital. Since 1992, the popularity and success of this program has spread nation-wide. Clinton’s welfare reform package, which was enacted in 1996, allows the Federal and state government to garnish wages directly from parents behind in payments. Since 1992, The Federal government has increased the amount of child support collected by 80%, and in 1999, Clinton vowed to increase spending for investigation and prosecution of dead-beat parents by $46 million.

The attack on dead- beat Dads only fueled the fire of Father’s Rights groups. In 1994, the First National Summit on Fatherhood in Dallas indicated the power, prestige and potential of the Father’s Rights Movement. . This summit involved hundreds of community leaders, and attempted to build a national consensus on the need to quickly reduce the rate of father absence. Numerous famous speakers including Al Gore, George Gallup and James Earl Jones presented during the conference, showing their support for the snowballing movement, and encouraging creative strategies for reducing fatherless families.

The National Fatherhood Initiative, a marriage-oriented group, was created as a result of the conference, headed by Wade Horn (see case study: National Fatherhood Initiative. ) The National Fatherhood Initiative has been largely successful in its goals, partly because of the Family Values momentum created by the 1994 Republican Revolution in the House of Representatives. The Million-Man March of 1995 showed that the black community was ready and willing to embrace fatherhood as important and that black men were willing to take responsibility for their families.

This was especially significant because it created a loose, but important inter-racial, mixed income coalition between liberals and conservatives. By 1997, Father’s rights groups had convinced the House and the Senate to form bi-partisan congressional task forces on fatherhood and examine its role in Federal Policy. National newsmagazines such as TIME and Newsday have featured articles on this topic, and the Fatherhood lobby has gained immense credibility in Washington.

Overall, the Father’s Rights movement has made significant strides in the last two decades, and their success continues because of their passion for their children and the mounting popularity of the cause. Case Studies Through presentation of the following in- depth analysis of three Father’s Rights groups, I hope to capture the diversity of people, philosophy and approaches found with the movement. I will address key legislation and policy initiatives as well as local programs that seek to re-affirm the importance and increase abundance of father involvement.

The three groups examined are large umbrella organizations for local grassroots efforts. They are representative of various types of local groups and work to implement their changes on a national level. In my presentation, I hope to give an objective analysis of each group’s goals and accomplishments, as well as a commentary on the objections of opposing groups. The first group I examine is the National Fatherhood Initiative. This is a conservative, pro-marriage group, which seeks to use public policy to alter social norms regarding pre-marital sex and out of wedlock pregnancy.

Next is the American Fathers Coalition, which believes men are systematically discriminated against in the courts and laws, and legally isolated from their children. Because fathers are often denied custody or visitation rights, the AFC believes that men are discouraged from emotional involvement and therefore care little about being financially involved in their children’s lives. Lastly, the Partnership for Fragile Families is a liberal organization that seeks to address the needs of young, low- income, minority fathers.

They feel that fathers are often uninvolved financially and emotionally because they are unemployed or underemployed, not psychologically or emotionally ready to be fathers, or inexperienced because of a lack of parental role models when they were growing up. It is important to note that these groups do not represent the views of every organization found in the Father’s Rights Movement. These are mainstream groups which a majority of Father’s Rights activists can appreciate and understand, but not all Father’s Rights groups agree with the goals of these three.

There are organizations that focus on highly specific issues like domestic violence against men, or false domestic and sexual abuse charges. Certain groups, like Veto4Fathers, support a man’s right to veto an abortion, while organizations like Choice for Men aims to allow fathers a legal right to \”abort\” their responsibilities for unwanted children. There are also highly reactionary groups like Fathers Manifest, which aims to ban public education and relinquish women’s suffrage.

For the sake of brevity, I will allow these groups to remain hovering on the fringe, because they are not representative of the movement as a whole. Case Study: The National Fatherhood Coalition The National Fatherhood Coalition is a self- proclaimed, \”non- partisan, non- profit, non- religiously affiliated organization. \” Created in 1994, after the First National Summit on Fatherhood, its mission is to stimulate a broad-based social movement to restore responsible fatherhood as a national priority. They are a politically acceptable group with a conservative, marriage- oriented agenda.

They feel that fathers are essential to the upbringing of a child, and that the government should provide incentives to encourage fathers to stay involved with the their children. The NFI stresses the importance of stable marriages, and tries to promote policy initiatives that discourage divorce and children born out of wedlock. The President, Wade Horn, was previously leader for the Federal Commission on Children, Youth and Families and the Head of the Children’s Bureau within the United States Department of Health and Human.

He also serves on the board of Marriage- Savers, a Maryland group which promotes \”Community Marriage Covenants. \” These covenants aim at increasing the life of a marriage by making divorces more difficult to attain. He, as are the other three members of the Board of Directors, is highly educated and has devoted his professional life to studying and implementing policy that espouse \”Family Values. \” Respected in Washington, he influences policy through dependable research such as \”Father Facts,\” a publication of statistics relevant to fatherhood and marriage and numerous advisory councils.

One of NFI’s central activities is public outreach and education. They advertise in newsmagazines, create public service announcements and cable television spots, and generate editorials for many national newspapers and newsmagazines. Under the direction of the leaders at the First National Summit on Fatherhood, they have been building coalitions of local and national groups to share strategies and information, as well as to increase their political clout. They’ve also built partnerships with organizations like the United Way and the Boys and Girls Club.

The NFI also provides consultation for local and state government officials. The Council of Governor’s Policy Advisors published their informative pamphlet \”Seven Things a State Can Do to Promote Responsible Fatherhood. \” They have also worked with the Governors of Massachusetts, Colorado, Indiana and California to enact state- specific strategies to combat father absence. In Virginia, the NFI is working with the Virginia Department of Health to implement a statewide fatherhood promotion campaign as part of the Governor’s \”citizen empowerment initiative\”.

The NFI developed a series of public service announcements, hosted local fatherhood forums throughout the state, and developed a resource center to assist grassroots organizations and individual citizens implement local fatherhood promotion efforts. Nationally, NFI has worked on key legislation such as the Fathers Count bill, sponsored by Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and Benjamin Cardin (D-MD). This bill allocates $140 million to private groups for job and skills training for non- custodial fathers to decrease child support delinquency.

The House passed this bill in 1999, which authorizes $140 million over six years to help welfare fathers find jobs and fund religious and community groups the encourage marriage and teach parenting skills. These can be charitable organizations, which means that religious groups are eligible for funding. The Religious Right is strongly supportive of this ingredient, while liberal opponents feel it’s wrong for the government to support moral crusades. Although the bill was not able to pass the Senate, it has been resurrected in the 2000 session as the Child Support Distribution Act.

The new bill increases the NFI influence on funding distribution by allowing a council of experts, one of which is Wade Horn, to decide whether or not community-based groups will receive grants. Liberal activists also strongly oppose this element of the bill because they fear that the interests of more powerful single fathers will be advances over those of single mothers. Lastly, the new bill forgives child support owed to the state welfare system if fathers marry the mother of their children, or begin living with their children. This provides a serious monetary incentive to marry or fight for sole custody.

The Child Support redistribution Act bill has also languished in the Senate, partly because of serious debate about the government infringing on moral issues of marriage and family. Also, many feminist groups, such as NOW, fear that the emphasis on marriage will provide manipulative or abusive fathers a monetary incentive to remain in the lives of their children, ex-wives or girlfriends. Nonetheless, the NFI has proven itself a major political force on the Federal and State level in its young existence, and is not likely to stop exerting pressure on Congress any time soon.

Case Study: American Fathers Coalition/ American Coalition for Fathers and Children The American Coalition for Fathers and Children is a non- profit organization that is attempting to \”create a family law system and legislative system that promotes equal rights for all parties affected by divorce, the break up of a family or establishment of paternity. \” It was created as an off- shoot of the AFC, a lobbyist group that will be examined below.

The ACFC seeks to balance lobbying with outreach and education, legal advice and support for fathers embroiled in legal battles and emotional support for \”parental alienation syndrome. (Parental Alienation Syndrome is the \”systematic alienation of one parent by another parent. \” ) The ACFC believes that \”the best parent is both parents\” (a slogan common to other Father’s Rights Organization such as the Children’s Rights Council and Fathers and Families). The ACFC believes that joint custody and shared parenting are the best ways to handle divorce, and that both parents are fundamentally responsible for the emotional, psychological and financial needs of children.

They also believe that the child support and custody systems need to be reformed to be more reasonable and better reflect the parenting contributions of both parents. Created only in 1998, they have already made impressive strides and their goals are very ambitious. Because they try to encourage existing father’s rights groups to incorporate under their umbrella, they already have 50 chapters nationwide. They have written a Chapter Development Guide to encourage fathers to start up a chapter in their community. They encourage grassroots efforts and input, but maintain centralized leadership within the organization.

The have set up a nation-wide crisis line for support and communication amongst fathers going through divorce or separation. They have also made tool kits with legal advice and recommendation for each problem that Dads may face; paternity suits, obtaining sole or joint custody, enforcing visitation rights, civil rights violations, false abuse allegations or domestic violence. The ACFC also plans to write textbooks that teach children about the biological moral necessity of two parent families. They believe that the political correctness infused in to elementary and high school curricula encourage the break down of the American family.

Various civil liberties and advocacy groups oppose this initiative, feeling that it will allow discrimination against women and homosexuals to be taught in schools. Because of the strong criticism these textbooks will receive, it’s unlikely they will ever find their way into a public school classroom, but it’s quite possible that private schools or religiously affiliated charter schools will utilize the texts. The American Fathers Coalition is the lobbying arm of the ACFC, founded by Stuart Little, a Federal lobbyist. The goal of the AFC is to \”promote positive father- inclusive policies.

The AFC feels that current Federal and State policy discriminates against two-parent families, and that single mothers receive a disproportionate amount of social support. Little, the senior lobbyist for the AFC has testified before Congress, state legislatures, Congressional Committees and White House Task Forces on the importance of eliminating the gender bias from legal proceedings and family- related laws. He’s worked with the White House Domestic Policy Counsel, the Welfare Reform Task Force, the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Child Support.

His experience on Capitol Hill is second only to Wade Horn among fatherhood activists, but his influence and credibility pales in comparison. The legislation proposed by the AFC is much harsher on single mothers, particularly welfare recipients, and is much more politically controversial. Although the AFC attempts to influence policy in such areas as domestic violence against men, elimination of no- fault divorces, and automatic presumption of joint custody, their must interesting policy initiative is their welfare reform proposal.

The feel that the current welfare system is embedded with incentives for unwed pregnancy and discriminates against married couples. The 7-point proposal which follows, because of its highly controversial nature, has not been sponsored by a House or Senate member. In my analysis of this legislation, I try to explain both AFC’s rationale for each ingredient of the proposal, as well as the rationale for opposing it. 1. First, any mother applying for AFDC money will automatically lose custody of her children to their father if he is able to financially support the children.

Therefore, no single mother could be eligible for AFDC payment unless the father had rejected custody or proven to be an unfit parent. Women would be able to devote themselves to job training or education while the father took responsibility for the children, and would be able to regain joint custody of the children once she was able to support herself. Opponents of this proposal fear that many women will turn to illegal or questionable means to make ends meet rather than lose their child to a father they don’t feel is fit to raise their children.

Also, there is a great danger that abusive, substance- addicted or otherwise unfit parents will receive sole custody simply because the custodial parent lacked the financial means or the emotional strength to bring formal charges against the other parent. 2. Women must responsible for paying back welfare assistance. Under the current system, child support for women on welfare goes directly to the state for repayment. This proposal would make women responsible for at least half of that payment, which she would have to pay back as soon as she left the rolls.

Opponents believe that this would further push single women into poverty, as they will incur debts while on welfare that they will not be able to repay later. 3. Recipients must provide receipts for prove that the AFDC payments are going to the benefit of the child, and they can lose benefits if the spend money of non- government approved luxuries. The argument against this proposal is that welfare payments are so low that families are unable to afford luxuries, so there is little reason for an invasion of privacy and degradation of dignity.

States must establish the paternity of the child at birth. Once paternity is established, there will be a legal link between children and their fathers. Mothers must also disclose paternity in order to be eligible for welfare. Feminists groups such as NOW and the Coalition for the Prevention of Domestic Violence fear that this too will give abusive or unfit fathers a legal open door. This can be a threat to the psychological, emotional and physical well being of the mother and her children.

Also, this may unfairly punish women who are unable to provide paternity information because they simply doesn’t know it 5. States must presume joint custody in all divorce cases and for all \”illegitimate\” children if paternity is known. Joint custody is a critical pillar of the father’s rights movements, and many feminists and children’s advocates feel it is a simplified solution to a complex, emotionally- charged problem. 6. Gives non- custodial parents whose children are on welfare preference at jobs and employment agencies.

This \”affirmative action\” is designed to increase the ability of men to pay child support, but many think it will result in discrimination against women and those without children. 7. Lastly, parents on welfare will be required to complete 40 hours of job training, work, community services and/or job searching per week. Upon leaving the welfare rolls, recipients will be responsible for repaying the cost of training programs or job placement fees. Also, the AFC’s proposal will eliminate the bias against married families by requiring only one spouse to complete the 40 hours in a two-parent family.

Opponents argue that single women will not be able to find quality childcare and transportation, but the AFC refutes that, saying, \”Most current working parents utilize some low-cost combination of family, friends and school to satisfy day care needs. \” This implies that single mothers will be given no added benefit in consideration of childcare or transportation, and will accrue even greater financial burdens while on welfare than if she didn’t accept benefits at all.

The AFC has been greatly criticized for this proposal, but they feel that it demands that women accept responsibility for their actions and eliminates the gender bias in public assistance.. While it’s true that many of the policies endorsed by the AFC are unfair and even vindictive to women, the men proposing these solutions are hurt and angry because they have lost their children to a court system that unfairly gives them the burden of proof in custody cases.

Like all victims of discrimination, the men in this group are frustrated- they’ve lost the most important things in thier lives- their children, and they’re unsure what they can do about it. I’m certainly not suggesting that they should be given credibility on Capitol Hill because they have suffered a loss, but I think it’s important to look at this group from that perspective. Case Study: The National Center for Strategic Non- Profit Planning: Partnership for Fragile Families

The National Center for Strategic Non- Profit Planning (NPCL) is a non- profit organization dedicated to helping community based organizations and public agencies to better serve young, low- income fathers and fragile families. (A fragile family is defined as a young, low- income, never married couple and their children. ) This organization was developed in 1996, in response to the welfare reform measures enacted that year. The NPCL believes that the new, improved welfare system drives apart fragile families.

Young fathers are expected to pay back child support if they establish paternity, which at an 18% interest rate, can be an overwhelming burden for a man that is struggling to make and meet on his own. Also, the money never even reaches his children directly; it goes to the state’s welfare system at repayment of benefits to his kids. Thus, while young fathers have little incentive to establish paternity, single mothers stand serious consequences if they don’t.

Single mothers can lose 25- 100 percent of AFDC benefits if they fail to report the paternity of their children, as well as provide contact information. The increased strain on these often tenuous relationships may cause fathers to disappear from the lives of their partner and children entirely. Led by experienced non- profit administrator Jeffrey M. Johnson, the NPCL created the Partnerships for Fragile Families (PFF) initiative to try to combat this problem.

They recognize that 61 percent of fathers whose children are on welfare have an income below the poverty level, and that 86 percent of these fathers have an income below the poverty level for a family of four. In fact, according to the Census Bureau, even if we reunited every single child in the United States with both biological parents — a move that would clearly not be healthy for children in many instances — two-thirds of the children who are poor today would still be poor, because their fathers and mothers do not earn enough to lift the family out of poverty.

The PFF realizes that the marriage incentives that conservative father’s rights groups support alone will not end the cycle of poverty for the children involved, and tries to address the problems of families where marriage is not a feasible solution. In 1996, the PFF launched a 3-year pilot program in 10 cities to partnerships between community-based organizations and child support enforcement agencies. The idea behind this initiative is to help \”dead beat dads\” alleviate the debts they owe to their children and the welfare system, rather then scare them into payment.

Like conservative father’s rights groups, they recognize the need to make delinquent dads responsible and employable, but unlike conservative groups they focus on actually supplying training and support services, rather than giving fathers ultimatums and forcing them to fend for themselves. The PFF holds workshops for community based groups to share knowledge on how best to help fragile families and young fathers. The PFF has developed \”Fatherhood Development: A Curriculum for Young Fathers,\” a suggestion manual to aide community groups in working with young fathers.

It focuses on personal development; encouraging fathers to examine their values, stressing liberal definitions of man hood and encouraging self- sufficiency. They also strive to develop life skills like communication, dealing with stress and handling discrimination. Third, the Curriculum teaches responsible parenting. This involves discussions on fathers’ impact on their children, the daily needs of children, facts about children’s cognitive and emotional development and effective discipline techniques.

The PFF curriculum also stresses anger management techniques, conflict resolution and techniques for dealing with tumultuous relationship between fathers and the mothers of their children. Lastly, the PFF Curriculum encourages young men to focus on long-term careers and provides recommendations and assistance in getting training that will help them leave unfulfilling, minimum wage jobs. They try to improve the work attitudes of jaded youth, and use mock interviews to help young fathers get jobs. On a national level, the PFF holds Peer Workshops for child support enforcement agencies and federal policy makes.

It seeks to inform officials of the importance of treating \”dead-beat\” dads with respect, and helping them become better fathers, both emotionally and financially. They also focus on the systemic barriers which many young fathers face and encourage policy makers to implement creative strategies for overcoming these obstacles. The PFF initiative and the NCPL do not have the political clout of the NFI, but they are being listened to largely because of the positive results of their programs. They are trying to reach fathers while they and their children are young and prevent irreparable damage to the fragile relationship of the family.

Opponents to this group’s liberal strategy feel that money should not be wasted on fathers unwilling to financially contribute to their own children, but PFF argues that they are helping men who are simply unable to help their children. This organization, and the many community- based groups it represents, is the liberal front of the Father’s Rights Movement, and the strategies they employ have been largely successful in positively influencing the lives of children whose fathers they have helped.

Unfortunately, these pilot programs are small, and a broader, more serious commitment must be made is real change is going to occur. Conclusion: Prospectives for the Future If the fatherhood movement is going to become a comprehensive coalition with widely known accomplishments, it will need to find a common ground between the left and the right components of the group. Will both can support a review of child support and custody laws that more fairly judges the best interest of the children, neither thinks that changes in custody laws alone will solve the \”crisis of fatherlessness in America,\” as Wade Horn refers to it.

The pro-marriage sector of the movement feels that we cannot make strides in father absence as well as reduce dependency on welfare, our government must encourage \”marriage, fidelity, love, affection, nurturing and compassion. ” But, these are difficult things to legislate. The left wing believes that we must help people learn and use compassion and nurturing towards their children and the mothers of those children. \”Fatherhood programs are learning how to help never- married and divorced or separated father remain involved in their children’s lives,\” says Ron Mincy of the Ford Foundation.

“If a marriage is feasible, marriage promotion can be a part of a practitioner’s strategy for threat family. But for children born to divorced, separated, unmarried or dysfunctionally married parents, the practitioner should work only on ensuring that the relationship of the parent doesn’t become a barrier to the relationship between father and child. \” Unfortunately, intensive programs that can be flexible enough to help each family are very costly, and without a guarantee that it will work, the right wing doesn’t want to make the commitment. I believe th

A child goes to school, the teacher asks, “Have your mom come in for a ‘teacher mother conference’. ” Suddenly, the child is confused. For the first time he thinks about his home setting and wonders, “Which mom is supposed to come in? I have two moms. ” The example given is not an unusual one. It is something that happens all the time in today’s society in which homosexual couples live with and rear children together.

Where most children have a mother and a father, children of gay or lesbian parents have either two moms or two dads. While some may look at this s a “taboo” or , being in the Baptist belt, “a sin”, in today’s society more than 15% of families are with same sex parents who are raising one or more children.

Legally, homosexual marriages are not binding, thus causing difficulty in adopting or fostering children. Due to society it is often difficult to birth a child, as well, without a “husband” or a “father” in a mother’s life. Therefore, those who have children, via pregnancy, foster, or adoption have conquered a very difficult task. So, is this family an abnormal family because there are no opposite sex parents.

Or is it a normal family because of the love its’ members share? Can we say what it is that makes a family. Perhaps, if we can answer these questions, we will find the solutions we need to fulfill the doubts in our minds. Should we ever condemn someone for loving? When we judge, is this what morality is?? I think not! If we would teach our children to accept “love” as that which it is, a mutual feeling of love and respect, perhaps the prejudice and conclusions that society sees will change. We must teach that “gay” is not a “bad” word, it is merely the same love as others feel, but done in a special way.

Over the pas couple of decades American society has undergone some vast changes. The concept of the family has been greatly altered. No longer is such emphasis put on the “traditional” family. A majority of children are being raised in single parent households. Single parent adoption rights have been granted. Now an entirely new sort of family is being disputed. Should gays and lesbians be granted the right to adopt a child? Today’s view of gays and lesbians is drastically differen t than it was in the past. As more people “come out of the closet” gays and lesbians are becoming more socially accepted.

They currently are battling for equality in a variety of areas. In Hawaii gays and lesbians can be granted marriage righ ts, which was a huge victory until DOMA was passed. The Defense of Marriage Act, otherwise known as DOMA, was a bill proposed by conservative Congressmen and Senator Bob Dole. Dole says, “DOMA defines marriage as between one man and one woman for a ll federal purposes (taxes, Social Security, veterans’ benefits, etc. ) and says that states don’t have to pay attention to the Constitution if they don’t want to recognize same-sex marriages that are legal in any other state” (Winters 1).

President Bill Clinton, who openly expresses his opposition to same-sex marriages, signed the bill making it a law. Gays and lesbians continue to fight. Recently the fights have been centered on adoption. This new dilemma has created quite a stir in society. It is estimated that the number of children being raised by gay or lesbian parents is between 2 and 6 million. It is extremely hard to get an accurate estimation due to the fact that many gays and lesbias are not open about their family structure. These people do not want to be surveyed for fear of losing their children.

In a population where roughly 10% or 25 million people are reported to be homosexual the numbers of those raising children are outstanding (Collum 1). There are three main ways that gays and lesbians are raising children and acquiring families without the courts becoming involved. The first way, which is also the most common way, is when heterosexual marriages dissolve after one parent apparentl y “comes out. ” With this situation, as long as there isn’t a messy custody battle in court most often the child is raised by the gay or lesbia parent, and is also fully aware of his or her parent’s sexual tendencies.

The second method is lesbi ans receiving artificial insemination. Estimates of the number of children born to lesbians through artificial insemination range in the tens of thousands. Pacific Reproductive Services is a clinic in San Francisco where a growing number of lesbians are becoming clients. The clinic reports that more than a 100 lesbians use the sperm bank each month. Lastly, there is one of the newer methods: gays and lesbians going into an agreement with each other to produce a child. In some cases they share duties and custody in raising the child.

In other cases the men or women avoid any attachment with the child at all (Henry III 67-68). Lesbian and gay parents go throughout the daily routines of life no differently than heterosexual parents do. In most cases everyone just wants what is best for the child. This brings on the question if being raised in a same-sex dominated environment will have a psychological effect on the child. The fact still remains that the traumas and hardships fac ed by both the parents and the children of gay and lesbian households will be totally different from those faced by heterosexual families.

This is why many gay and lesbian families keep their family structure so secretive, to avoid the comments, teasing, and publicity surrounding their private lives. Though we all recognize the fact that the traditional view of the family has been altered significantly, can the family be altered to that much of an extent? Adoption is the only other method for gays and lesbians to acquire children. This is the most difficult, technical, and risky way to have a child. It is so risky because cases can vary depending on the judge’s personal views and opinions on this issue.

Most courts make their jurisdiction based on what they feel will be the result of a child growing up in a gay or lesbian household. Homosexual couple’s custody rights are nearly always at risk in the common jurisdictions. Continually courts rule that a child’s best interest is met in the homes of heterosexual parents. One major reasoning for this is due to the fact that though the court does acknowledge that a gay or lesbians’ sexuality is beyond their control, living with someone of the same s ex can be controlled.

The epic tale has entertained and inspired since the beginning of recorded history. Whether told by a wise elder or read about in an old, leather-bound volume, accounts of heroes traversing the unknown and encountering mystical beasts have always aroused feelings of excitement in children. However, beneath these feelings, the essence of a child is cultivated; throughout a lifetime, the conscience is a significant force which guides and directs. Since young children are easily influenced, the exposition of literature will have a lasting impact, and themes that are presented will undoubtedly leave an impression.

Tales such as Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King” recounts scenes of Sir Geraint’s knightly gallantry and valor, while Virgil’s Aeneid contains a recurring motif of perseverance as the Trojan hero Aeneas persists despite facing numerous hardships. Although the aforementioned characters seem legendary in nature, they are no different from the common individual. J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” is a tale that readers can readily associate with, as it revolves around an ordinary, but hesitant individual, Frodo, embarking on an extraordinary journey, which later results in his evolution into a heroic figure.

Having a fault is common to all three heroes; however, throughout their respective journeys, opportunities are presented in which these faults may be faced. Throughout the course of history, hero-figures in literature, much like children, have embodied high moral standards and persistence while embarking upon a quest that leads to the resolution of a personality flaw. As the heroic quest involves numerous trials of character, high moral standards are vital to the success of the journey; since the beginning of childhood, proper and just actions are encouraged by parents in hopes of producing a youth who will benefit mankind.

As well, many religions and societies encourage high moral standards as they promote virtuous acts and the preservation of character within the individual. When Enid of “Idylls of The King” was faced with the decision of either accepting Earl Doorm’s invitation to dine with him, or to stay by her wounded husband Geraint’s side, she said, “Pray you be gentle, pray you let me be: I never loved, can never love but him: Yea, God, I pray you of your gentleness, He being as he is, to let me be. ” Despite Sir Geraint’s doubts of Enid’s fidelity due to a prior misunderstanding, Enid honoured the vow that was taken when she married.

She clearly displays her love for Sir Geraint to be unwavering throughout the poem; high moral standards are exemplified as Enid resists temptation by staying true to herself. Finally, when she cries out, believing that Geraint is dead, he springs to life and slaughters the Earl, symbolic of the good, embodying high moral standards, conquering evil temptation. As well, Aeneas was faced with temptation; however, rather than in the form of an evil earl, it came in the shape of the beautiful Helen of Troy.

As he was fleeing the city during the sack of Troy, Aeneas encounters Helen, the woman who had inadvertently caused the Trojan War. Just as he was about to slaughter her, believing that he would win praise for appeasing his ancestors, his mother, Venus, appeared before him. “It is not the hated beauty of the Spartan woman, the daughter of Tyndareus, that is overthrowing all this wealth and laying low the topmost towers of Troy, nor is it Paris although you all blame him, it is the cruelty of the gods. ”

At this point, Venus reveals the deception waved by the other Gods, like a parent revealing to a child the true state of the world, allowing them to make a wise decision. Although Aeneas’ judgement was initially clouded, once he saw through the erroneous perception that had been thrown upon him by the Gods, he held back his sword in integrity, sparing her life. Aeneas embodied a high moral standard as he resisted the temptation that was presented to him. As parents guide children into the right direction when they stray down the wrong path, the forces of Destiny guide the hero.

As a parent reassures a child that everything will be fine when he or she stumbles, Fate gives the same reassurance to the hero. As the heroic quest involves numerous trials of endurance and resolve, persistence is essential for the duration of the adventure. In the first book of the “Aeneid”, a scene is painted in which Aeneas is being tossed about in a ship during a torrential downpour. He despairs, as he believes that he has lost all favour with the gods. “Wherever the Trojans looked, death stared them in the face. A sudden chill went through Aeneas and his limbs grew weak.

Aeneas had already been sailing for two years in a bold attempt to find a site to found a new city; however, his endeavours had been plagued with mishaps. At this point, he wonders if he’ll ever live to fulfill his destiny, but despite all the hardship that he is faced with, he presses onwards. Turnus, the battle-crazed leader of the opposition proved to be a formidable foe that disheartened Aeneas. “There it was moored in a sheltered position along the side of the camp, protected by the water of the river, and to the landward by ramparts.

There he made his attack. ” Turnus set the Trojan fleet on fire, in hopes of stranding the enemy troops and demoralizing them, but the persistence of Aeneas existed not only in terms of the endurance of life, but as his faithfulness throughout the years to his pietistic duty. Being highly respectful of the gods, painstakingly offering sacrifices despite what he had to deal with, Aeneas was favoured by the Berecentian Cybele, the mother of all gods, who saved the ships by turning them into water nymphs.

Despite hardships, the perseverance of the epic hero conquers the opposition. Although Aeneas was able to defeat the opponent that stood in his way, Frodo Baggins of “Lord of the Rings” had to concede that in order to succeed, hardships of nearly invincible proportions had to be endured. Relentlessly pursued through many lands by Dark Horsemen for the powerful ring he possessed, Frodo encountered many difficulties. In addition to being wounded several times, he was betrayed by one of the members of his own travelling company.

Following the betrayal, Frodo decides to continue, “Frodo rose to his feet. A great weariness was on him, but his will was firm and his heart lighter. He spoke aloud to himself. ‘I will do now what I must. ’…” Accepting the fact that are all odds were against him, faced with an invincible enemy with deceitful travelling partners, Frodo journeys into the unknown void by himself. In the end however, his persistence is rewarded by Fate with the successful completion of the quest, as the persistence of a child receives praise from a parent.

Whether in the form of the sucking of the thumb or the biting of the fingernails, every child has had a bad habit at some time or another. Just as the parent endeavours to resolve these habits, Fate and Destiny conspire to resolve the personality flaws of the hero. When an epic tale contains an ordinary mortal character, being only human, the individual possesses a flaw, which must be faced and resolved during the course of the heroic quest.

At the beginning of book one of the “Aeneid”, Aeneas, weary from years of sailing, invokes death, “O Diomede, bravest of the Greeks, why could I not have fallen to your right hand and breathed out my life on the plains of Troy…” Doubtful of his destiny, Aeneas despairs for his life and is tempted to give up; thus, his flaw is his unwillingness to accept his destiny of founding Rome. However in book six, he journeys to the underworld to meet his father Anchises, and is told, “Your task, Roman, and do not forget it, will be to govern the peoples of the world in your empire.

Aeneas is informed that his destiny is to found the city of Rome and a powerful race that shall rule over the world. Upon hearing this, Aeneas is inspired with confidence, ready to fulfill his destiny; throughout the second half of the “Aeneid”, he steps forward to accept challenges with certainty. As the habit of biting one’s nails may foster feelings of embarrassment due to ridicule from peers, the resolution of the habit allows a child to face the world with assurance. Although ridicule is a battle with external forces, the battle with oneself is certainly more difficult, such as overcoming a fear of the dark, as one must turn inward.

Sir Geraint of “Idylls of The King” was plagued with an uncertainty of the fidelity of his wife, Enid which eventually let matters into a hopeless predicament. However, upon his deathbed, the wail of Enid sprung him to life as it assured him of the very love he had once doubted. Following a tender embrace, Geraint says, “Not tho’ mine own ears heard you yestermorn – You thought me sleeping, but I heard you say, That you were no true wife: I swear I will not ask your meaning of it: I do believe yourself against yourself, And will henceforward rather die in doubt. ”

At this point, the mighty knight of the Round Table has faced himself and cast aside all doubt, just as a child faces the darkness and confronts a dreaded fear, dissipating it. Fear comes in many forms, but most common is the fear of the unknown; children and heroes alike may draw parallels in this respect as it was the hesitation of Frodo that was his personality flaw. “To tell the truth, he was very reluctant to start, not that it had come to the point. ” Until Frodo was entreated by Gandalf the Wise to set out upon his quest, he would have been content living out his life at Bag-End.

Whether it be the shove of Destiny and Fate or the gentle nudge of a concerned individual, the resolution of a personality flaw is inevitable. “Without heroes we’re all plain people and don’t know how far we can go” Bernard Malamud’s statement accurately describes the influence of Aeneas, Sir Geraint and Frodo as they all complete epic quests despite being mere mortals. The epic hero is an eternal figure as he or she is a prime model of integrity and perseverance, which is exemplified during a quest which provides a solution to the problem of a flawed disposition.

The epic tale is a reflection of human character as the themes that are presented closely mirror universal problems that are faced by everyone. As one sheds the skin of youth, although it may be possible to analyze the literary meaning of these wonderful tales, the magic that they once contained is often gone. More than writings of scholarly value, these pieces of literature exude inspiration and provoke awe in younger audiences worldwide. Like children, one day adults shall, forgetting their worldly troubles, embrace the stories they once loved, be inspired, and once again become heroes.