Learning Skills For Open Distance Learners (part 5)

  Initiatives for reforming schools are occurring across the nation. What motivational challenges do various educational reforms present? School reform in most states has focused on raising standards through mandatory proficiency tests, which students must pass at various grade levels. However, raising standards has not increased student effort (Pressley 1998). The extensive use of proficiency tests has motivational consequences for students and teachers. Do the pressures on students to pass these tests increase their motivation to learn or do some students give up in the face of failure? How does it affect teacher expectations? These questions are still largely unanswered.

Role of participants

To address the pervasive motivational inequality in schools, Nicholls (1989) proposed that optimum student motivation is a justifiable educational goal. Nicholls described optimum motivation as motivation that provides for optimum intellectual development. Paris and Paris (2001) also emphasized the importance of motivational factors in developing mental abilities. Motivational factors determine not just the goals toward which people aspire but the way in which they seek out, process, and use information. Motivation is an important factor in the development of students’ resiliency, which is the ability to bounce back successfully despite growing up in adverse circumstances. The following practical examples illustrate motivation possibilities:

Academic excellence standards entail that various negative motivational patterns seen from the effort/ability framework are fostered by school and classroom practices. One of the most prevalent is characterized as the competitive learning game (Harmin, 1994). This game refers to classroom practices that force students to compete against each other for grades and recognition. Such practices include ability grouping, a limited range of accomplishments that receive rewards and recognizing ability over effort.

Data collection

Another reform initiative, Essential Schools, sees the roles of students as workers and teachers as coaches (Pressley 1998). This has students working more on their own, frequently on long-term thematic topics and projects. Although these initiatives have the potential to increase student motivation, they also present challenges because this type of learning is more complex. Students need goals and persistence to work on and complete these semester-long, thematic projects.
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The Unrealized Importance of Women in the Middle Ages (part 1)

This paper deals with the way a male-dominated society understood women’s sexuality in the Middle Ages. It is likely that women of different social statuses entered into relationships differently. Certainly working women had different choices about refusing marriage—a “lesbianlike” behavior—than aristocratic women did. (Karras 1996) However, the bulk of discussion in medieval sources about women’s sexual behavior deals with their heterosexual behavior. The men who wrote the texts, whether legal or literary, discussed here were concerned with the women’s availability (or not) to men and with the legitimacy of children they might bear. (Karras 1996)

Despite a set of dominant discourses that described all women as sexual and all sexuality as sinful, medieval society, in fact, had different expectations for different women. The construction of prostitution through legislation, legal practice, and literature was aimed at the control of feminine sexuality generally. By recognizing the existence of commercial prostitutes, yet delineating a category of “whore” that did not necessarily require a financial exchange, a variety of discourses worked together to conflate any sexually deviant woman with a prostitute. (Walkowitz 1980) Yet, though the thrust of medieval thought agreed with Chaucer’s Manciple that the two were the same in their basic feminine (sinful and sexual) nature, an aristocratic lady who had an affair outside of marriage was obviously not the same, in terms of her life experience or her subjective sexuality, as a streetwalker. (Walkowitz 1980)

For other periods, particularly the nineteenth century, historians have focused on the variation by class in sexual norms. Middle-class regulators, for example, attempting to control the lower classes, focused on the sexual behavior of working-class women. They deployed the label of “prostitute” to control these women’s independence and mobility. In the Middle Ages, the bourgeoisie did not control the dominant discourses in the same way. (Walkowitz 1980) True, in late medieval towns there was a developing upper stratum, which was afraid of the social disorder that the poorer people might cause; this is one reason for the prominence of the rhetoric of social order in legislation about prostitution. The women whose behavior was regulated most directly did, in fact, tend to be the poorer women. But in the Middle Ages the aristocracy was also an important social force, and there was, in addition, the discourse of moral theology that emanated not so much from any particular level of society as from a long tradition.

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Gender Role Appearances (part 3)

Louis May Alcott plays with the social construction of gender and sexual attraction in her story by using the first-person narrative of an English gentleman and his incorrect perceptions and assumptions of what constitutes a lady. On a trip to see his dying sister, George Vane shares his train cabin with a “charming little mademoiselle.” Vane admires her “long curled lashes,” “rosy mouth,” and “golden hair” and is reminded of his first sweetheart. Her behavior is read also as feminine: She curls up “like a kitten” and appears to be a “poor little thing.” Vane sees himself as her protector and feels strongly attracted to her, choosing to pose as her husband since “the idea of passing of her father disgusted” him.

In fact, when she asks him how she can thank him for his help, he asks for an “English good-by,” a kiss on the lips. When he finds out that he has mistaken a lady for a young man, Vane unconvincingly tries to hide his attraction behind the guise of acting a part. The author intentionally blurs the boundaries between genders and affection- related bonds, thereby challenging one of the traditional stereotypes – that of proper dressing and behaving as a lady.

It should be noted that due to such author as Wharton and Alcott, a trend from patriarchal and traditionalism toward liberalism may be observed. More urban women report joint family decisions and husbands’ eventual collaboration with some traditionally feminine chores. Society as a whole, however, could still be considered as putting political, economic, and religious power, almost exclusively, in males’ hands.

In the developing cultures, life cycles with stages of specific responsibilities may be found in coastal populations of Westernized culture. In contrast, in the highlands and jungle, for example, despite rites of passage, it is usual to find children assuming important adult responsibilities and roles regarding younger siblings, land, or cattle. This means that at one stage, characteristics of other stages overlap or prevail.

There is a clear link between each life stage and the stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Social masculinity–for example, aggression, dominance, leadership–is expected in young boys; femininity–sensitivity, tenderness, warmth–is expected in young girls. Internal masculinity–assertiveness, independence, self-confidence, self-esteem–is not ascribed to young boys and girls. As evident in the character of Wythorn, men are taught to always be harsh in the lives and deeds: “In his own room, he flung himself down with a groan. He hated the womanish sensibility which made him suffer so acutely from the grotesque chances of life” (Wharton 15).

While young girls are not expected to differ from little girls in this respect, young boys are ascribed more internal masculinity than little boys. Adulthood seems the turning point for social and internal masculinity. Femininity is mostly attributed to females, but when reaching adulthood, women are also attributed masculine traits and behaviors. Nevertheless, men are attributed significantly more masculinity. Lesser masculinity is expected in older persons, but only old females are believed to be feminine.

Both racial exclusion and male gendered privilege participated in maintaining white solidarity, and both sustained the proto-right to work. Since the measure of manhood lay in self-sufficiency and independence, white men closely guarded their employment prerogatives. For if women’s wage work competed with that of white men or threatened to undermine men’s wages, it simultaneously challenged men’s access to citizenship. White women, who expected to participate in the polity through their menfolk, increasingly shared the expectation that any wage work women did would be a response to economic necessity and in subsidiary positions.

Wharton illustrates that toward the end of this life period, some children are expected to help with family chores. At play, with their peers, they reproduce adult chores and sex typing. It is said they learn that mother corn tends the crops, and father mountain is both father and mother of plants and animals; that stars are females that seduce young boys; and that the sun is the jealous protector of his sister, the moon.

Finally, the discrepancy between the numbers of women who participate in wage work and the widespread notion that women’s lives would continue to rotate around the home requires exploration. How is it that so many women of all classes and races sustained an ideology that excluded them from wage work’s most lucrative forms even as they continued to seek employment? How is it that both men and women supported a culture that located male prerogatives at home and in the polity in unrealistic conceptions of men’s opportunities in the workplace? Ideas about men as real workers and rationales for excluding women, constructing them as marginal members of the labor force, grew in tandem.

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Final Paper (part 4)

Arguably the most memorable view in the movie is a talk by Gekko to a shareholders’ gathering of Teldar Paper, a business he is designed to take over. Stone values this view to give Gekko, and by elongation, the Wall Street raiders he personifies, the possibility to support their activities, which he memorably does, pointing out the slothfulness and waste that business America built up through the postwar years and from which he sees himself as a “liberator”. The inspiration for the “Greed is good” talk appears to have arrived from two sources. The first part, where Gekko deplores that the company’s administration owns less than three per hundred of its supply and that it has too numerous vice leaders, is taken from alike talks and remarks made by Carl Icahn about businesses he was endeavoring to take over. The protection against of greed is a paraphrase of the May 18, 1986 commencement address at the UC Berkeley’s School of Business Administration, consigned by arbitrageur Ivan Boesky (who himself was subsequently convicted of insider-trading charges), in which he said, “Greed is adequate, by the way. I desire you to understand that. I believe greed is healthy. You can be hungry and still seem good about yourself”. (When Greed Became Good On ‘Wall Street’, 2008)

Ultimately the “Greed is Good” talk could be glimpsed as associated to what Adam Smith resolved about human nature.  Smith accepted that, in general, dependable persons set free to chase their own interest would fare better than they would under a scheme that determined what was “good”. In the method, individuals chasing their own concerns would eradicate inefficiencies and assign products where they would advantage the larger society. Wall Street is not a wholesale condemnation of the capitalist scheme, but of the cynical, quick-buck heritage of the 1980s. The “good” individual characteristics in the movie are themselves capitalists but in a more stable, hardworking sense. In one view, Gekko scoffs at Bud Fox’s inquiry as to the lesson worth of hard work, citing the demonstration of his (Gekko’s) dad, who worked hard his whole life and past away in relation mediocrity. Fox’s stockbroker overseer (played by Hal Holbrook) as an archetype vintage man mentor, states early in the movie, that “good things occasionally take time”, mentioning to IBM and Hilton – in compare, Gekko’s “Greed is Good” credo typifies the short-term outlook common in the 80s. (When Greed Became Good On ‘Wall Street’, 2008)

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Gender Role Appearances (part 2)

To continue, Wharton clearly shows that patriarchal attitudes are evident in males’ socially accepted violence against women. The father, brother, and, later, the partner exert violence over women as a means of socialization and control. In many instances, a woman may not be expected to defend herself from a man’s aggression. Some contend this can be interpreted as social power but not necessarily characteristic, given traditional role complimentarily behavior, where not being equal does not mean unequal value and where women have other social channels to exert power and influence.

Both Wharton and Alcott illustrate that the world may be seen as divided on the basis of masculine and feminine principles, which complement each other but also compete. Vertical kinship systems are important for males, and horizontal systems are important for females. Additional examples can be found in religion, housing arrangements, marriage, and perception of nature. Residence patterns tend to be on the male’s side and may also be progressive, but rarely are they progressive on the female’s side. Marriage is seen as a promise that undergoes a series of testing stages, through which the boy chooses the girl. He tries to win her agreement to being ritually kidnapped and later searches for their families’ approval.

The lamplight struck a gleam from her bracelets and tipped her soft hair with brightness. How light and slender she was, and how each gesture flowed into the next! She seemed a creature all compact of harmonies. As the thought of Haskett receded, Waythorn felt himself yielding again to the joy of possessorship. They were his, those white hands with their flitting motions, his the light haze of hair, the lips and eyes. . .  (Wharton 10).

This passage illustrates that although Waythorn has very tender feelings for his wife, he treats her as his possession, a sweet thing that he controls and manipulates. Wharton shows that male dominance has been at the base of the culture since ancient times, with a system of compulsory cooperation among family members, families, neighbors, and communities. This is why such ideology may be found to be patriarchal, with different gender roles but equal value.

To continue, sex typing occurs not only with regard to persons and roles but also in relation to nature. Rain is considered female; drought, male. Upper sides and lower sides are ascribed gender, as are natural phenomena and the seasons. In the language, sex is a status indicator; different terms are used when the speaker is male or female. For many women, status derives from their role as wife, mother, sister; there is no strong feeling of common gender identity with other women. Marriage highlights gender differences more than any other social activity; in kindred relations, sex typing is less rigid than in marriage relations.

Wharton’s Alice proves that feminine roles have traditionally been limited to home, children, and community. Yet, such strong women as she managed to develop a strong sense of ender identity. At the end of the story, she proves that females may have a status higher or equal to males. Nowadays, male dominance–especially political dominance is partially decaying due to interchange among women and feminists.

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The Sunni and the Shiites (part 3)

One of the most important distinctions between Shiite and Sunni belief is the profound respect of the imams. Most Shiites believe that there were 12 legal successors to Muhammad as caliph and that the final imam, now termed the Mahdi, disappeared when he was lifted up in the hands of God. The Shiite lot believes the Mahdi will come back to earth one day and take the role of their savior. A war between the good and evil forces will follow, ending in a 1000-year domination of peace and the end of this world.

By latest research an estimated eighty-five percentage of Muslims are Sunnis, thirteen percent Shiites and two percent members of other groups. Other than Iran, Iraq has evolved as a major Shiite government when they gained political dominance in 2005 under American occupation.

These two sects have always remained independent, coming into contact regularly only during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. In certain nations like Bahrain, Iraq, Syria etc the two sects have mingled and married. Shiites have been treated rudely in several nations dominated by Sunnis, notably in Saudi Arabia. Some Sunnis have complained of ill-treatment in the Imami Shiism dominated states of Iraq and Iran (Adherents.com, 2002).

As we all know Osama bin Laden belongs to the Sunni sect. For him, the end of the rule of the caliphs in the 1920s was a calamity, as he made clear in a videotape made after 9-11. On the tape, broadcast by Al-Jazeera television on 7th October 2001, he said: “What the United States tastes now is just a copy of what we have encountered. Our Islamic country has been suffering the same for more than 80 years, humiliation and dishonor, its sons martyred and their bloodshed, its sanctities treated with contempt”

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Final Paper (part 3)

Sometime subsequent, Bud battles Gekko in Central Park. Gekko viciously assaults Fox, but not before citing some of their illicit enterprise transactions. Bud is wearing a cable, and the policeman most likely will use this notes as state’s clues, whereas Gekko’s destiny is left ambiguous. Bud strolls to Tavern on the Green bistro in Central Park, where he turns the cable tapes over the government administration, who propose that his judgment will be lightened in exchange for his help with the government inquiry into Gekko. The movie finishes with Bud reaching the courthouse.

After the achievement of Platoon, Stone liked movie school ally and Los Angeles screenwriter Stanley Weiser to study and compose a screenplay about quiz display scandals in the 1950s. During an article seminar, Stone proposed making a movie about Wall Street instead. The controller threw the premise of two buying into partners getting engaged in dubious economic dealings, utilizing each other, and they are followed by a prosecutor as in Crime and Punishment. The controller had been conceiving about this kind of a video as early as 1981and was motivated by his dad, Lou Stone, a broker throughout the Great Depression at Hayden Stone.

The filmmaker knew a New York professional who was making millions and employed long days putting simultaneously agreements all over the world. This man began making errors that cost him everything. Stone recalls that the “story borders what occurs in my video, which is fundamentally a Pilgrim’s Progress of a young man who is seduced and corrupted by the allure of very easy money. And in the third proceed he groups out to redeem himself”. Stone inquired Weiser to read Crime and Punishment but the author discovered that its article did not blend well with their own. Stone then inquired Weiser to read The Great Gatsby for material that they could use but it was not the right fit either. Weiser had no former information of the economic world and immersed himself in studying the world of supply swapping, junk bonds, and business takeovers. He and Stone expended three weeks traveling to brokerage dwellings and consulting investors. The movie has arrived to be glimpsed as the archetypal portrayal of 1980s surplus, with Douglas supporting “greed, for the need of a better phrase, is good”. Wall Street characterizes itself through several ethics confrontations putting riches and power against ease and honesty. Carl’s (Martin Sheen’s) feature comprises the employed class in the film: he is the amalgamation foremost for the upkeep employees at Bluestar. He certainly attacks large-scale enterprise, cash, mandatory pharmaceutical screening and hungry manufacturers and anything that he sees as a risk to his union. The confrontation between Gekko’s relentless pursuit of riches and Carl Fox’s leftward leanings pattern the cornerstone of the film’s subtext.  This subtext could be recounted as the notion of the two fathers assaulting for command over the principles of the child, a notion Stone had furthermore utilized in Platoon. In Wall Street, the hard-working Carl Fox and the cutthroat professional Gordon Gekko comprise the fathers. The manufacturers of the movie use Carl as their voice in the movie, a voice of cause in the middle of the creative decimation conveyed about by Gekko’s unrestrained free-market philosophy. (When Greed Became Good On ‘Wall Street’, 2008)

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Learning Skills For Open Distance Learners (part 4)

Anchored instruction has proved very successful in engaging students and getting them to solve problems more complex than their teachers thought possible. The basis of their success is student ownership of the problems.

In the above-depicted models, what is on-campus and what is off-campus in most traditional institutions is growing more difficult to discern. Online instruction is increasingly mixed with learning theories. Technologies are also rapidly converging, so that video, audio, and print are all coming together through the Web in support of learning, and access to these advanced technologies is growing (Halpern, 2003). Nowadays, whether a learner in online Web-based courses is required to interact only with his instructors or also with other learners is decided by the tutor. In fact, this may emerge as a remarkable point of distinction between degree programs and online graduate instruction, which otherwise will likely become more and more similar from one institution to another in the areas of technology employed, modes of access, services provided, and content delivered

Data sources

Some negative motivational patterns seen from the effort/ability framework may be fostered by school and classroom practices. One of the most prevalent is characterized as the competitive learning game (Harmin, 1994). This game refers to classroom practices that force students to compete against each other for grades and recognition. Such practices include ability grouping, a limited range of accomplishments that receive rewards and recognizing ability over effort.

In 1989, Nicholls asserted that motivational inequality was prevalent in the schools. By motivational inequality, Nicholls meant that students who do not have optimum motivation for intellectual development are at a disadvantage compared with those who do. Students who have optimum motivation have an edge because they have adaptive attitudes and strategies, such as maintaining intrinsic interest, goal setting, and self-monitoring. There is evidence that this motivational inequality has increased rather than decreased in the years since it was first introduced (Good and Brophy 2003).

Unfortunately, in many cases the problems are compounded by school climate and teaching practices that may inhibit students from reaching their potential. One of these practices is the separation of students into groups based on their ability. When ability grouping is in place, many students are not exposed to rigorous subject matter that might better prepare them for college entrance examinations and college work, nor does it prepare them for jobs (Schunk 1999). In addition, the lower group is deprived of peer models of motivation strategies that would help them to achieve. Finally, teachers are likely to have lower expectations for this group and teach them accordingly.

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