The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Poorer :: Wealth Poverty

"The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Poorer" Living in the United States of America allows for many freedoms and opportunities to its citizens. Growing up, children learn that in the United States means that everyone is treated equally, and fairly. In addition, one is made to believe that a prejudiced outlook on minorities is a problem of the past. Jeffrey Reiman's article, "The Rich get Richer and the Poor get poorer," displays the truth of how the real world is. The article shows a clearer picture as to how destitute and African American people are treated extremely different then Caucasians do. The idea of underprivileged citizens having a greater chance of being arrested, more likely to be sentenced, and punished for a longer amount of time is not how one would think the criminal justice system works. Nobody wants to acknowledge the fact that hate does still exist in the United States. Most still wants to believe that all people will be treated equally, no matter who they are. Not always what people think is happening in this society is correct. Also, there is a huge difference in poor people being arrested compared to upper and middle-class. Does this mean that poor people cannot slip out of punishment, but rich people can? Some believe this clearly shows that impoverished people are looked down upon in society. Although it is a hard concept to believe, statistics show that it is true. In 1978, fifty three percent African Americans jail inmates had pre-arrest incomes below three thousand dollars compared with forty four percent of Caucasian inmates. In 1983 the median pre-arrest income of African Americans was four thousand sixty-seven dollars and that of Caucasian inmates was six thousand three hundred and twelve dollars. These statistics provide evidence that both African-American and poor people are more likely to be in jail. (Reiman, 97) There is a better financial outlook though; the poverty rate for African Americans in 2000, is the lowest measured since 1959-the earliest year for which poverty data are available. The 2000 rate was down from twenty-three percent in 1999. About half-million fewer African Americans were poor in 2000 than in 1999, seven million compared to eight million. In 1998 African American men were making more money then Caucasian women. Now African American women are catching up in the higher pay roll. In 1998 African American women were only one thousand dollars behind Caucasian women.

Part-time Employment Undermines Students Commitment to School :: Summary Response Working School Essays

Part-time Employment Undermines Students Commitment to School by Laurence Steinberg   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Summary: In the essay, â€Å"Part-time Employment Undermines a Student’s Commitment to School† by Laurence Steinberg, it explains how studies show that teenagers that work while attending school are more likely to loose their commitment to school. Steinberg tells the effects on students when they work more than twenty hours a week. His theory was that students are more susceptible to losing their interest in school, while working. They may have to work in the evening time, which can interfere with homework, sleep and diet. Steinberg also elaborated on how these students that work receive money that can make school seem less desirable. Also because they do receive money, they can use their extra money to become associated with drugs and alcohol.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Steinberg’s review of this subject shows the affects of what can happen if adolescents work while going to school and how this can engage them in drugs and have less engagement in school and other related activities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Response: I agree with Steinberg that working affects adolescents that are going to school. I believe that teenagers should concentrate on their studies and not become overwhelmed with the added stress of work. There is plenty of time for them to learn the â€Å"real world† of working, so why not let them be kids and have them worry about their homework and after school chores, rather than trying to make the almighty dollar.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I like the way Steinberg explains how a simple job can lead to so much more. Parents do not always realize that yes, it is good for a teenager to learn responsibility, but getting a job at that age is not always the right thing to do. Each child is different some may be able to handle it, but most can not. This study shows the effects of how good students can change by working and going to school and how students that already have lost interest in school can loose even more interest and even drop out completely.

Federal Welfare Reform Essay -- Poverty

Federal Welfare Reform: A Critical Perspective Abstract: This project will examine â€Å"welfare reform,† which was signified by the signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWOA) in 1996. PRWOA replaced the original welfare act of 1935, titled Aid to Dependent Children (later changed to Aid to Families with Dependent Children), with the program Temporary Assistance to needy Families (TANF). Under PRWOA, TANF was instated as a system of block grants allocated to states to implement their own forms of assistance and replaced programs like the cash-assistance program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training. The most influential change of this legislation among others has been the implementation of required work hours and strict time limits to how long families may receive aid, implying that people can simply will their way out of poverty provided they work hard enough. While the significant fall of TANF cash assistance caseloads within the program’s first five years has been celebrated as proof of reform’s success, the new era of welfare can only be considered a success if America views the transformation of the welfare poor to the working poor an achievement. Review of the Literature: In conducting my research, it was interesting to find dramatically divergent perspectives on the topic of welfare reform, especially considering that each perspective gave the impression that their argument was based on quantitative facts. The sources I consulted that were affiliated with the federal government, such as statistics and fact sheets from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) as well as the Whitehouse website, were the most optim... ...erg, Heidi. â€Å"Recent TANF Proposals Would Hinder Successful State Efforts to Help Families Overcome Barriers to Employment and Find Better- Paying Jobs.† Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 9 May 2002. Melendez, Edwin et al. â€Å"Community College Participation in Welfare Programs: Do State Policies Matter?† Community College Journal of Research and Practice. 27.3 (2003). Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. Vintage Books. New York, 2004. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Factsheets â€Å"Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).† October 2003. . The White House. Office of the Press Secretary. Factsheet. â€Å"President Calls for Action on Welfare Reform.† 14 January 2003. .

Interview Questions Essay

1. Tell me something about yourself. I am a hard working employee who is dedicated to get the job done successfully, effectively and efficiently. I have a strong background in business management and a variety of job experience. This has helped me to develop valuable skills and abilities I use in my personal and professional career path. 2. Why should I hire you? I am confident that my professional skills and abilities would bring value to your company as well as your staff. I will use my current management skills and abilities to evaluate, improve and maintain employee production by setting specific employee job goal, increasing employee motivation and providing frequent employee feedback. 3. What are your strengths? I have developed strong business management and customer service skills that I will use to manage employees, increase production and decrease company expenses. I also have a strong communication, leadership, organizational, creativity and safety skills and abilities that help me to provide a positive, safe and secure leadership. 4. What are your weaknesses? I tend to over analyze simple Ideas and solutions to basic problems. This is where I try to identify all aspect of a situation or process before making an educated decision. My weakness lies in my slightly impaired ability to make quick radical decisions to simplified problems. I also tend to be a workaholic where I become more concerned with solving problems and completing projects then my own personal welfare. 5. Why are you applying for this position? I feel this position is a great opportunity to increase and utilize my  professional skills, abilities and education. These skills will provide a valuable resource to your business while increasing my own personal and professional development. 6. Why are you interested in working for our firm? Outside of a benefit scope, your company shows appreciation and loyalty to employees providing needed security and support. You also provide strong career development benefits and incentives that I plan to participate in as I build my career in your company. 7. What can you contribute to this company? I plan to contribute my time, skills and abilities to completing company goals and developing new innovative strategies to decrease company costs, increase production or productivity and increase the overall value and success of your business. Group B: Behavior-Based Questions 1. Tell me about a difficult situation you dealt with when supervising others. What did you do, and what were the results? One summer I acquired a job position as a shift supervisor for the lodge services department. This position consisted mostly of janitorial duties, supervising employee job functions, developing work schedules and reporting employee activity to department managers. While working under this position, an employee was hired to provide additional help during periods of higher service demand. After working for a few weeks his job performance started to drastically decrease. He hide himself in closets, bathrooms or other secluded areas where he would read personal books he brought from home. After verbally warning him several times with little to no compliance I felt the need to escalate this situation to the attention of my supervisor. After doing so, my supervisor showed little interest in disciplining his poor performance. When it came to time to develop new work schedules, I took it upon myself to drastically decrease hours he was to work and offered these additional hours to more productive and resourceful employees. This action eventually lead to a dismissal of his services, slightly decreased company costs and lead to my personal promotion as hotel service manager. 2. Tell me about a time when someone made an unreasonable request of you. How did you react, and what  happened? When I worked in the plating lab for a company, my boss on many occasions would change the job duties and requirements I was to perform. On one occasion I was reprimanded and written up for following the specific guidelines for disposing of nickel sulfa mite, a hazardous chemical used to plate steel with nickel. When I started working for my boss, I was given a detailed list of specific actions to be taken when disposing of company chemicals. The action plans for disposing of nickel sulfa mite consisted of checking current hazardous material disposal drums for partially filled or empty drums. If no drums were available I was to go directly to our chemist and have him supply me with a new waste drum. The following day after executing this procedure, an employee reported that a practically filled nickel sulfa mite waste drum had been misplaced by another department. This is when I received disciplinary action for not following specific orders. At the end of the day, after my boss and I had time to calm down, I approached my boss and explained how I followed the direct procedures I was given for the circumstances, he agreed that without additional information I would not have known to check other departments for waste drum that may have been misplaced. The penalties were dropped and I received the additional training needed to fulfill my job requirements more effectively. 3. Describe the last time that you did something that went beyond what was expected in work or school. While volunteering my services as a water safety officer and public safety driver for a fire company and the county zone water task force, I personally found it very difficult to meet specific requirements and expectations when using company gear. These requirements and expectations are set by training and state law standards to insure a moderate level of safety and job success is provided. After identifying the main issues for these complications residing with the company’s gear, I took it upon myself to analyze record and report current equipment, as well as additional needed water rescue equipment. This action resulted in a better understanding of water rescue requirements, acceptable equipment and additional support from higher officials including the company’s chief, deputy and captain. The company is now evaluating the cost and resources needed to acquire this additional equipment and increase the safety and security of our water rescue personnel.

Do you agree that Yeats creates a scene of tragic intensity in Purgatory?

Do you agree that Yeats creates a scene of tragic intensity in Purgatory, or is the play too short and the characters too thinly evinced for this to be the case? The play Purgatory was written in 1938 by Yeats as a single-scene play revolving around the idea of tragic intensity. Yeats was a philosophical writer, choosing meaningful subject matters to discuss in his work. In this case, he chose to symbolise the destruction of Ireland created by the controversy of religion after being inspired by other plays such as Shakespeare's Hamlet and using the definitions set out by Aristotle after he studied the elements that made up a great tragedy. In order to create a successful tragedy, Yeats used the Aristotelian unities: time, action and place. The timing of the play ensures a strong plausibility as the action is all dealt with in real-time, therefore reducing the imagination needed on behalf of the audience increasing the plausibility. The setting throughout the play is in a confined place upon the stage with very few changes made, allowing little release of tension. This intimate setting forces closeness between the characters and audience: though it finishes with the Old Man abandoning the scene leaving it desolate. The complexity of Shakespeare's Hamlet, there are more precise actions and plot in Purgatory, making it easier to understand, and allowing the seemingly simple plot to have all attention on it, resulting in a claustrophobic and tense atmosphere. In Purgatory there are only two characters for the audience to focus on, which provides enough space and time in his play to create characters that are evinced clearly enough to serve their purpose as model examples of an old and a young boy, which provides the plot with a deeper impact. Due to the relationship between the father and son, there is intensity between the characters as they should share a close bond and yet they both ignore and insult each other with snide remarks such as â€Å"silly old man. † Yet, the characters do share an attempted intimacy as the Old Man retells his painful and distressing story in the form of a monologue that is interrupted by the Boy. The Boy is ignored and this increases the drama and emphasizes the communication difficulties between the characters. Although Yeats characterises the Old Man and Boy to an extent, the lack of details reinforces the cold and detached elements of the play, and without names they are left unidentified to the audience and therefore could appear as symbolisations of anyone. Fear of the supernatural emerges from the fear of the unknown, and Yeats uses this idea to extend his tragic scene by presenting the ghosts as a misunderstood and mysterious element due to the Old Man not knowing how to prevent the ghosts from returning. He also doesn't know how to deal with them, which can be seen in the way he attempts communicate with his mother by shouting â€Å"Don't let him touch you! † despite knowing that she cannot hear him and he cannot interfere. Death is a foreboding unknown in everyone's life that most are afraid of, and in Purgatory Yeats uses this to foreshadow the Boy's death as the he mentions â€Å"Now I am young and you are old. † This creates confusion and tension as it is unclear who will die. Although the ghosts' role in the play is limited, their presence is a constant reminder of past events, present actions and the future to come that all relates to death. This tension and the compactness of the play help to increase the intensity as well as invoke fear in the audience, which contributes to the final catharsis Yeats uses cyclical chronology within the play to illustrate the idea of time being a continual concept that cannot be stopped. It highlights the eternal nature of purgatory and expands the idea of the inevitability of the drama. Yeats' use of the hoof beats signals the reoccurring cycle, allowing the events to begin and for the audience, who cannot hear the noise, to question the sanity of the Old Man. The simple lighting in the window, the props, stage effects and setting all help form the audience's perception of a void place, therefore a tragic location filled with intensity, as anything more flamboyant would detract from the tragedy and therefore reduce its strength by distracting the attention onto details that do not contribute. Purgatory effectively demonstrates tragic intensity due to the brevity of the drama. This ensures that the audience's focus is concentrated to such an extent on the plot that the drama becomes claustrophobic. There is no scenic juxtaposition, underlying subplot or change in scenery, which exaggerates this overpowering atmosphere and prevents a release from the tragedy – instead, a build-up of tension is created. Visually, the play is very precise and concentrated, and the anxiety of the dialogue is maintained until the final moments of the play, due to Yeats using his characters to produce emotions of fear and terror in the audience. The amount of emotional fluctuations in the short play only heightens the intensity by creating an overwhelming scene which leaves the audience emotionally exhausted before culminating in catharsis. Props and setting are essential to the play as the relevance of the knife and money goes straight to the core of the plot. Because there are no distractions on the stage, tension is created due to the attention and detail and each prop's significance is more obvious and important. The â€Å"jack-knife† relates to a jackdaw – a species of birds that commit mercy killings amongst their flock, echoing the way the Old Man ends up stabbing his son, as it can be interpreted into the act of salvation of his mother. The setting too contains poignant features that are considerably tragic themselves. The tree is a constant reminder of the destruction of the Old Man's family members as Yeats' use of symbolism makes it a representation of his family tree. The house shows the ruins of the family's livelihood and the fall of nobility, increasing the visual intensity seen upon the stage. It is also seen to represent a wider scale issue, the destruction of Ireland, and this symbolism shows the vast ruin of a country concentrated to a mere house. This is intensified as the tragedy is not reduced but shown on a small scale. Harold Bloom1 criticized Purgatory by attacking Yeats, believing there is â€Å"confusion†¦ n the play. † Bloom found the ending of the play a mass of confusion rather than causing the surge of emotions that are evoked at the end of a tragedy. This brings up the debate as to whether Yeats created an intense piece of drama or just a bewildering fifteen minute sketch. However, even if Purgatory is confusing due to the brevity, the mysterious plot can add to the overall tragedy, leaving the audience unsure of what they have witnessed, and fearful due to the rash actions of the Old Man and the presence of the paranormal. In conclusion, Yeats creates a scene with brimming with tragic intensity by using the minimal props, time, characters and plot. The brevity of Purgatory ensures a ‘scene of tragic intensity' due to the resulting starkness, claustrophobia and desolate tone. The horrifying drama concludes with an dark, empty set, which is how it had started, therefore presenting the cyclicality of purgatory on the stage for the audience to see. Yeats successfully moulded every aspect of tragedy at his disposal and created an intensely dramatic production.

A Martian Sends a Postcard Home

â€Å"A Martian Sends A Postcard Home† The main theme for this poem, â€Å"A Martian Sends A Postcard Home† is showing that how different people have different perspectives and different way of perceiving things. This poem shows how a Martian would describe some of our everyday thing a lot differently than we would. The Martian has a unique way of describing everyday objects, emotions, and time. The Martian sees mist as an object that has human like properties such as becoming tired. Mist is when the sky is tired of flight and rests its soft machine on ground. † (Page 867) The Martian describes mist in a completely different way from the ordinary way we think it to be. We know that it has no human properties and understand it to be something just caused by nature. The Martian, while on Earth, sees adults while they are suffering. The Martian sees them hiding their pain in a room alone, yet children openly expose their hurt. â€Å"Only the young are allowed to suf fer openly.Adults go to a punishment room with water but nothing to eat. † (Page 864) The Martian gets to see something that most adults try to mask. The Martian is able to make a distinction between the way that children and adults express themselves. The Martian seems to describe in an odd way about how humans keep their time trapped in a box and how we have it tied to our wrists. â€Å"But time is tied to the wrists or kept in a box, ticking with impatience. (Page 864) In this statement, it shows how he finds it hard to understand why we keep track of time in that way and because we keep it in that way, time begins to tick impatiently. In conclusion, the theme of this poem shows how everyday items can be described or viewed in such a different way from another perspective. Such things as objects, feelings, and time can be held in such a different viewpoint from two different people. This poem shows how point of view is used to contrast things viewed from a human vs. outsid er viewpoint.

Tok Reflection

TOK Reflection One the first lesson of Theory of Knowledge (TOK), we got a booklet called ‘The Nature of knowledge’. This booklet talked about how knowers know, how knowers we should consider a piece of information we get. The booklet suggested that when we get a piece of information we have to judge it on whether it is the truth and whether we should believe it. Just believing in the piece of information is not enough because you need a justification. Second-hand knowledge, cultural tradition, school, Internet, and expert opinion can obtain the justification.Further continuing the studies of TOK, we found out more about the subject, starting with the ways of knowing. The four types of ways of knowing are reason and logic, emotion, sense perception, and language. For the first quarter we have focused on Sense Perception. In sense perception we focused on the 6 senses, which are: touch, sight, smell, hearing, taste, proprioception. During one of these lessons, we conducte d an interesting survey of which sense would you as a person would be willing to live without. The results show that most of the class would be willing to live without the sense of smell.In relation to the topic of what people believe in, we made a list of things people believe to be true. Using this list we made a ranking of how many people would have to see it for you to believe in it as well or you would actually have to see it for yourself before you believe it. We have watched quite a few documentaries in the quarter. In my opinion the documentary about the guy using echolocation to ride a bike, was one of the most fascinating things I have seen. I find this interesting because even with his disadvantage of being blind, he has somehow found an alternative method to move about and do normal things in life.This video relates to the topic we were currently studying which was sense perception. It shows us how important our senses are and that there are people who can live without o ne of their senses. People can use one of their alternative senses instead when they can’t use one of their senses. I think the sense of sight is one of the most important senses because you need sight to do almost everything and the fact that this guy can live without it amazes me. Another documentary that we watched, was when they tried out an experiment on a few willing people.The experiment was to block out the sense of sight for a certain amount of time and monitor the reactions of people over a certain period of time. At the same time, another group of willing people were chosen to have blocked out the sense of touch, sight, and sound. From this experiment I learned that many people get agitated very easily because they have don’t have a sense. The people with the sense of sight, touch, and sound just remained lying on the bed as they couldn’t feel anything therefore they did not know where they would be going if they moved.One of the first documentaries w e watched was about optical illusions. The questions we were focusing on were ‘Under what circumstances should I trust my senses’ and ‘under what circumstances should I doubt my senses’. From that video I learned that the circumstances when we should trust our senses is to think whether foo is rotten or not, whether or not to use your eyes to navigate, and touching hot or sharp objects. The circumstances that you should doubt your senses is when there are mirages, optical illusions, during a magic show, under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.The latest documentary that we watched was about the new topic that we started for quarter 2 which is Language. This documentary talked about all the different signs and actions that people do in various cultures and what they mean. For example, one of the actions that Indian people are prone to do is the shaking of the head from side to side. This action means a yes in the Indian culture but to people who have nev er seen this actions before it look like a mixture of a yes and a no, like a maybe sign.This video was interesting because some of the normal signs we show such as the good luck sign, with the thumb pointing outwards, mean different things in different areas and cultures in the world. The many documentaries we watched helped me learn better and I think I have learned the most out of them mostly because I am a visual learner. On lessons when we didn’t watched movies, we had a lot of discussions within the class. These discussions were about how to know what were are seeing is true, and how to believe what to see.During one of the lessons we had a note taking session about sense perception. This was a slideshow that talked to us about what sense perception is and how it is influenced. I learned that sense perception is influenced by past experiences, which can condition you to expect certain things. Since it is influence by the past you may than see what you expect to see, rath er than what is really there. Your sense perception can be influenced by your social and cultural conditioning, which may give you certain prejudices.I can also be influenced by you spatial awareness, which will try to relate shapes to patterns with which you’re already familiar. It is influence by your biological limitations, which prevent you from hearing certain sounds or tasting certain chemicals. It can also be influenced by what you already know and how your brain already works. Perception may make you see what is not there and is affected when the brain filters out signals in order to prevent overload. Perception is affect by your self-perception, which makes you interpret information in relation to your self-image.I don’t think this presentation helped me learn that much, as it didn’t give me any examples and was more of information that we need to learn. The last thing that we did was the presentation. This presentation was on a topic of our choice and we had create a Knowledge issue, research about a real life situation and come up with economical, educational, moral, religious, and social views about our topic. This presentation is really helpful because it will be similar to the final one we do to gain the 3 bonus points in IB.