Charles Dickens engender sympathy Essay Example for Free

Charles Dickens engender sympathy Essay How does Charles Dickens engender sympathy for his protagonist Pip in this extract from Great Expectations? In this essay on Great Expectations, I am going to explore how the experiences of the main character Pip, create sympathy from the reader for him and how Dickens has put this across. Charles Dickens has written a gripping novel, set in his time and he has created sympathy for Pip in many different ways throughout the text. A first example of this is when Pip visits Miss Havishams house and meets Estella. She called me boy so often and with a carelessness that was far from complimentary7, this shows that the way Estella spoke to Pip and that, instead of addressing him by his name, she just called him boy as if he was not worthy of his name, and he could sense that she did not really like him because of the way she said this, as indicated in the quote. This makes the reader feel sorry for Pip as Estella was very rude to him and unwelcoming, and nobody would really like to be in his position. So as well as being uncomfortable at the way Estella treats him, Pip also feels uncomfortable with his new surroundings as he has grown up with Joe and his Sister in poor, working class conditions at a Blacksmiths forge, whereas Satis House is very different. It is rich and grand but also scary for Pip. The first thing I noticed was that the passages were all dark, this shows that Pip must have been quite frightened because of the darkness, and he was in a strange place but it is even worse that it is the first thing he noticed about the house. Pip was frightened of his surroundings as they were gothic and dark and very different, but the fact that he did know anyone at all must have also been a challenging experience. At last we came to the door of a room and she said, Go in/ I answered more in shyness than politeness, After you miss. To this she returned: Dont be ridiculous boy; I am not going in. And scornfully walked away, and what was worse took the candle with her. This was very uncomfortable and I was half afraid/ This long quote, from the extract shows a lot, first of all that he was very shy and uncomfortable in everyway at where he was and that he didnt know anyone and he was also afraid. When he entered Miss Havishams room he was afraid again because of the very strange surroundings he entered into. No glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it! this shows that it was very unusual and he was quite frightened and also when he saw Miss Havisham, the strangest lady I have ever seen or shall ever see/ As well as being very strange, Pip also noticed that she was extremely rich, some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table/ Pip was not used to seeing such finery or such unusual surroundings so all of this makes the reader feel very sympathetic towards him. Miss Havishams mental state could also be a coarse for concern as, since her fianci left her on their wedding day and broke her heart she went a bit mad and stopped all of the clocks in the house and, by never touching anything in her room she tried literally to stop time at the prosiest second her heart was broken. Her watch had stopped at twenty minutes to nine and she says to Pip What do I touch? Your heart. Broken! This experience must have been very frightening and unsettling for a young naive boy who was not used to being in the presence of such an eccentric and slightly mad old lady. Not just the fact that Miss Havisham was strange and so were her surroundings she also spoke to Pip and ordered him in a very strange and suspicious/manner. I sometimes have sick fancies and I have a sick fancy that I want to see some play. There, there! Play, play, play! This order seems rather strange for an old woman to have a fancy to see a young boy play but also the repetitive way in which she commands him to Play, play, play! She says this three times and Pip does not really know what to do so he therefore feels very awkward. After the harsh words from Estella and meeting Miss Havisham, Pip starts to feel the realisation of his low social status. This boy, why he is a common labouring boy, these words from Estella hurt Pip deeply but he did not show his true emotions until he was alone. As I cried, I kicked the wall and took a hard twist at my hair; so bitter where my feelings! Dickens has displayed this very well as you can also feel a connection with him, because it is written in first person narration I, so you feel like Pip is actually talking to you, and you could imagine if you were in Pips position you, yourself would feel very frightened and uncomfortable so you end up feeling sorry and sympathetic for him.

Christian religion Essay Example for Free

Christian religion Essay Many aspects of our Christian religion today have developed because of these early religious beliefs and culture of the Romans. At the beginning, the Roman Empire was able to develop more than any other country because of its acceptance of some areas of culture and religion of its conquered enemies and allowing them to keep their religion and culture, blending the old ways with the new. How little was known, that the paganism belief system of the Roman Empire would eventually lead the way to the new Christianity religion of the world. Paganism, with its gods and goddesses, answered humanity’s problems and provided answers at the whim of these supernatural beings. In the early stages of Greek and Roman culture, mythology answered all questions regarding the origin of the world and of man. (Case, 1929, p. 12) In the early days of Greece and Rome, everything under the sun was explained by the gods and goddesses humanity was at their whim along depending on their whims, just as today everything we do is explained through the Christian belief of God and Jesus, instead of the Roman gods and goddesses. In Rome, mythology answered all questions while today Christianity answers all of ours in regard to the world and mankind’s problems, all being subject to superhuman beings who have a lot to do with the affairs of mankind. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire under the Emperor Constantine in AD 324 (the Emperor Julian, known to Christians as the Apostate, failed to bring about a pagan revival a few years later), and pagan forms of worship were finally made illegal in 390 by Theodosius. The myths of the pagan gods were particularly vulnerable to Christian attack, as can be seen in Lactantius Divine Institutes I 9-22 and Augustines City of God. (Rivers, 1994, p. 22) According to Barry Banning’s article entitled, â€Å"The Irony of Faith†, which is part of the research done for his book The Unspoken Power of Rome, he refers to the fact most world religions expect people to believe in something that cannot be detected, seen, felt, heard, tasted, or smelled. Researching the fact that Rome had a serious influence on early Christian’s beginning and formation, he also says that people are expected to believe in something that doesn’t exist physically and can’t be proved in normal human experiences. In most of the world religions, people are asked to believe in something that can not be detected, seen, felt, heard, tasted, or smelled. They are asked to believe in something that doesn’t exist physically and can’t be proven in normal human experience. And when confronted with numerous, obvious discrepancies, the normal response is â€Å"faith†. Faith is the key to understanding. Faith is the key to believing in concepts that cannot be explained. (Banning, 2001, 1) Over the last several years, most Christians have accepted blindly this philosophy of faith, not realizing how much influence that Rome had on Christianity and how we perceive it today, in its early beginnings. Very little credit was ever historically given to Rome for having any influence on Christianity and how we look at it presently – many Christians refusing to believe that many aspects of Christianity had its origins in the pagan arena of Rome, and in the development of our present social orders. However, most of this credit was because of the way Christians hid inside the Roman Empire, to avoid persecution or death by the Romans. The hardest thing possible was to believe in one God instead of many gods and goddesses, remaining anonymous, while still living as Christians in brutal Rome. Early Christians, facing scorn at best and persecution at worst, depending on Emperor and the era, were forced to blend in with their Pagan counterparts. In order to celebrate the holidays of their religion, the Christians used pre-existing holidays and festivals to blend in. Christmas, for example, was originally part of the great festival of the Winter Solstice, or the Saturnalia. By adopting this grand event as the celebration of Christs birth, Christian revelry was allowed to take place, largely unnoticed. The Church too manipulated customs and traditions of the Pagan Empire to make their faith more adaptable. (Kousoulas, 2006,1) Christianity had been the official religion of Rome since 392, before Rome’s official fall in 476 when its last ruler, Romulus Augustus, fell under Alaric and the Visigoths in 410 and later destroyed by the Vandals in 455. According to Professor Richard Baldwin at the Gulf Coast Community College in Florida, this fall of Rome would later influence the Middle Ages and its civilizations in classical Greek and Roman cultures, Christianity, and the Germanic culture. With modern science and intellectual knowledge today slowly replacing the word of God and Christian beliefs, public and society religious dedication has become a thing of the past unwelcome in schools and sports, government buildings, and bringing down the morals of society. We need to look at Rome’s influence on the world accompanied with many other civilizations that were also influential on the world that led to Christianity. The development of human societies was not continuous. It was started several times anewin India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and in Western Europe, beginning each time with the primitive tribe and then the village community. But if we consider each of these lines separately, we certainly find in each of them, and especially in the development of Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire, a continual widening of the conception of mutual support and mutual protection, from the clan to the tribe, the nation, and finally to the international union of nations. (Kropotkin, 1934, p. 17) Christianity today is going through another revival such as in Rome, with many Christians now looking deeply inside – philosophizing and asking inner questions concerning what they have always been told – such as, is Christianity a pure religion in itself, or is it a combination of other religions. As Barry Banning said, previous Christian philosophies and hierarchical leaders told us to never question anything about our churches or what we have been taught. Christians are individuals who have unique mindsets, they are going to grow and change in their perception of the world around them, and this is a time when humanity is asking questions, seeking to find out truths. We are beginning to observe what Christianity is really about, not blindly accepting what we have been told by our superiors. The Roman imprints left from the early Christian development have simply extended an age-old religious philosophy that has long been past due for a change and maybe a needed updated version. Over the centuries, Christianity has not only changed in an intellectual theory but also with the philosophy regarding its impact by Rome. People change and learn in different ways, with continuously changing perceptions that cross many barriers – age, education, beliefs, or culture. Nevertheless, the bottom line is, without Rome we would never have had Christianity. Moreover, today Christianity as a single religion is ranked as the world’s largest religion, with sub-groups being included in this statistic. For the purpose of statistics, Christians refer to varying degrees of religious activity within Christianity – including Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Latter-day Saints, African Indigenous Churches, and others. All of this is very different from the early days of Rome, with terrified Christians being persecuted for speaking and attempting to practice their religion. Yet, no matter where we look regarding Christianity, we find ourself looking also at the Roman Empire and its early heritage and culture, still breathing today inside our churches and religious cultures. BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS: Banning, B. (2001). The Unspoken Power of Rome. 1st Edition. Albuquerque, New Mexico: Wellspring Books. Case, S. C. (1929). Experience with the Supernatural in Early Christian Times. New York: The Century Company. Laistner, M. L. (1951). Christianity and Pagan Culture in the Later Roman Empire. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Kropotkin, P. P. A. (1934). The Present Need of Determining the Bases of Morality. New York: Dial Press. Potter, D. S. (2004). The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180-395. New York: Routledge. Rivers, I. (1994). Classical and Christian Ideas in English Renaissance Poetry: A Student’s Guide. New York: Routledge.

Why Women Should Dress Modestly English Language Essay

Why Women Should Dress Modestly English Language Essay This assignment makes me learn more about the main reasons of why women should dress modestly. In another way, I also learn about writing skill and skills to do research. It also help student in doing research and analysis effectively. Student can learn more depth knowledge from this English assignment. When I do this assignment I know that many women should not dress immodestly. Women wear immodestly will spoil themselves and also the society. If women do not wear modestly, they will cause people to rape them. Other than that, this assignment let me know that reasons of divorce and also let me know that implications of divorce. The reason of divorce is because of the misunderstanding in a relationship in the two person relationship which can also spoil the relationship of the two individual in fact. There are also many implications that can cause the two individual to get involved in the divorce problem. It can also sharpen my thinking skills where the research can also helps me to improve my writing method and skills.. In this research I understand more about the reason of why people divorce and the ways to overcome them.All these are important to improve my knowledge on language, grammar and also the general knowledge. Table Contents page Introduction Women nowadays like to dress immodestly because they think that they should show their body to the others so that people can look at what they can expose especially in the western countries. Some lady from western countries wear immodest apparel but in some eastern countries they do not wear immodest apparel. In the western countries, they never limit how they can wear. On the other hand, women who are wears not modestly can cause a lot of problems to themselves,the society and country. They would just dont care what they wear as long as they are happy, sexy even if it is not comfortable to them. There are also some things all parties can do to overcome this problem. If women dont wear modestly as this will never bring any advantages to them. They should always think of the effects that may cause to them before they think of what they should wear. It is very important for a woman to know what they wear and how they should present themselves to avoid crime cases from happening. They should think in many ways on how they dress can influence their performance and also the image of them.They will need to dress modestly in order to have them not involved in the issues of the country. 2.0 Reasons Women Should Dress Modestly 2.1.1Safety Women can attract rapist and murderer to get near them when they dont dress modestly. They might be in danger because anytime anywhere they might meet the rapist. To stay safe is better for them to dress modestly and for this reason they should know what they should know how to dress to protect themselves. Many of them dont know how to dress modestly and showing too much of their body until they are in danger. They think that they are sexy and they will never care of what others think. What they want to wear they just think and just do it straight away. 2.1.2 Professionalism Maybe some woman may think that they are dressing sexy to present themselves but actually they are wrong. If they dont dress modestly people will have negative thoughts about them and also they will think that they dont know how to dress properly.The way people look at them is very important because this might also relate to the image of the women.People might think that they are prostitutes or doing something not legal. Furthermore, this is important for women who walk on street as there are many people can look at how they dress.They should dress decently to show that they have good moral attitudes. 2.1.4 Staying warm Woman need to dress modestly to cover and protect their body from danger . When they dress modestly they will feel warm and they can avoid from getting molested or sunburn .They should dress modestly to keep their body warm and to show people out there that they cant they are able to protect their body not only to their religion for example muslim wear tudung to cover their neck and they are able to cover their body properly.They should dress because their religion beliefs stated that they will need to cover their body and not to show them to the men. 2.1.5 Setting a good example for others All the young adults follow the way to dress from what they see. When women dress modestly they can show to the young people that this is dressing modestly and that the young people will follow the way the adults dress. Although there are still many people who dont dress modestly when they are on the street. This will bring a very bad image to some citizens with different culture and beliefs. A good example will lead the future generation of people to the right direction and to do the right thing that is to dress modestly. 2.1.6 Respect Women have to dress decently so that people who sees them will respect them as they know how to dress. This is a good thing for them to learn what dressing modestly is all about . On the other hand , this can also bring develop moral behaviors of all the young people. They can just wear modestly when they go out so that people will give respect to them as they are dressing modestly. They will directly get respect because of the clothes as the first thing they wil look at is how the women dress.if they do not dress properly they will gossip about the way they dress. 2.2 Ways to overcome immodest dressing 2.2.1 Talks and campaigns The lifestyle club can organize more talks and campaigns to create awareness to the women on the dangers of dressing not modestly. They can educate them with the correct way of dressing and provide them ideas of what dressing modestly is all about and the importance of dressing modestly when they go out..They can also organize talks in the schools so that they can learn how to dress modestly at an early stage Show them the statistics of crime rate to them from the causes of not dressing modestly. 2.2.2 Rules Government should set rules that to require women to dress modestly. They must limit the type of shirt that they can wear and not let them to wear whatever they want although it is their choice. The government must also fine and give summons to those women who dont dress modestly as this will benefits them and can reduce the rate of cases in the country.As strict as possible they need to set rules on what they can wear which are suitable. They must make them to obey to the rules and follow what they stated to wear. 2.2.3 Parents Parents is very important as parents are the one who buys clothes for them .They ask their children to buy shirts that will never expose their body and look nice. They should avoid their children from buying clothes that will show their body. This is an important role of the parents. When they do this, their children will dress more modestly and people will have a positive thinking as when women dont dress modestly the first one people will say is their parents. The moral education from their parents to their children.Parents should not let their children to buy or dress too sexy. 2.3 Conclusion As a conclusion, dressing modestly can bring benefits to the women as they can be safe, warm and also the image of themselves to the others.These are important as they can avoid many crime cases from happening.There are many ways to overcome the problem which include organizing talks, roadshows and campaigns in schools and to the public. Other than that, they can also dress modestly for their own sake.The image of them is very important which can gain respect of the perspective of how people look at them.Dressing modestly is important to keep the good image of the organization, society, the individual and the country. 3.0 Introduction to divorce The first thing to know about divorce is that it is common and nothing to be ashamed of. According to recent statistics, the rate of divorce in the United States (0.40%) is approximately half the rate of marriage (0.78%). To maintain a perfect relationship, there should be no problem in a relationship.There must be enough understanding between both of them in a couple. This is very important where this became one of the factors that will make divorce happens. Divorce can also happen from many factors which will be discussed in this research report.The rate of divorce is increasing significantly. There are also effect of divorce to many people. 3.1 Reason of divorce 3.1.1 Lack of time Partners might not have time to settle problems in the family as there are too many problems in a family which involves the couple to figure out They might be too busy of their work and they dont have enough time to sit down to clear all the problems. They should spend more time on this to figure out the family problems that occur. 3.1.2 Difference in cultural backgrounds At the beginning, the stark differences in families and friends, and different religious beliefs may seem cute and worth a petty fight. But all it takes is a few months of suppressed ideas and opposing thoughts to wreak havoc in a marriage.Some couples might get different partner from different culture and they just could not understand each other.It is very hard for them to communicate with each other and causes the argue of the couple 3.1.3 Dont understand what each other needs or wants They might not understand each other and at the end they will think that they are not suitable for each other and ended up divorce .This will seriously ruin this relationship. Besides that, sometimes the man cannot give what the woman want for example the money that the womanwants and the man cannot provide her with the enough money.l 3.1.4 Trust Trust is very important between two person in the relationship, do you really trust your spouse? Do you find their behavior suspicious, especially when theyre talking to a friend over the phone? Trust is an important pillar in marriage. If you cant trust your spouse, you definitely cant survive the marriage. 3.1.5 Money Money always has a way of making life better or making life worse. There are only two extremes and no middle ground with money. Are you dissatisfied with your spouses earnings or monetary investment towards the marriage in any manner? This may start off as a nagging thought to begin with, but unless you discuss this with your spouse, you could be heading down the road of divorce over time. 3.1.6 Extra relationship A third party in a relationship will cause divorce. This will happen mostly in men as men will easily get another partner when they feel happy with the new partner. For example when they argue with their wives they will think that they will go to get another one to accompany them. 3.2 Implications of divorce 3.2.1 Children as Victims Most couples normally have children when they get marriage. Accordingly, divorces can directly effect on children. Children living in single parent families are more probably to get pregnant as teenagers, drop out of high school, abuse drugs and have aggressively emotional and behavioural problems, which lead to social problems. Some children decide to go out of their home when their parents separate each other, and subsequently they become homeless children. They do not have good opportunities to find a job due to shortage of education. Consequently, crime may likely be the end result. These are significantly negative effects of recent expansion in divorce rates. 3.2.3 Effect to our nation People will think that the marriage in our country is just for fun and people can marry and divorce anytime they like.In fact the government should set some rules that people can only marry for 2 times. People will think that people in our country are not loyal to love. They love to remarry and get new partner.People will talk bad about our country because the case keep on increasing. 3.2.4 Effect to the society The society will have many crisis because the many issues will appear since there is many people who will become orphan and the will be many criminal will happen. In another way, they will also affect the people in the society.Hence this might affect the whole society because divorce is not a good thing in a relationship.This issue might increase more and more in the future.Many people will suicide when the parents divorce and they think that they have nobody to be trusted. They think that the family is destroyed when their parents divorced. 4.0 Conclusion The rate of divorce is increasing like nobody business. Besides that, this is not a good thing because this will spoil the image of the behavior, attitude and the moral education of the country saying that this is not a good thing. Furthermore, the divorce rate also caused by the people around the country where people like to divorce as they like.Divorce may also caused by the lack of time to understand each other, the level of them understanding each other, financial matters that cause their family couldnt afford their life expenses, the third party which can cause the relationship to end. Divorce may also cause the children to suffer because they will become orphans.Besides that, this will also make the society criminal rate to increase as there many people will do bad things because their parents divorced and no one can teach them about the moral behavior.This will bring a very bad image of a society and country as the image is so important.The way people look at the particular co untry will be very different. Apendix http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-624-x/2012001/article/chart/11696-02-chart8-eng.gif Divorce rate statistics

Essays --

Como ya se sabe la vida de un ser humano depende mucho en lo que la salud le brinde en su vida diaria. Para muchos de los seres humanos en el mundo, el no cuidarse les provoca enfermedades, las cuales producen que el ser sea parte de una vida la cual no sea protegida y sin ayuda mà ©dica. Con eso la exposicià ³n a la vida que se vive afuera expone al ser humano a situaciones severas y a veces causa una ayuda mà ¡s para ellos. En Mà ©xico como se sabe, el derecho a la salud es de una de las tantas principales bases para que el ser humano viva en el lugar correcto con una buena salud y con el bienestar que es necesario en su vida. La salud es el motor principal para que el humano sepa por donde su vida se pone en riesgo y por donde se puede pasar sin ningà ºn problema. Tambià ©n el ser humano es el cuerpo que en la ciencia forma parte por lo que la salud existe y mà ¡s teniendo a la piel expuesta a las bacterias y otras cosas que puedan afectar a la vida diaria de cada ser. Por el momento en Mà ©xico la salud es parte de la vida y pues con el derecho puesto en cada ser humano el producto resulta una ayuda mà ¡s para la poblacià ³n que la necesita. Con la promocià ³n del derecho de la salud en Mà ©xico se a puesto a prueba el uso de este para que los individuos se den cuenta la importancia y la necesidad que es tenerla. Teniendo el punto de vista de otro paà ­s, India, me a puesto otra perspectiva con la el significado que se toma en Mà ©xico de la salud. El contraste es masivo y pues la vida se puede poner en riesgo en los dos paà ­ses pero la salud se ve de otro modos en cada uno de estos paà ­ses. La India se mete en un lugar en donde las situaciones de su salud son normalmente provocadas por la escasez de higiene que existe en el paà ­s. Con esto se està ¡n provoca... ...mo el Programa Nacional de Salud, poniendo nuevos objetivos. Primero se querà ­a poner mas refuerzos interinstitucionales para el desarrollo de programas conjuntos e incrementar la cobertura y poner la oportunidad de los servicios de la salud mas gente de la poblacià ³n. Con todo esto, el gobierno mexicano esperaba elevar el à ­ndice de vida, reducir las tasas de mortalidad en todos sus tipos y mejorar la salud del paà ­s poniendo a la infraestructura primero que nada. Todo el tiempo se siguià ³ este esfuerzo y pues el sexenio que siguià ³ de Ernesto Zedillo, fue parte de esto tambià ©n. Durante el siglo XX, los gobiernos presentes en estas dos ultimas dà ©cadas el de De la Madrid, Salinas de Gortari y Ernesto Zedillo, trataron de meter unas series de medidas y programas para poder fortalecer y modificar el tema de la salud en el paà ­s y para poder ofrecerle mayores oportunidades

The Relationships Between Quaker, The Company, And Semiotics :: essays research papers

The Relationships Between Quaker, The Company, and Semiotics For my presentation I have looked at one of Peterborough's oldest and biggest manufacturer, The Quaker company. More specifically the outside and inside of the building. As I was driving towards the building I thought, what was so significant about the Quaker building and how could a picture of a Quaker be so significant in today's culture. I also thought that this whole image of Quaker could not be that overwhelming, however, with great embarrassment I was completely mistaken. This one business and more specifically building has so many signified meanings and linguistic meanings that I did not no where to start from. When I stood at the foot of the hill of the Quaker building I was overwhelmed by the enormous size of it and how it sits on a hill overlooking the north end of downtown Peterborough. I started to think that this is the signifier, it's big and it's on a hill. Now if you think about this for a minute you begin to realize that simply the size and position of this building has many meanings, which are of course subconsciously. The Quaker building has many meanings and therefore the signified list is very long, but first we will look at the signifier. The sign is the word Quaker, plain and simple, and the signifier is Q-u-a-k-e-r. However the word Quaker is not just a word, it means many, many things, which is where the signified comes in. The actual building is huge, which gave me the feeling that they are a successful company and that their product must be all over the world. The building is also white brick. This, without even knowing it gives you a feeling of safety and purity(just as their products should be). Then there is the fact that it is situated on the top of a hill, when you put meaning to this, there is the feeling of greatness and domination. In my opinion these meanings or signified's work like a funnel, they all at first have nothing to do with each other, but when you put them together they all funnel into one thing, a marketing ploy to buy their product. My point is, that they new exactly where to place theirbuilding and what colour to paint it for the sole purpose of selling their products. They new what meanings people would pull from these signs and signifiers. When looking at the word Quaker you get a feeling of comfort. It gives an impression of going back to past times where morals and family values were at

Putting an End to School Violence †Is Zero Tolerance the Solution? :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Putting an End to School Violence – Is a Zero Tolerance Policy the Solution? There are very few people today who are unaware of the violence in schools. As college students we live in a world that is desperate to find prevention methods against violence. That makes this issue important to today's college students, considering the fact that we are the generation that could have been involved and directly effected by a school shooting like Columbine. Is this how we want our school systems to be when our children enroll? A school is defined as "an institution for teaching and learning". However, today's educational institutions include punishment, violence, and misbehavior. When we find ourselves glued to the television because of another school shooting, obviously something needs to be done about violence in schools. Unfortunately, the solution causes creates more problems. Schools around the world have recently adopted revolutionary solution and prevention methods. The controversy over school violence prevention is not "yes we should or, "no we shouldn't", because you will probably be hard pressed to find someone who thinks we shouldn't get involved. The debate lies in the method we use to prevent and solve school violence. The zero tolerance policy is one suggestion to implement punishment in schools. The zero tolerance policy is strict and devises rules for students and faculty alike. It is a policy that doesn't ask questions when a rule is broken which often results in suspension and expulsion. The policy also addresses the possession of weapons, drugs, and alcohol. Many schools have adopted this policy and have observed both positive and negative results. If the zero tolerance program is installed in the educational system, schools must decide when and how it should be enforced. This is a very complex issue and when open to debate you see three approaches to it. First, advocates of zero tolerance policies concentrate on positive changes in school security, ways of punishment, and change in student behavior. Those who oppose the policies argue that zero tolerance should be eliminated due to its lack of rationale and logic. Finally, the opposing viewpoint criticizes the zero tolerance policy for being too extreme and inappropriate for schools. The first group, those who favor the policy, dwell on school improvement due to zero tolerance. One positive change is reinstated safety in schools giving students, parents, teachers, and the community a breath of relief. Advocates of this positive change believe that schools should be a place of learning without safety concerns.

Diesel Engines: United States and Europe

Diesel engines are routinely sold in European automobiles, with an estimated 6. 5 million vehicles on the road as of 2003 (DeGaspari 28). In both Europe and the United States, diesel engines are used in industrial and commercial applications like generators and commercial vehicles. However, the United States has historically been slow to embrace the concept of a diesel-powered personal automobile, and diesel automobile engines are only recently beginning to gain any traction in the US auto market. What are the reasons for this reluctance, and how can diesel engines gain more of a market share?The reasons for US market slowness in adopting diesel engines are varied. First, the diesel engine suffers from a perception problem which dates to the engines of the 1960s and 1970s – Americans believe that diesel engines are dirty, inefficient and noisy, making for an uncomforta-ble passenger ride, higher emissions and an insufficiently powerful engine. Second, diesel engines cost more than traditional gasoline-powered engines; with American gas prices being historically much lower than European gas prices, there has been no financial incentive in the past for the adoption of diesel engines in the United States.Third, the availability of diesel fuel is not con-sistent across the United States and it is often more expensive than gasoline. These issues are being addressed in a number of ways. The availability of biodiesel (diesel fuel produced from non-petroleum sources, including plant matter, byproducts from meat pro-cessing such as rendered fat and discarded cooking oil) has been increasing steadily, bringing down the price of diesel and offering an environmentally friendly alternative, while the price of gasoline has been increasing.Newer engine designs are quiet and clean thanks to the develop-ment of fuel injection systems, with emissions as low or lower than gasoline engines. The diesel engine offers a higher mileage per gallon and a longer range (distance tr avelled on a tank of fuel), along with a higher torque with a smaller engine, making them attractive choices for American sport utility vehicles and light trucks, as well as the compact car market, where consumers tend to be more conscious of energy efficiency. Historically, American vehicles with diesel engines were dirty and noisy (Siuru 52).The high level of emissions and uncomfortable, noisy ride made a diesel engine an unattractive pro-spect, and relegated the diesel engine to commercial vehicles and applications like generators. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, however, European car manufacturers began to engage in serious research aimed at improving the technical design of the diesel engine used in passenger vehicles. At that time, the market share of the diesel engine in Europe ranged from 10% in Germany up to 35% in France, significantly higher than America, where most diesel vehicles were imported by European automobile enthusiasts (Siuru 52).The first major improvement was introduction of an electronic fuel injection control system (Siuru 52). This system maintains an even fuel supply, reducing the loud banging noise associated with a diesel engine; it also reduces the fuel supply variation, eliminating the vibration and â€Å"hum† of a diesel automobile (Siuru 52). The first electronic fuel injection systems were indirect injec-tion systems (IDI), which mixed the fuel with air in a turbulence chamber before injecting it into the engine’s combustion chamber (Siuru 52). These engines were efficient and produced low emissions.However, direct injection (DI), which injects the fuel directly into the engine’s combustion chamber, bypassing the admixture with air, offered even greater fuel efficiency, albeit with high-er emissions levels (Siuru 56). The direct injection system was developed by Fiat in the mid-1990s and quickly became popular (Siuru 56), The most common implementation of the direct injection system is the common rail direct injection system (Ashley 58). This system, implement-ed by most European car manufacturers in the 1998 model year, offered a way to decrease fuel consumption and emissions by about 30% from the previous designs (Ashley 58).The common rail system uses a manifold to pre-load fuel as a buffer between the injectors and the engine, of-fering greater control of fuel usage according to driving conditions (Ashley 59). While electronic fuel injection systems improved the regularity and smoothness of the die-sel engine’s operation, particulate and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions were still a problem, and continue to be a problem as emissions controls for passenger vehicles become more and more tight.While an indirect injection engine offered lower emissions due to more efficient use of fuel, direct injection engines offered markedly better performance (Ashley 57). A further challenge is that while European emissions standards are primarily concerned with carbon monoxide and carbo n dioxide, American emissions standards are mostly concerned with nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions (Marshall 27). An engine which will be used in both American and European vehicles must control both adequately to meet emissions standards. Emissions are controlled in a variety of ways in the diesel-powered vehicle.The catalytic con-verters typically used in gasoline engines don’t work with diesel engines, due to a difference in the amount of oxygen present in the engine’s combustion chamber(DeGaspari 30 ). One approach to reducing nitrogen oxide emissions in a diesel engine is to use a chemical reaction called selec-tive catalytic reaction, which uses urea (ammonia) to remove the available oxygen (DeGaspari 30). A second method, called a lean NOx trap, causes the engine to cycle between an oxygen-lean and an oxygen rich environment on a regular basis in order to â€Å"break up† the nitrogen oxide molecules (DeGaspari, 30).These traps are often mounted to the tailpipe rather than directly in the engine (DeGaspari 30). The most common solution for particulate emissions is a filter on the tailpipe which traps particulate matter in the exhaust rather than releasing it (DeGaspari 30). The most recent advance in emissions, called homogenous charge compression ignition or HCCI, is a whole-vehicle solution to the mileage-emissions tradeoff with both gasoline and die-sel engines. HCCI, still in development, is being viewed by automobile manufacturers as a boon for the future for both gasoline and diesel engines.HCCI uses a combination of gasoline and die-sel engine design aspects for a high-efficiency, clean-burning engine which is designed to pass emissions standards testing in both the United States and Europe (Marshall 27). The HCCI en-gine premixes air and fuel before feeding it to the engine (a gasoline engine trait), but it uses compression ignition rather than spark-plug ignition (a diesel engine trait) (Marshall 27). This en-gine ha s the additional advantage of being dual-fuel – it can be used with either diesel or gaso-line, reducing the pressure of fuel availability for owners of vehicles (Marshall 28).The HCCI engine design also has the potential to be used with other forms of liquid fuel, such as hydrogen, ethanol or other forms of fatty-acid fuels like diesel and gasoline, widening the possi-bilities for alternative fuels of the future (Marshall 28). The final improvement in diesel emissions is not in the engine itself, but in the chemical makeup of the fuel. Ultra-low sulfur fuels, which were mandated by the FDA in 2006, both reduce emissions and allow for more advanced emis-sions control systems, which can be unusable with higher-sulfur fuels because the sulfur interferes with the necessary chemical reactions.(DeGaspari 30). Engine power is another significant beneficiary of European manufacturer’s research over the last 20 years. American diesel engines have had the reputation of not bein g very powerful; however, the modern diesel engine has greater torque and a greater range (number of miles trav-elled on a single tank of fuel), as well as higher mileage, in a smaller, lighter-weight engine than the equivalent gas engine (DeGaspari 28). A diesel engine in a sport utility vehicle can offer forty to fifty percent greater fuel efficiency over a gasoline engine (DeGaspari 28).The diesel version of the 2006 Jeep Liberty, which was designed with a 2. 8 liter engine, offered 27 MPG high-way/21 MPG city. Compared to its gasoline powered sibling (21 MPG highway/17 MPG city) this was a 24-30% increase in engine efficiency (DeGaspari 28). Because American cars tend to be larger than European cars, engine redesign for greater torque has been popular with American automobile manufacturers (DeGaspari 28). Diesel engines can cost significantly more than traditional gasoline engines.The engine it-self is more expensive, as it is heavier and more precisely controlled; diesel emissi ons devices are also more expensive than their gasoline counterparts. A diesel engine can add one to two thou-sand dollars to the overall consumer price of a vehicle, making it unattractive if fuel efficiency is not a concern (DeGaspari 30). This problem has been self-correcting with a persistent rise in fuel costs and operational cost of automobile ownership in the United States.In 1992, with fuel costs two to four times higher in Europe than in America, diesel engines already held a significant por-tion of the automobile market share; however, doubt was expressed that they would be accepted in America (Siuru 58). With a significant rise in fuel costs over the last 15 years, diesel has be-come more and more attractive to Americans concerned with the mileage of their vehicles. By 1997, experts acknowledged that there is an American market for diesel SUVs (Ashley 62) and currently, both European and American automobile manufacturers now offer passenger vehicles for sale in America (D eGaspari 28).The availability and continued supply of diesel fuel is a serious concern in the United States. Europe, where as much as half the vehicles on the road at any one time are powered by diesel, took the approach of producing its own biodiesel rather than relying on imported petro-diesel (Schmidt 86). Europe has a significant percentage of arable land devoted to rapeseed (can-ola) which is primarily used in the production of biodiesel (Schmidt 86).Biodiesel is diesel oil produced using plants or animal remains rather than petrochemicals; there are many common sources of biodiesel, including virgin plant material (canola, soy, wheat, barley, palm, pine trees, corn and algae have all been used to produce biodiesel), and used cook-ing oil from restaurants, known as yellow grease (Schmidt 86). Most United States biodiesel is derived from soybeans, which offer an 18-20% oil yield. The remaining mass can be used to pro-duce animal feed. Soybean based biodiesel releases about 3.2 t imes the amount of energy used to produce it, making it an extremely efficient energy source (Schmidt 87). Biodiesel is not only good as an alternate fuel source to petroleum-based diesel, it is a cleaner fuel. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), B20 biodiesel (a mixture of 20% biodiesel and 80% petrodiesel) releases l0% less carbon monoxide, particulates and total hydrocarbon, and is carbon dioxide-neutral (Schmidt 89). There are some concerns about the lev-el of nitrogen oxide emissions with biodiesel.A 2006 FDA literature review concluded that B20 biodiesel nitrogen oxide emissions are about 2% higher than the equivalent petrodiesel (Schmidt 90). However, Scott Gordon, founder of Green Technologies, points out that catalytic convert-ers can be used with ultra-low sulfur fuels in addition to traditional emissions controls, which has the potential to greatly decrease nitrogen oxide emissions (Schmidt 90). There are a number of problems with biodiesel which are being addressed by manufactur-ers.The first is that of agricultural resource allocation to biodiesel production. Currently, most United States production of biodiesel uses surplus soybean crops (Schmidt 86). Soybeans have a relatively low yield of only 18-20% oil, however, making soybean cultivation to meet expanded biodiesel requirements problematic (Schmidt 91). In order to expand biodiesel production, dif-ferent crops are required. Two alternatives are rapeseed (canola) and algae. Rapeseed is common-ly grown in Europe as a biodiesel source.It has a 40% yield of oil and is easily cultivated (Schmidt 91). Algae has a remarkably high 50% yield and a production of 8,000 gallons per acre per year, making it the most productive crop found so far. However, problems with designing a large-scale agricultural system for algae have held back use of this material so far (Schmidt 91). In order to grow algae for commercial biodiesel use, indoor systems would need to be designed to precise ly control growing conditions and species in tanks.As Schmidt notes, there is the pos-sibility of creating a large supply of algae by feeding with wastewater treatment plants. Solving the technical problems of cultivating algae is essential for the continued growth of biodiesel. It is estimated that 15,000 square miles of algae cultivation (approximately 9. 5 million acres, a frac-tion of a percent of current American land given over to agricultural usage) could be enough to replace the entire stock of petroleum used in American transportation (Schmidt 91).Unfortunate-ly, not all countries have the availability of arable land that the United States does, and environ-mental degradation can result from planting what is seen as a cash crop at the expense of sub-sistence crops or native habitat. Rain forest clearing in order to plant palm trees, a common source of imported biodiesel, has had a bad effect on Indonesian forests (Schmidt 92). A second problem with biodiesel is inconsistent low-temperature operation. All diesel fuels will gel with extreme cold, but biodiesel gels more quickly at higher temperatures.To operate a diesel engine in colder conditions, a mixture of petrodiesel and biodiesel is required (Schmidt 89). The most common blend of petrodiesel and biodiesel is called B20 (20% biodiesel and 80% petrodiesel); however, even lower blends of biodiesel, such as B2 and B5, are beginning to gain traction in the market (Schmidt 89). A third problem with biodiesel is inconsistent quality. Federal and state tax credits for bio-diesel production make it attractive to companies large and small (Schmidt 90).A biodiesel blend made from virgin vegetable oil is eligible for a 1-cent per gallon discount on federal fuel excise tax for each percent of biodiesel in the blend; a blend made from yellow grease, or recycled cooking oil, is eligible for half that (Schmidt 90). This is a powerful incentive for biodiesel pro-duction. Unfortunately, quality sometimes is lackin g in the production controls. High levels of glycerin, a byproduct of biodiesel production which can clog filters and reduce engine perfor-mance, making it difficult to start the engine when cold, were found in one third of the samples tested by NREL in 2006 (Schmidt 90).These samples came from blending facilities where the biodiesel fuels were mixed and then sent to distributers. The NREL attributes these problems to a sudden increase in demand leading to some plants starting production without quality control procedures in place (Schmidt 90). As gasoline prices continue to rise and the American public gives serious attention to the energy efficiency and mileage per gallon of their personal automobiles, diesel engines become more attractive to car buyers.With fuel efficiency 30% or more higher than gasoline engines, electronic fuel injection offering a smoother, quieter ride, as well as greater torque in a smaller engine allowing for lighter-weight and higher-mileage sport utility vehicles, and the availability of biodiesel offering an environmentally friendly, renewable fuel source, the performance prob-lems of past generations of American diesel vehicles have been largely solved.Rapid develop-ment and improvement of diesel technology to keep up with tightening emissions control re-quirements has led to extraordinarily clean vehicles. American and European automobile manu-facturers have begun to produce diesel automobiles for the American market, and have expecta-tions of solid sales. The question remains, however: will American consumers follow the lead of Europe and embrace diesel engine technology?