Cultural Diversity and Literacy Essay Example for Free

Cultural Diversity and Literacy Essay The student body of academic institutions for higher learning is becoming more and more diverse in culture and social groups through the past generations (Koester Lustig, 1991; Powell Collier, 1990). Therefore, educators must bear in mind this diversity factor and modify teaching procedures accordingly. I am a Korean intending to effectively teach piano lessons to high school students. I should be able to help my students appreciate the piano, play the piano excellently and make them become highly literate in music. In a paper presented at the Central States Communication Association Convention in Oklahoma City in 1994, Goulden suggests that the primary goal of academicians and educators in facing cultural diversity should be to provide an opportunity for learning that is beneficial for students (1994 5). This primary goal is supported by more straightforward objectives. Goulden also states that the students must be prepared for life after graduation (1994 5). Therefore, the end goal should be to help the students, however diverse their cultures are, to stand proud for his culture and for what he has learned. As a piano teacher, I think that aside from teaching my students to simply play the piano, I must also impart on them the value of cultural pride, as well as the importance of understanding people on other cultures that will also be part of their audience in playing the piano. Even as music is considered a universal language, it will help my students to play with passion to be able to transcend cultural differences. It is my goal as a teacher to help them achieve that level of effectiveness. Of course, in effect, I intend to teach piano lessons to my students to help them achieve high literacy in music. Literacy is a much broader concept than most people think. While others believe that literacy is all about learning to read and write, other academicians believe that literacy means deep understanding of subject matters, such as music. To contrast, literacy is what broadens a persons world, while illiteracy shrinks it down (Needlman, 2001). I think a persons imagination has a lot to do with literacy. For example, if my students could learn to read the notes and play the piano effectively, I will be happy as a teacher. However, if my students will play the piano and experiment with musical notes on their own, then, I will be happier; because it means that I am imparting high litereacy to my students. If my students can use their imagination and deepen their appreciation and interest in music, I will say they are highly literate in music. As a piano teacher, I think I need to know more than just my students level of skills. For instance, I need to know more than just the notes that they can or cannot read, or the music pieces that they can or cannot play. To be able to reach their mind and help them become imaginative, productive and highly literate in music, I must be able to overcome any possible barrier in reaching their mind. I think my students must have fun while learning with me. Culture can be a barrier to literacy, if there is no connection between teachers and students. For instance, some of my students might be intimidated by the fact that we Koreans, are highly interested in music, and it is an integral part of our lifestyle. I, as the teacher, should tell my students, that even if a certain culture appreciates music more than a certain other culture, it does not mean that the others cannot learn. In fact, on the contrary, we would be very happy to share our passion with the rest of the world. I think that as a teacher, I must understand my students, as well as their families and their communities so I can help them to reach a high level of literacy. Through understanding, I can better relate to my students and establish a connection with them so they will feel that they are a part of me, and I am a part of them, and we must celebrate our cultural diversity because it is beautiful to see that we are different, and yet the same. We have different cultures, but we also have the same interest and the same goals. Between my students and me, our main similarities should be our interest in learning together, learning from each other, and learning about music. For me to have a better understanding of the underlying effects of the increased cultural diversity of my students, I should look into the manners in which students from diverse social and cultural units experience music. I think I should educate myself and equip myself with knowledge about my students varied culture before I can become truly effective in reaching out to them, to make them excellent piano players. Culture is not a static phenomenon passed exactly as it is down from one generation to another; in fact, culture is a dynamic, flexible, breathing environment to which every person makes a contribution. In this case, education, specifically music education must be about helping every student find his passion in music, and help him nourish that passion so he could be prepared to make his own contribution to his own culture (Shuler, 2001). If I could help a student with a culture different from mine develop a contribution to his own culture, then it will also be my achievement as a teacher. References Goulden, N. R. (1994). Curricular Changes, Communication Skills, and Cultural Diversity: The Next Generation, 5. Koester, J. , Lustig, M. (1991). Communication curricula in the Multicultural university. Communication Education, 40, 250-254. Needlman, R. (2001). What Is Literacy? Retrieved November 15, 2006 from http://www. drspock. com/article/0,1510,5133,00. html Powell, R. , Collier, M. J. (1990). Public speaking instruction and cultural bias: The future of the basic course. American Behavioral Scientist, 34(2), 240-250. Shuler, S. C. (2001). Music and education in the twenty-first century: A retrospective, Arts Education Policy Review (Vol. 102, pp. 25): Heldref Publications.

The Old Man And The Sea :: essays research papers

The Nobelprize winning book: The old man and the sea, has been written by Ernest Hemingway and was published in 1982, though the original American print had been published in 1952. The title is exactly what the book is about. It is a short story. The story is written in one continuous whole and is written from the view of the writer, it is very realistic. The description of the setting are the dominating factor in this book. The author spends a lot of time, for describing the sea, and what takes place. There are a lot of dialogues in the book. Example:"Who gave this to you""Martin. The owner""I must thank him""I thanked him already," the boy said."You don't need to thank him.""I'll give him the belly meat of a big fish," the old man said. "Has he done this for us more than once?""I think so""I must give him something more than the belly meat then. He is very thoughtful for us."The next fragment I find really representative for the whole book, because it is a fragment in which the old man is talking to himself, like he does all the time, and he is saying how great the fish is, which he does quite a few times too."He is a great fish and I must convince him, hethought. I must never let him learn his strengthnor what he could do if he made his run. If I werehim I would put in everything now and go untilsomething broke. But, thank God, they are not asintelligent as who kill them; although they aremore noble and more able."The book is about an old man, who goes out fishing (his profession, not as a sport) one day. He decides to go really far out, before the sun comes up. Then one of his lines goes under, and he hooks the fish. But the fish is so strong, that he can't pull him up. The old man thinks that if he lets the fish pull his boat, a sailing-boat the size of a rowing-boat, the fish will go out of strength and die soon.But it's a very very strong fish and he keeps pulling for a day and a half. Then the fish gets out of strength and starts circling around the boat, a sign of tiredness. But when the fish is close to the boat the old man sees how big he really is, he thinks he is about 1500 pounds.

How does Steinbeck present the character of Crooks Essay

In the novel â€Å"Of Mice and Men†, the character of Crooks is used by John Steinbeck, the author, to symbolise the downgrading of the black community occurring at the time in which the novel was set. Crooks is also significant as he provides an insight into the reality of the American Dream and the feelings of the people in the ranch; their loneliness and need for company. Steinbeck presents Crooks as a victim of racism and throughout the book, he is called by the name ‘nigger’. Being black, Crooks is hated on the ranch. â€Å"Ya see, the stable buck’s a nigger†. The use of this word dehumanises Crooks and shows how black people at the time, had no rights at all. He also says, â€Å"If I say something, why it’s just a nigger sayin’ it† and this shows his anger about being brutalised. However, another quote shows how threatened violence is used against black people and how the same term ‘nigger’ is repeated throughout the book. â€Å"Listen nigger(†¦ ), you know what I can do if you open your trap? (†¦ )I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny†. Curley’s wife takes advantage of Crooks having a go at her and threatens Crooks into getting lynched. Lynching was very common in the 1930’s and Crooks ‘seemed to grow smaller’. The use of this oxymoron emphasises how he tries to fight back yet Curley’s wife’s social status was better than Crooks’ mainly because of his race. Furthermore, Curley’s wife uses the word ‘nigger’ and it also dehumanises Crooks and puts him ‘in his right place’. Curley’s wife is also near the bottom of the social ladder as well as Crooks worldly Despite the fact that Crooks is a victim of racism, Steinbeck presents Crooks as a dignified human being. At first glance, this is not obvious as Crooks sleeps in what is described as ‘a long box filled with straw’. This quote shows how he is presented as an animal because black people at that time, were treated as slaves. Not only does Steinbeck give him a life and a voice, but he tries to show Crook’s life in the book with how black people were treated in real life. Steinbeck also tries not to represent Crooks as ‘just a slave’. Steinbeck tries to defend Crooks by writing about how he stood up for his rights against Curley’s wife when she entered his private space, â€Å"I had enough (†¦ you got no rights comin’ in a coloured man’s room. You got no rights messing around in here at all. † This quote shows how Curley’s wife tries to use her superior social status against Crooks as well as dehumanising him. Another quote shows how not only does he care about himself and how he treats himself, but he also cares for the horses and the other animals in the barn. â€Å"Crooks has his apple box over his bunk, and in it a range of medicine bottles, both for himself and for the horses†. It also shows that he is well organised and that he cares for the animals like he cares for himself. He also takes pride in what he does. Another quote shows how even though he knows he has rights, they are still worth nothing, â€Å"And he had books too; a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California Civil Code for 1900’s†. This quote also shows that he is worried about his education and that he is intelligent even though others on the ranch thought that black people aren’t clever. The books must have been used a lot and so he knows the rights that he should have. Therefore, Crooks is presented as a dignified human being despite the fact that he is disregarded and mistreated by others on the ranch. Although Crooks is a dignified human being, Steinbeck also presents him as a cruel and unpleasant man at times. This is shown most obviously when Lennie attempts to make friends with him in part four of the novel. At first, when Lennie tries to enter his room, Crooks says, â€Å"you got no rights to come in my room. This here’s my room†, and he becomes very defensive. The fact that he repeats the phrase ‘my room’ shows he is feeling vulnerable. His room is the only place where he can have some privacy and have a sense of safety and this is important to Crooks because he doesn’t have much and is frequently abused by those around him. Steinbeck also writes, ‘Crooks said sharply’ and the word ‘sharply’ supports this idea because it shows it is an immediate reaction to the intrusion. It is also like a defence mechanism as he feels slightly paranoid about what is about to happen. He lets Lennie in his room eventually but he continues to torment him, ‘his voice grew soft and persuasive’. Crooks tries to use persuasive language in order to insult Lennie and take advantage of his condition. â€Å"Sp’ose George don’t come back no more(†¦ )what’ll you do then? † Crooks takes the chance to fight back from how he has been tortured in the past. He also wanted to make Lennie feel how he has been feeling for most of his life; lonely and isolated. Yet Lennie tries to fight back and Crooks gets scared and tries to carm him down. Crooks is also presented as powerless, as previously discussed it is perhaps this lack of power that leads to his bitterness. One quote shows how Curley’s wife threatens him and Crooks sits down and doesn’t fight back, â€Å"Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego-nothing to arouse either like or dislike†. Steinbeck tries to use metaphorical language to show that Crooks doesn’t want to be seen and that he fears for himself. It also shows that he is at the bottom of the social hierarchy mainly because he is the only black person on the ranch. The repetition of the word ‘no’ and ‘nothing’ dehumanises Crooks and makes him feel like he has nothing and he has no rights. He is also paradoxical because sometimes he insists on himself having some rights yet he is still lonely. This is why when Lennie tries to enter his room, he has a go at him explaining them. It wasn’t until after he spoke that he realised that he could finally have some company. In those days, black people were presented as ‘lower class’ compared to others and Steinbeck embeds this in the novel to make Crooks feel powerless Another quote shows how Crooks does have some rights even though he doesn’t like them, â€Å"A coloured man got to have some rights even if he don’t like them. It shows how Crooks knows he has rights and that it is a defence mechanism against others being racist towards him. However, when Curley’s wife interrupts them, he tries to defend himself explaining his rights but they were all worth nothing and after she went, when Crooks said do Candy that he was ‘jus’ foolin’ yet on the inside, he knows that he can never get out of the situation others put him in. When Steinbeck presents Crooks as powerless, this also links in with him being lonely and isolated. When Crooks is talking to Lennie, he explains how a black person like him has no friends and no company, â€Å"Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody-to be near him,’ he whined, ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody†. This shows how he is a symbol of loneliness and Crooks tries to express his feelings. Out of all the people in the ranch, the only person he could express his feelings to was Lennie, who cannot fully sympathise or understand Crooks’ situation. Not only is Crooks a symbol of loneliness, but so are Candy and Curley’s wife because they are also marginalised in the ranch. The way Steinbeck doesn’t give Curley’s wife a name dehumanises her and makes her feel lonely. Another quote goes to Crooks’ past and how things in those days were the same, yet he didn’t know. â€Å"I ain’t a Southern Negro†¦ I was born right here in California†¦ The white kids come to place at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them†¦ My ol’ man didn’t like that. I never knew till long later why he didn’t like that. But I know now. † Racism was a big issue in those days and that’s why Crook’s dad didn’t like him mixing with the other white kids. The way he says ‘I ain’t a Southern Negro’ shows that he isn’t the ‘typical slave’ that other black people were in the 1930’s and that most of the black people in America were from the South. He soon became aware of racial prejudice and he doesn’t mix easily with others on the ranch, â€Å"He kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs†. Crooks is also separated because he can’t sleep in the bunk house with the others mainly because of his race. Crooks is also presented as weak and damaged as he suffers both physical and emotional pain. His name represents how he has a crooked back, â€Å"His body was bent over to the left by his crooked spine, and his eyes lay deep in his head†¦ And he had thin, pain-tightened lips which were lighter than his face†. Steinbeck tries to emphasise how Crooks is in a lot of pain, yet he is still treated badly by the ranchers. His physical disabilities parallel with other characters including Lennie who is taken advantage of by Crooks because he behaves like a child. Crooks is also the only person in the novel who doesn’t have any hopes or dreams. One moment in chapter four shows how Crooks has high hopes when Lennie and Candy talk about the dream but he dismisses it after Curley’s wife destroys him verbally, â€Å"I never seen a guy really do it, I seen guys nearly crazy with loneliness for land†¦ If you†¦ guys would want a hand to work for nothing-just his keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand†. Crooks talks about how he has seen many people who have passed through the ranch with dreams yet most of them have failed. When Candy spreads their dream, he has high hopes, but when Curley’s wife interrupts them, she reminds him that he has no hope of sharing the dream. In my opinion, Steinbeck does present Crooks as a victim of racism as he is like an outcast because of his colour and Steinbeck used him to show the hatred of black and white people in the 19th century. He also presents him as a dignified human being because unlike most black people at the time, Crooks did have an education. He likewise presents him as cruel and unpleasant because he enjoys torturing Lennie because he is weakened by his mental illness and he is also powerless because he is treated like all the other black people in America at the time, he has no rights at all. He is also presented as lonely and isolated because he is dehumanised and separated from the other ranchers mainly because of his race, and he is also presented as weak and damaged both physically and mentally because of his crooked back and the loneliness that he feels. Ultimately, Crooks is a very complex character, one who has suffered and slightly gained but he is definitely presented as a victim of society. Crooks Crooks is a lively, sharp-witted, black stable-hand, who takes his name from his crooked back. Like most of the characters in the story, he admits that he is extremely lonely. When Lennie visits him in his room, his reaction reveals this fact. At first, he turns Lennie away, hoping to prove a point that if he, as a black man, is not allowed in white men’s houses, then whites are not allowed in his, but his desire for company ultimately wins out and he invites Lennie to sit with him. Like Curley’s wife, Crooks is a disempowered character who turns his vulnerability into a weapon to attack those who are even weaker. He plays a cruel game with Lennie, suggesting to him that George is gone for good. Only when Lennie threatens him with physical violence does he relent. Crooks exhibits the corrosive effects that loneliness can have on a person; his character evokes sympathy as the origins of his cruel behavior are made evident. Perhaps what Crooks wants more than anything else is a sense of belonging—to enjoy simple pleasures such as the right to enter the bunkhouse or to play cards with the other men. This desire would explain why, even though he has reason to doubt George and Lennie’s talk about the farm that they want to own, Crooks cannot help but ask if there might be room for him to come along and hoe in the garden.

The And Social Learning Theory - 1246 Words

Introduction In this essay I will talk how behaviourism and social learning theory contribute to our understanding of learning, the strengths and weaknesses of the theories of Psychologists B F Skinner and Stanley Milgram and also critically discuss the limitations of their theories. Then finally weigh up how Skinner has impacted the understanding of behaviour. How Behaviourism and Social Learning Theory contribute to the understanding of learning Behaviourism is the theory that human beings and animals can be conditioned to act a certain way. This started with the observations from Pavlov in 1902, in which he conducted and experiment with a dog. He started his theory from the idea that there are many things a dog does not have to learn.†¦show more content†¦Watson took the observations of Pavlov and proposed that he was able to explain all aspects of human psychology using this theory. This theory is called classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is the theory that a person learns a new behaviour through the process of association. Two stimuli are brought together to produce a new association with that person or animal. For example before conditioning, a person may associate the smell of perfume with happiness, this is an unconditioned stimulus. However during conditioning they may instead associate the smell of perfume with a specific person. At this point the unconditioned stimulus has become a conditioned s timulus. After conditioning, the person whom found the perfume to be associated with a specific person, now finds the smell of that perfume to be attractive. This is a conditioned response. As well as this, John B Watson conducted the Little Albert Experiment. Pavlov demonstrated that classical conditioning worked on animals, but Watson wanted to find out if it also worked on humans. Little Albert was 9 months old, and was tested on his reactions to various animals and objects which included a rat, rabbit, monkey, as well as various masks. He showed no fear to any of them, however did show a reaction when a hammer struck a steel bar behind him, causing him to cry. When Little Albert was 11 months old, he was again presented with the rat, however seconds later the hammer struck the steel bar. This was