Primary and Secondary Education in the Netherlands and China Essay

In the Dutch education system one ought to have 12 years of education, starting at the primary school from the age of 4. After 8 years of primary education the children will do a CITO-test that determines to which level of secondary education they can attend. The Dutch secondary education consists of three levels, respectively: VMBO, HAVO and VWO. VMBO is a 4 year program that has a more practical focus than the remaining levels and it is subdivided into four groups: BBL, GL, KBL and TL. A VMBO degree gives access to the subsequent vocational programs (MBO), which are 2 to 4 years depending on the chosen courses. The intermediate level of the secondary education is the HAVO program of 5 years. After completion and obtaining the HAVO degree, one can choose to do either a higher vocational program (HBO) of 4 years or a MBO. However, recently the Dutch government has declared a HBO degree to be equivalent to a university’s bachelor degree and therefore it is more attractive to HAVO graduates to pursue a program in HBO. Finally, the highest level in the Dutch secondary education is VWO. After completion of this program of 6 years, one has access to all universities in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, some popular courses, such as medicine and psychology, do have a minimum grade as entry requirement and therefore students willing to pursue a career in those fields will have to face a strong competition. In the Chinese education system one has 9 years of compulsory education, starting at the primary school from an age of 6. However, before the primary school many Chinese children will go to a preschool to develop their linguistic skills. After 6 years of primary school, the children will do a national test that ultimately determines to which secondary school they can attend. In china there are no distinctive levels in the secondary school system, but reputation and ranking distinguish the schools. Therefore there are the so-called key-schools that only accept students with high grades or have rich parents. The first 3 years in the secondary education is the junior-stage, wherein one will have a central examination in the last year. The results of that examination will either allow the student to the senior-stage of the secondary education or direct the student to another school specialised in vocational education. The students who are able to enter the senior-stage will do another central exam in their last year. The results of that exam will subsequent give the student access to the universities in China. The popular universities usually have a good reputation and high national ranking, therefore only the students with the highest scores in their final exams can fulfil the entry requirements. In comparing the two education systems, one should have noticed that the Dutch primary education is extended over a longer period than the Chinese primary education, respectively 8 and 6 years. Moreover, the more complex Dutch secondary education system allows students to jump between levels. In other words, a hardworking student could start in VMBO-BBL in the first year and end up in VWO the next year. This switch between levels is not possible in the Chinese secondary education system and the central exams determine the future destiny of the students.

Journey for Truth: The Life of Sojourner Essay

The contribution of the life, philosophy, and activism of Sojourner Truth was that she was effective in preaching to the community as a freedom fighter, abolitionist, and feminist. Representing many classes of people in Antebellum United States, she was able to illuminate for others the hardships and desires of black people, the poor and oppressed, and women. As slaves, blacks had no personal freedom. They had no rights to themselves or their families, were whipped and tortured, experienced segregation and denial of citizenship, were denied salaries, and, women especially, endured the devastating agony of having their babies and children stripped from them and sold off to other arrogant and inhumane slave masters. In an effort to encourage radical change in her time, Truth took up the risky cause of making speeches against the strong forces of evil and in support of the righteous values of freedom and respect. Liberating herself and other people was not limited by class, racial, economic, or gender lines, rather she held the torch of freedom as a beacon for all oppressed people to follow, calling for empowerment of the weak, tolerance for differences, and protection for all people (Waxman, 2007). Truth was born into slavery in the late 1790s, in a more rural area outside of the bustling New York City. At the age of nine, Truth, then named Isabella, was sold by the slave master away from her parents and one remaining sibling to another New York slave owner. For nearly thirty years, she experienced a life of extremely difficult conditions, being repeatedly sexually abused and physically assaulted, and some of her children were forcibly taken from her and sold into bondage. Luckily, after the New York Emancipation Act of 1827, Truth was freed along with other former slaves of this Northeastern region, and in 1843, Truth was inspired to assume her new name and began a mission of journeying across the country as an itinerant preacher, supporting the efforts of abolitionists and feminists in the North, becoming actively involved in breaking down the slave system and pressing for the rights of all subjugated people (Mullings, 2005). Truth’s most famous speech at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851 is a wonderful demonstration of the strength of her ideals and the power of her words. In an excerpt from Brah and Phoenix’s 2004 article, Truth is quoted as having preached: That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody helps me any best place. And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm. I have plowed, I have planted, and I have gathered into barns. And no man could head me. And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much, and eat as much as any man–when I could get it–and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne children and seen most of them sold into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me. And ain’t I a woman? (p. 77) Her sharply painful and moving words, rich with truth and experience, sent tides of strength and power through the country’s movement for all levels of freedom in regard to all kinds of people. In countering tyranny with liberty, and violence with peace, Truth became an emblem of the almost suffocated soul which was able to rise up, speak out, and lend valuable energy and motivation to the essential activism of her time. In defending her womanhood, her personhood, her right to full citizenship and social inclusion, Truth demanded respect during a time when evil was easily cast down the noses of the dishonorable elite. Standing firm in her beliefs and finding power in the spirituality of goodness, Truth was able to meet eyes with her oppressors and effectively shake the foundations of a flawed system.

The Archetype of women portray in movies throught the decades Movie Review

The Archetype of women portray in movies throught the decades - Movie Review Example The changes in the damsel in distress archetype can be easily traced through the various versions of the Cinderella story as presented by what would become Paramount Pictures but in 1914 was the Famous Players Film Company, that produced by Walt Disney in 1950 and the more modern version of â€Å"Ever After† starring Drew Barrymore. By comparing and contrasting key elements of each story, a picture begins to emerge of the differing ideologies of each time period as well as differences regarding intended audience. In the earliest film, Cinderella is seen to be living with her stepmother and two older step-sisters without any true mention of the missing natural parents. Following the traditional story, Cinderella spends her days cleaning up after her vain and spoiled sisters and step-mother and her evenings sitting in with the cinders to keep warm. She earns the fairy godmother’s help with her kindness to an old, crippled woman who shows up at her door in spite of the cru el treatment the woman gets from the step-mother and step-sisters. A tangential concern here is how this expectation for young women to be kind to the destitute compares with Snow White’s treatment (another Damsel in Distress archetypal figure) in which the young woman is poisoned for her pains. Cinderella, though, earns a chance to meet the prince while she is out gathering wood for the fire and the two fall in love immediately. The story sticks pretty close to the storyline that would be made popular by Walt Disney 40 years later with the exception that Cinderella must also complete tasks given her by the godmother before she can be dressed for the ball. These are easy tasks, including gathering the pumpkin, the mice and the rats to serve respectively as coach, horses and servants, but they are something Cinderella actually has to go and accomplish before she can receive the godmother’s gift. In keeping with the times, it was not unusual for people to find animals su ch as mice and rats living in close proximity to their homes, and it is not surprising that inside the house is where Cinderella finds and captures the mice and the rats she will need. Cinderella is a true working girl, too, not squeamish about dealing with these animals and accustomed to the hard labor of a housemaid in an age without automatic machines available to make the work easier. This is a much harder story than that told by Walt Disney in 1950. Here the step-sisters have become as unfortunate in appearance as they are in spirit. They are both obviously mean and spiteful even to each other. Cinderella’s role here is the same, to struggle as housemaid under these sisters and an even more demanding step-mother, but the house is much grander and Cinderella’s accommodations are more comfortable although still poor. While she is still expected to do all of the work, her animated clothes don’t look nearly as poor as that of her earlier live-action counterpart and the animals that live in her house are friends rather than vermin. This is made clear as the birds, dog, horse and mice all exist apparently to serve her desires because they are all, to some degree, in love with her as well. In keeping with the mood of the times in which new inventions were being made that made women’s housework much less of a chore, Cinderella is rarely seen

Crime and Punishment in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Crime and Punishment in UK - Essay Example The criminal Justice act 2003 was enacted to reduce the crime by deterrence and by taking the preventive steps like supervising in the licence period and taking into custody when there is a need. The minimum time prescribed for a sentence in murder cases and the permission for a trial in the absence of a Jury, the compulsion on the persons called for Jury duties, the custodial periods, the steps taken for reducing re-offenders, custody plus, the new discretionary powers for the Jury, the role probation agencies in reforming the convicts, the permission for the retrial are some of the new clauses included in the law and generally after three years of enacting the law, there is a need to analyse the effect of it and to which extent it was showing its extra effect than the previous laws. In the backdrop of increased sentences in the last ten years and decrease of the fines and community punishments the deterrence attained by implementing the law is to be discussed.First of all there sho uld be a reason for passing a sentence or giving punishment which reduces crime or offer deterrence. The public protection should also be considered and it was considered in the act. Some Judges or magistrates feel that the act gives a practical tool for improving their decision making capacity.1 A bench which is to present a report does not like to observe the details of the punishment given. But the effort to establish rapport between bench and probation by the act is capable of showing the real positive effect. The bench now is provided with a chance to know the decisions taken at the time of probation. But the process is too complex, but is valuable. Crime and punishment in UK The judges decide the punishments in individual cases. This can be termed as independence of Judiciary. But the independence is not the one that makes an escape from the responsibilities. The sentencers may think at the time of the sentence that the punishment given may help in reducing the crime and offer deterrence. But it is not the whole thing which can reduce and deter crime incidence. There should be provision in the law to make all the agencies of the Justice system work in coordination to bring reform in the convicts and attaining the reducing rate of crime. If the Judges think that just judicial independence is the panacea, then the system will suffer and the purpose is not served. How ever the provision of liaison between the judiciary and the probation agencies is capable of bringing the change in the offenders who commit crime and serve sentences from less than 1 year to more than 2 years. The reduction of crime and deterrence depends upon the factor that up to which exte nt the convict was reformed. Generally the rate of repeating crime in the persons convicted in murder cases will be very less (not nil) as a person convicted for more than 10 years, though not reformed, may loose the capacity of committing the murder. It may not be true in all the cases here it was mentioned to make a point that the reformation is more necessary in the case of the persons sentenced for the period of months to 2 to 4 years. The reformation brought out in these persons can be a tool in hand for the system to reduce the crime incidence and to attain the required deterrence. The Judiciary/probation liaison was provided in the act for this reformation, but the extent of its implementation will result in the range of reformation. But it can be known that the sentencing by the Judges and magistrates in all the levels of the courts increased and the community punishments and fines were decreased,1 telling the fact that the liaison was not working up to the mark or it may ta ke some more time to show its effect. Though the courts of England and Wales have more probability of imposing penalties other than custodies, in the last decade the custodial sentences increased. The community sentences were also resulted in the community punishments.2 In the last ten years the custodial sen

Multinational Enterprises and Global Capitalism Research Paper

Multinational Enterprises and Global Capitalism - Research Paper Example There are several reasons why a multinational may choose to undertake foreign direct investment. One of these reasons is that the company has been very successful in selling its product with success and efficiency, and has been successful on satisfying the demand for this product to a full extent in the area of its origin. After seeing its success in that area, perhaps the exhaustion of demand within the area, the company may be tempted to open up a second location in a different country. The main reason, in this case, would be that the company would be seeking to satisfy the demand of consumers elsewhere, at that point. It will see a profitable business investment to open up a new location near these new potential customers because it predicts a similar response from them as it got in the country it was originally operating in. This new group of customers would be an attractive basis for foreign direct investment for any company, and once it has evaluated the possible risks associat ed with the possible expansion, it will surely consider the expansion as feasible, profitable and the next logical step to their expansions and operations (Jones, pp. 74, 2005). A company will not expand to a county in which it does not perceive the demand for its product (Seymour, pp.104, 1987). For example, one can consider a company, which produces food products, which use ham as the main ingredient. This company may be extremely successful in a non-Muslim country like the United States. Here, consumers in all age groups, as well as several different socio-economic statuses, may love its product. This would logically mean that once the company finishes expanding within the areas of the US where it finds functioning feasible, it could expand to and invest in even the less developed countries because it knows by experience that its product is well accepted by people of lower-middle income statuses as well. This logic will not apply in those countries, however, which have a majority of Muslim population. This is because, even though the acceptance of the company’s product has proven to be high amongst previous consumers, these new Muslim consumers would not warm up to them because their ingredients include pork, which they do not eat. In this regard, even when a product has been popular in several countries, the company will have to make several other inquiries before it can assume whether it is a good idea to undertake foreign direct investment in a newer area. In other words, the product needs to be tested in any region to where the multinational corporation (MNC) wishes to expand because, without that, the FDI will have very slight chances of yielding a successful result. Another reason is the political stability that is present in that country. Political stability is an important factor to consider for any MNC when it chooses to undertake foreign direct investment (Yoshitomi, & Graham, pp. 30, 1996). This is because it has a large bearing on how smo othly the company is able to operate in that area with hindrances, strikes and other interruptions, which often result in large losses, which make a large profit out of their daily operations. The political stability of the country is an important factor because it affects the consumer market of the country.

Is John Stuart Mill's ulitilarianism a sound basis for his liberal Essay

Is John Stuart Mill's ulitilarianism a sound basis for his liberal feminism - Essay Example Therefore, society’s maximisation of utility consists in the achievement of the highest possible concentration of pleasure while minimising the amount of pain deriving from any action or law. Liberal feminism as propounded by Mill appears to conflict with some of the ideas advocated by utilitarianism; however, once thoroughly considered it does harmonise with his theory of utilitarianism. The theory of utilitarianism contains a theory of equality as it advocates that transfers of utility or happiness can and should only occur to the extent that marginal (that is, each additional increment of) utility for those who gain equals that of those who lose pleasure from the transfer. In conjunction with Liberal Feminism it means that no male should gain pleasure at the expense of a greater loss of pleasure by a woman. It treats everyone equally and without bias, male or female; but contained in equal treatment is the fact that it regards no one individually, and measures utility only quantitatively. Its principle of equal consideration of interests dictates that qualitative concerns (such as reasons why an action might be pleasing to a person) are not to be involved in this aspect of the utilitarian principle (Harsanyi, 1975, cited in Sen, 1979). According to this, egalitarianism is a fundamental principle of the theory of utilitarianism, and it advocates liberal feminism on ly as far as liberal feminism is itself an egalitarian principle. Theories of rights and justice are less overtly advocated by the principle, as it regards no one as special but explicitly demands only that happiness be maximised. In practice, however, rights of humans often do come into play because of a fundamental similarity among them that is usually assumed when dealing with large groups. Therefore, it is often believed that in general people will accrue a similar amount of pleasure from a given action, so each person therefore (in absence of or blindness