U. S. student population Essay Example for Free

U. S. student population Essay The sources indicate that there are key individual differences among learners which standardized testing may not be sensitive to. Racial discrimination can occur within the confines of a testing facility when certain questions included in the test are more favorable to certain ethnic, religious, or social groups or if they are less favorable to others. This weakness of standardized tests have already been acknowledged back in the Clinton administration when the Educational Commission claimed that SAT scores do not reveal all of the competencies of those who take them. A particular example that depicts the failure of standardized tests in measuring individual work competence is the case of Hope who was an able education student who could not pass licensure testing despite of her high marks in practical examinations and demo teaching exercises because she has a disorder that makes her read slower than normal. Presentation America is the melting pot of human diversity. Its population is composed of so many different ethnicities, religions, cultures, socioeconomic and sociopolitical stratifications that its minorities are the majority. It is needless to say that these differences naturally find their way in all aspects of American life, especially in education. However the problem arises when the way that the school system expects students to perform is to be measured by standards that are not fair to all. Standardized testing is the administration of a single, uniform evaluation upon all the members of the population. From standardized tests, a performance of the individual relative to the group can be measured and inferences as to which college he or she qualifies in are made. This means that the results of standardized tests basically dictate what a student is good enough to do in the academic world. It is therefore of utmost importance that such tests are conducted in a fair, undiscriminating manner and that the tests themselves give equal chances to all to be able to show what they can do. However, the individual differences of students in terms of their language proficiencies, learning, styles, and social and cultural inclinations seriously lead to such standardized tests being biased towards or against certain groups. The American public school system is composed of a great many students who are using English as a Second Language. These people who come from Asia, the Middle East, or Latin America have as much right as the next student to be able to perform to the best of his or her ability during standardized tests. However, when it is considered that all such tests are worded in formal English, the discrimination against these groups becomes apparent. A student can be a genius at calculus but if he does not understand terminologies used because he is more used to dealing with their Spanish or Arabic counterparts, it can be expected that he would perform poorly in a calculus exam. There is no question that the English language should be a part of standardized testing and it is, but allowing students who cannot speak English so well no alternatives in taking tests on other topics such as science and mathematics means that the system is forcing them to take English exams regardless of what subject is written on the test booklet. In any subject, learning is not supposed to be limited within the confines of the pencil and the paper. In science, experiments are conducted in order to verify laws while enhancing students’ competence with various equipment. The competencies that students gain in this manner cannot be tested by multiple choice questions on an SAT examination. The worlds future rocket scientists may not be so keen at memorization but they could be excellent at practical application of theories and concepts. However, standardized testing may well cut off any chances that they could have to become NASA pilots just because they are not good at multiple choice tests, something that they would hardly need when they’re up in space! Different students have different learning styles, this applies to how students are evaluated as well. If standardized testing would restrict evaluation to just pencil and paper multiple choice items, then it is closing its doors to all the many other learners who just happen to be naturally attuned to other equally important aspects of learning. Lastly, points of discrimination can be within questions themselves. A standardized test that concentrates too much in using examples in football games when giving details to math problems would confuse those who do not follow the game from answering the questions correctly. Including opinionated, political details to questions about comprehension can distract students from responding. All of these biases should be weeded out of any test that is to be administered to the U. S. student population. Standardized testing is supposed to have the value of giving everyone an equal shot. It is supposed to promote equality among all existing groups and fairness towards obtaining opportunities. However, evidences sow that the exact opposite may be happening. The current use of standardizes testing is disenfranchising various lingual, learning, and cultural groups from being able to fully express their academic competence. This is a grave problem for the educational system which should be addressed promptly and effectively. Students, educators, and government should all work together to be able to revamp this system of evaluation to standards that are truly fair.

Genetic Observations Through The Studies Of Hybrid Corn, Single Gene Es

Genetic Observations Through The Studies of Hybrid Corn, Single Gene Human Traits, and Fruit Flies   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The basic foundation of modern genetics was led by Gregor Mendel (Corcos, 1993). Mendel was not the first to experiment with heredity, and our Lyman Briggs biology class will not be the last to deal with genetics. Genetics is the science of heredity. In our lab, we had three main objectives. First, we evaluated our data on monohybrid and dihybrid corn cross seed counts against Mendel’s theoretical expectations of independent assortment and the segregation of alleles. Next, we used the Hardy-Weinberg Theorem to provide a theoretically expected value for allele frequencies for single human gene traits. Lastly, we dealt with Drosophila melanogaster and we examined red and white eye alleles to determine if this gene is sex-linked or autosomal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the mid 1800’s Mendel bred garden peas to study inheritance. He choose these plants because of their well defined characteristics and the ability to be grown and crossed (Campbell, 1996). Mendel wanted to know the genetic basis for variation among individuals and what accounted for the transmission of traits from generation to generation. Mendel followed traits for the P generation, F1 generation, and F2 generation. The P generation is the original true-breeding parents. Their hybrid offspring is the F1 generation, the first filial. The F2 generation is the second filial and is the self- pollination of the F1 hybrids. It was predominantly his research on the F2 generation that led to Mendel’s Law of Segregation and Law of Independent Assortment (Campbell, 1996).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mendel’s Law of Segregation states that alleles sort into separate gametes. He formed this through performing monohybrid crosses. The F2 generation will have a 3:1 phenotypic ratio. By considering more than one trait Mendel formed his Law of Independent Assortment. He questioned whether traits were inherited independently or dependently. By performing dihybrid crosses he found that genes are independent and will form all possible combinations . Crossing two different traits resulted in a 9:3:3:1 phenotypic ratio (Campbell, 1996).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thomas Hunt Morgan also had a major contribution in the study of inheritance. He was the first to associate a sp... ...ross, Mendel’s Law of Independent Assortment illustrated that four possible phenotypes form a 9:3:3:1 phenotypic ratio. For the single gene human traits experiment, we used the Hardy-Weinberg Theorem and equation to find the allele frequencies. For the experiment with Drosophila melanogaster we examined a fruit fly cross between red-eyed males and white-eyed females. We determined that this trait is sex-linked when the offspring were red-eyed females and white-eyed males. Throughout the genetics lab each purpose was determined and explained. A lot was learned about Mendel, genetics, and the hereditary process that makes us who we are today. Cited Literature Campbell, N.A. 1996. Biology. The Benjamin Cummings Publishing Co., New York, pp. 238-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  279. Corcos, Alain F. and Floyd V. Monaghan. 1993. Gregor Mendel’s Experiments on Plant Hybrids.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rutgers University Press, New Jersey, pp. 45-46, 76, 105-112, 133. Davis, M. 1996. Genetics. LBS 144 Laboratory Manual. The Lyman Briggs School, Michigan   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  State University, East Lansing, pp. 25-36.

Heart of Darkness – Decay Within a Society

The environments surrounding has a huge effect on the culture of the greater number of inhabitants. The indigenous scenery, which is holds an abundant amount of natural resources, is in a state of transition and the way the landscape is treated, directly relates to greed, narcism within the society, violence in a highly numbers populated area, particularly from developed countries. In Joseph Conrad’s book Heart of Darkness , Conrad represents the decay of the indigenous scenery as a metaphor to the decay within developed countries, specifically in England.This decay is a direct result of the actions taken by the society within this indigenous scenery. Within the book Heart of Darkness greed is a immense description toward the English and the scenery that they inhabit. The English show a excessive rapacious desire for wealth and possessions . There greed and rapacious desire for health and possessions take them to the heart of the congo, where elephants are slaughtered for ther e tusks that are ivory. The ivory is considered a high commodity in England.The ivory symbolizes greed and destructive nature of man and agents of the company are so opposed with obtaining ivory that they forget there morals , so called civilized ways. This representations of the greed over the ivory on the landscape can be seen in this quote found in the book Heart of Darkness â€Å" to tear treasure out of the bowls of the landscape was there desire† (Conrad 110). The desire or greed over the land, and all the wealth, and possessions found in it, the effects that it brings upon the landscape can be proven from this statement found in the bible â€Å" The greedy bring ruin to there households† (Psalms 10:3, NIV).This decay in this indigenous scenery resulted though greed is a direct reason why its decaying The decay of the indigenous scenery within the book Heart of Darkness is a result of violence shown through developed countries specifically England in the book. Th e violence and cruelty depicted in Heart of Darkness escalate from acts of inhumanity committed against the natives of the Congo to unspeakable and undescribed horrors.Kurtz who is representing European imperialists has systematically engaged in human plunder. The natives are seen chained by iron collars abut their necks, starved, beaten, subsisting on rotten hippo meat, forced into soul crushing and meaningless labor, and finally ruthlessly murdered. Beyond this, it is implied that Kurtz has had human sacrifices performed for him, and the reader is presented with the sight of a row of severed human heads impaled on posts leading to Kurtz's cabin.Conrad suggests that violence result when law is absent and man allows himself to be ruled by whatever brutal passions lie within him. Under such circumstances, anything is possible, and what Conrad sees emerging from the situation is the profound violence that lies at the heart of the human soul and results in the decay of the indigenous s cenery â€Å"It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind—as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness†(Conrad 5).This limitless violence that Krutz has witnessed forced upon the indigenous scenery within the society of the natives is a direct of the decay within the indigenous scenery of developed countries. Throughout the book Heart of Darkness narcism has a major effect on the indigenous scenery. The English have a narcissistic attitude in the Heart of Darkness. A narcissistic attitude is a person who is overly self-involved, and often vain and selfish. This narcissistic attitude has a prominent effect on the indigenous scenery.While the English have become so utterly confident in there civilizations powers. In the book Heart of Darkness, the English enter the Congo thinking that they are civilized, because of there overly self involved, and vain and selfishness, they travel into the Congo taking ever consider able valuable natural resource such and destroying the indigenous scenery. In Congo, however, obsessed with ivory that renders him money, status, and power, the original, Kurtz transforms into a mercenary, evil madman, who â€Å"takes a high seat amongst the devils of the land†.Krutz narcissistic attitude being overly self involved, and vain and selfishness takes a immense amount of ivory, killing large amounts of elephants, and killing all the people that got in his way â€Å"They would have been even more impressive, those heads on the stakes, if their faces had not been turned to the house†(Conrad 40) showing that a narcissistic attitude is a direct result of why the indigenous scenery is decayed.This decay is a direct result of the actions taken by the society within this indigenous scenery. The indigenous scenery, which is a direct result of the natural resources before us on the earth , that is in a state of transition and the way the landscape is treated, direct ly relates to greed and over exceeding numbers of human beings, particularly from developed countries. Conrad represents the decay of the indigenous scenery as a absolute metaphor to the decay within developed countries, specifically in England.These actions such as greed, violence, and narcissism taken by the developed countries causes the indigenous scenery to decay. Heart of Darkness – Result of decay on society Work Cited: â€Å"Heart of Darkness. † SparkNotes. Ed. Joesph Conrad. SparkNotes, 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. . Conrad, Joesph. â€Å"Heart of Darkness. † By Joseph Conrad. Search EText, Read Online, Study, Discuss. N. p. , July-Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. . Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Knopf, 1993. Print.

Sexuality And Gender Social Constructs Essay - 1366 Words

Sexuality and Gender are social constructs. They are more like fluid concepts. Both are on spectrums. Why could they be considered controversial topics, more specifically the spectrum? Well, the idea of sexuality being more than just heterosexuality has been challenged by conservative types and others alike for years. They may even deem anything other than heterosexuality as something abnormal and immoral. For some, it can be quite difficult to understand that sexuality is on a spectrum. Especially with identities like bisexuality and pansexuality, it can be difficult for some people to wrap their minds around that idea. In recent years, the idea of gender being more than just male and female has been getting more and more attention. It is no longer sex that defines people, but gender identity, expression, and presentation. They are not fully understood and sometimes not accepted by people; unfortunately some of that ignorance, and much to my surprise, come from people within the LGB TQ+ community. A lack of understanding about the spectrums of sexuality and gender leads to a lot of confusion, hate, and ignorance. The acronym LGBT has expanded over time to include other identities, becoming LGBTQ+. Whereas heterosexuality means that a person is attracted to the opposite sex, homosexuality mean that one is attracted to the same sex. Bisexuality means that one is attracted to both men and women; however the attraction is not always fifty-fifty; in fact, one can like one genderShow MoreRelatedGender Sexuality As A Social Construct1601 Words   |  7 PagesAlike gender, sexuality is also a social construct, especially when looking at the period before the 18th century, when one’s sexual orientation did not matter, hence there being no need for justification, just as pointed by Foucault: â€Å"Sexual practices had little need of secrecy; words were said without undue reticence, and things were done without too much concealment; one had a tolerant familiarity with the illicit.† (3). And the 19th century came and brought with it a big change, and not onlyRead MoreGender And Gender Essay774 Words   |  4 PagesThe social constructionist viewpoint on gender and sexuality seems to be the one of the most plausible ways to study and examine the topics. 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Representations (and expectations) of the female form and sexuality are well depicted in the Japanese manga: graphic novel artwork that is read ubiquitously throughout Japan. Exploration of this art-form and the culture that grows around it provides a unique insight into current cultural attitudes in Japan. Shojo manga -Read MoreGender, Gender And Sexuality Essay1748 Words   |  7 Pagesin the class lectures that Women and Gender Studies challenge the idea of whose knowledge is privileged or valued. The article â€Å"Doing Gender, Doing Class† serves as a great example to ask that question in regards to the expression of gender and sexuality, and how those two are heavily influenced by the social class construct. Trautner argues that â€Å"gender in organizations interacts with other major features of stratification - such as class and race - to construct unique organizational cultures thatRead MoreThe Child Is A Child Essay1433 Words   |à ‚  6 Pagestoys. This is not the first time, Marcus has done this, the action of playing with his sisters toys and his shy demeanor, has made his family question Marcus sexuality labeling him possibly gay before he’s had the chance to make this conclusion for himself. Therefore, because Marcus choice in toys and non-rambunctious demeanor, his sexuality was chosen for him because it was outside of the model of what it means to be a male child. Though, this is hypothetical scenario, it is a common one. Within