The Role of Religious Women in 20th Century Canada

The Role of Religious Women in 20th Century Canada The Impact of Religious Women in Twentieth Century Canada The Impact of Religious Women in Twentieth Century Canada Academic Discipline: Canadian History Course Name: History of Canadian Women Assignment Subject: The Role of Religious Women in 20th Century Canada Academic Level: Undergraduate-fourth year Referencing Style: Chicago Word Count: 2,018 When Canadian women in the twentieth century became nuns and entered convents, they believed they would achieve a sense of independence and fulfillment. Canadian women chose the religious life for many different reasons, however. Becoming a nun and escaping behind the walls of religious institutions was an easy decision for some, but others did struggle with their choice. A religious life allowed women access to employment in the public sphere rather than remaining at home as housewives and mothers. In addition to fulfilling work, religious women had more educational opportunities, but this did involve giving up other aspects of life. Canadian nuns represented a femininity like nurses or teachers and, indeed, working in these professions nuns and sisters performed many of the same duties that their secular counterparts did. Religious women were essential to hospitals and schools, but women were expected to give up traditional feminine rolesâ€"including motherhood. Although sexuality was believed absent from a nun’s life, it was a key factor in a woman’s decision to join or leave their religious order. It was not uncommon for women to regret choosing a life of celibacy, and they often felt the calling to leave their vocation and return to a secular life. While the question of a feminine identity was challenged by women who did choose the religious life, they nevertheless had a huge influence in Canada in the twentieth century. Embarking on a religious life meant something different to each woman. In the Roman Catholic and Anglican religions, the terms “nuns” and “sisters” were used interchangeably, but the specifics of these titles differed. Elizabeth Smyth explains how both terms indicated that these women accepted the call to a life of service to God, taking vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Nuns, however, lived in prayer and cloister, taking permanent and solemn vows, while sisters took “simple” vows and interacted with the public through education, healthcare, and social service. Sisters achieved a sense of accomplishment by working with the public, using their talents to serve others. This type of work was acceptable because they remained in the sphere of ‘women’s work’ according to their feminine qualities and abilities. If secular women chose to work, either for financial need or for a sense of independence, they usually quit after marriage when they had a husband to suppor t them. Middle class women became nurses or teachers, which were occupations thought to make women better mothers. In times of limited employment or recession, men wanted to be the primary breadwinners and working women threatened this position. For single women, becoming a nun or sister was a way to obtain employment and support themselves without threatening male workers. Non-Catholic girls who wanted to become teachers, nurses, or social workers could do so through a secular education, but Catholic girls ultimately found these careers linked to the role of nun. This was because these positions within Catholicism were performed by nuns, and religious orders provided educational opportunities appropriate to these occupations. In a time when limited opportunities restricted their education and employment possibilities, girls were willing to remain celibate and obedient lives to find personal or professional fulfillment. For some women, however, the Catholic Church was not a chance f or independence, claiming that: I was not ready to be out on my own, to go to a public college, to interface with men, to do the adult thing. I felt soso, not handicapped, so young. I felt so inexperienced. I think I felt the convent subliminally as another womb; as another home, as another place to protect me from making decisions on my own and challenging my relationships with men, which I was just really fearful of. For some, the safety of the convent was truly an escape from a competitive, unstable and discriminating society. Many women were not wholly convinced that they could support themselves, financially, psychologically, or emotionally. If they had to leave the safety of their childhood homes and survive as single female adults, they found reassurance in the stability and protection of the convent. Nuns gave up the traditional roles of wives, mothers, and homemakers, but were still required to learn and perform domestic duties. Convents served many purposes: they housed hospitals, schools, and orphanages, while serving as a residential home for nuns and sisters. In Montreal in 1905, Tania Martin revealed that 324 women made up the religious community in one convent, caring for 185 of the elderly, 340 orphans, and 60 girls, with the total population reaching 1000 by the turn of the century. This enormous responsibility for the care and comfort of sick, abandoned, or needy people was daunting, but just like secular women, their jobs were made easier by the introduction of new technologies. Laundry and kitchen appliances, domestic god-sends to busy housewives, were also welcomed by religious women and allowed them to perform their duties with equal efficiency. Nuns did not have a traditional family to look after, but their immense responsibilities required the same conveniences an d assistance that other women received. The homes of nuns and sisters may not have provided a traditional sense of “home” to care for, but Elizabeth Smyth argues that they belonged to a central home. Large buildings, known as “Mother Houses” increased in Canada during the twentieth century, emphasizing the importance and stability of religion and the women who joined and worked within the community. The abandoned children, elderly, and sick who lived in the Mother Houses were the beneficiaries of the natural nurturing which nuns provided. They were the perfect women to bring up motherless children: their vocation restricted them from having children of their own, but to make sure their feminine talents were not wasted, raising orphans was an essential duty. Nuns were praised in their efforts to rescue those children deserted by their unnatural parents, and for instructing them in their studies. In the 1940s and 1950s Quebec hospitals were in financial difficulty. Operating costs were very high, and there was an increased demand for more institutions with enough beds for an increased number of admissions. Aline Charles explains that hospitals had difficulty hiring lay people who were frustrated with long hours, low wages, and rigid authority. For hospitals to function efficiently, nuns were hired because they performed unpaid work. The church presence was essential in the operation of these hospitals: religious orders owned more than two-thirds of public hospitals in Quebec, and nuns made up about twenty percent of hospital employees. The strict guidelines imposed upon women within the church followed them in their hospital duties as well. Idleness was unacceptableâ€"nuns were expected to be of use at all times, even drawing their last breath on the job. This dedication was dramatically different from the lay employees who complained of working long hours. For religious wome n, there was never enough work that could be done. In contrast to laywomen, the tasks appointed to sisters in the healthcare environment were often those of the domestic kind, such as making jam, preparing toast, or washing dishes. It was as if they were being allowed to experience the kind of domestic life traditional women experienced in their own homes. A woman who gave up being a housewife was still encouraged to nurture her natural domestic talents: not for a husband and children, but for patients and those who required their services. These secular duties were balanced by religious acts: darning socks, decorating a holy statue, sounding the morning bells, or praying for the community. The secular and religious duties performed by sisters were inseparable; everything was God’s work, and all sisters were responsible to fulfill their loyalty to God by performing any type of duty they could. The independence that women hoped for upon entering religious life, however, was not what they expected. Obedience, poverty, and chastity we re the key traits for religious women, requiring that they perform all tasks appointed to them, and earn little to no pay. Salaries were not granted to the nuns in these Quebec hospitals. Charles explains that a service contract was signed between the religious community and hospital that stipulated a lump-sum paid to the community in exchange for the work performed by the nuns. Between 1946 and 1957, one hospital paid twenty-five dollars a month to the community, who dispersed the money accordingly. Withholding of individual wages was a condition of being part of the religious order, but lay workers would never accept unpaid labour. It was not until the 1970s that sisters received salaries and benefits that made them equal with the lay workers, not only concerning wages, but in following hospital rules as well. They had regular working hours, coffee breaks, sick leave, and could be fired for any reason. These changes meant there was no special treatment given to either group of wor kers, and sparked debate regarding the amalgamation of spiritual and secular duties. Although sisters were not used to being treated as regular employees, they were forced to accept salaries in order to continue their life’s work. The financial independence women had hoped for upon entering the religious community was achieved, but sisters faced difficulty with their financial situation. Abbot describes “the bleeding” of sisters occurred due to resources being drained by a top-heavy senior membership. Although they were receiving pay, younger women had no authority over their salaries or allowances, and were in for a future of poverty if superior members continued to oversee finances and wages. Joining religious orders and being employed gave women more independence in the public sphere, but this did not necessarily ensure financial security. Younger women were not satisfied with being treated like children, and many decided to leave the Church. As the twentieth century progressed, women found affirmation in new professional roles, and many abandoned the option of joining religious life. The demographic of religious women was considerably older: of Canada’s 36 000 Catholic nuns, 57 percent were over sixty-five, and half of this number was over seventy-five. Only 1.4 percent was under thirty five. By 1993, the death rate of nuns was around twelve percent a year, which contributed to an endangered representation of women in religious orders due to lack of interest in convent life and fewer recruits. Not only did religious life fail to attract new members, but existing nuns frequently left. Although religious ideology and expectations required that nuns and sisters give up sexual activity, husbands, and children, these women were still paradoxically viewed as entirely feminine figures. Many women joined the Church because they did not want to be traditional wives or mothers; they wanted to escape dysfunctional families, traumatic experiences, or wanted financial stability and employment. Often the freedom they expected as single working women was not achieved, because they were required to live by the three main virtues of the Church: poverty, obedience, and celibacy. The rule to abandon their sexuality was easy for some initially, but as younger women matured they discovered sexual feelings and the desire for the same experiences as secular women. Women who were dissatisfied with the restrictions placed upon them by the Church frequently left, and the 1960s saw a rapid decline in the number of women recruited to and remaining in many religions. The statistics given by Stark and Finke reveal that because the twentieth century offered more opportunities outside of the Church for women, they no longer felt it necessary to join. All women benefited from increased professional and educational opportunities, and becoming a nun offered no special incentives for women. A nun working as a nurse alongside a laywoman was considered equal and received no added benefits in the workplace; if a woman chose to be a nurse or teacher, she could do so without committing to a life of poverty and obedience to superiors. By the middle of the twentieth century Canadian women decided that being a nun was not the path to independence and security that it once was, and ultimately discovered that they could experience education, employment, love, passion, marriage, and motherhood by escaping the lure of the convent. References: Abbot, Elizabeth. A History of Celibacy. Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2000. Charles, Aline. “Women’s Work in Eclipse: Nuns in Quebec Hospitals, 1940-1980.” Women, Health, and Nation: Canada and the United States since 1945, edited by Georgina D. Feldberg, Molly Ladd-Taylor, Alison Li, and Kathryn McPherson, 264-292. McGill- Queen’s UP, 2003. Clarke, Rev. T.S. “The Grey Nuns of Montreal.” The Christian Parlor Magazine.Vol.3, edited by Darius Mead, 156-157. New York: S.W. Benedict and Co., Ster. and Print, 1845. Fisher, Jacqueline. “Making a Transition between Elective Asceticism and Secular Life: A Life-Narrative Study of Former Roman Catholic Nuns.” Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality, Vol. 1, The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, 1998. nun01.htm MacIvor, Heather. Women and Politics in Canada. Toronto: Broadview Press, 1996. Martin, Tania. “Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in fin-de-siècle Montreal.” Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, 212-229. Vol. 7, 1997. Smyth, Elizabeth. “Preserving Habits: Memories within Communities of English Canadian Women Religious.” Framing our Past: Canadian Women’s History in the Twentieth Century, edited by Sharon Anne Cook, Lorna R. McLean, and Kate O’Rourke, 22-26. McGill-Queen’s UP, 2001. Smyth, Elizabeth. “Writing Teaches Us Our Mysteries: Women Religious Recording and Writing History.” Creating Historical Memory: English-Canadian Women and the Work of History, edited by Beverly Boutilier, 101-128. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997. Stark, Rodney and Roger Finke. “Catholic Religious Vocations: Decline and Revival.” Review of Religious Research, 125-145. Vol.42, No.2, 2000. The Role of Religious Women in 20th Century Canada The Impact of Religious Women in Twentieth Century Canada The Impact of Religious Women in Twentieth Century Canada Academic Discipline: Canadian History Course Name: History of Canadian Women Assignment Subject: The Role of Religious Women in 20th Century Canada Academic Level: Undergraduate-fourth year Referencing Style: Chicago Word Count: 2,018 When Canadian women in the twentieth century became nuns and entered convents, they believed they would achieve a sense of independence and fulfillment. Canadian women chose the religious life for many different reasons, however. Becoming a nun and escaping behind the walls of religious institutions was an easy decision for some, but others did struggle with their choice. A religious life allowed women access to employment in the public sphere rather than remaining at home as housewives and mothers. In addition to fulfilling work, religious women had more educational opportunities, but this did involve giving up other aspects of life. Canadian nuns represented a femininity like nurses or teachers and, indeed, working in these professions nuns and sisters performed many of the same duties that their secular counterparts did. Religious women were essential to hospitals and schools, but women were expected to give up traditional feminine rolesâ€"including motherhood. Although sexuality was believed absent from a nun’s life, it was a key factor in a woman’s decision to join or leave their religious order. It was not uncommon for women to regret choosing a life of celibacy, and they often felt the calling to leave their vocation and return to a secular life. While the question of a feminine identity was challenged by women who did choose the religious life, they nevertheless had a huge influence in Canada in the twentieth century. Embarking on a religious life meant something different to each woman. In the Roman Catholic and Anglican religions, the terms “nuns” and “sisters” were used interchangeably, but the specifics of these titles differed. Elizabeth Smyth explains how both terms indicated that these women accepted the call to a life of service to God, taking vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Nuns, however, lived in prayer and cloister, taking permanent and solemn vows, while sisters took “simple” vows and interacted with the public through education, healthcare, and social service. Sisters achieved a sense of accomplishment by working with the public, using their talents to serve others. This type of work was acceptable because they remained in the sphere of ‘women’s work’ according to their feminine qualities and abilities. If secular women chose to work, either for financial need or for a sense of independence, they usually quit after marriage when they had a husband to suppor t them. Middle class women became nurses or teachers, which were occupations thought to make women better mothers. In times of limited employment or recession, men wanted to be the primary breadwinners and working women threatened this position. For single women, becoming a nun or sister was a way to obtain employment and support themselves without threatening male workers. Non-Catholic girls who wanted to become teachers, nurses, or social workers could do so through a secular education, but Catholic girls ultimately found these careers linked to the role of nun. This was because these positions within Catholicism were performed by nuns, and religious orders provided educational opportunities appropriate to these occupations. In a time when limited opportunities restricted their education and employment possibilities, girls were willing to remain celibate and obedient lives to find personal or professional fulfillment. For some women, however, the Catholic Church was not a chance f or independence, claiming that: I was not ready to be out on my own, to go to a public college, to interface with men, to do the adult thing. I felt soso, not handicapped, so young. I felt so inexperienced. I think I felt the convent subliminally as another womb; as another home, as another place to protect me from making decisions on my own and challenging my relationships with men, which I was just really fearful of. For some, the safety of the convent was truly an escape from a competitive, unstable and discriminating society. Many women were not wholly convinced that they could support themselves, financially, psychologically, or emotionally. If they had to leave the safety of their childhood homes and survive as single female adults, they found reassurance in the stability and protection of the convent. Nuns gave up the traditional roles of wives, mothers, and homemakers, but were still required to learn and perform domestic duties. Convents served many purposes: they housed hospitals, schools, and orphanages, while serving as a residential home for nuns and sisters. In Montreal in 1905, Tania Martin revealed that 324 women made up the religious community in one convent, caring for 185 of the elderly, 340 orphans, and 60 girls, with the total population reaching 1000 by the turn of the century. This enormous responsibility for the care and comfort of sick, abandoned, or needy people was daunting, but just like secular women, their jobs were made easier by the introduction of new technologies. Laundry and kitchen appliances, domestic god-sends to busy housewives, were also welcomed by religious women and allowed them to perform their duties with equal efficiency. Nuns did not have a traditional family to look after, but their immense responsibilities required the same conveniences an d assistance that other women received. The homes of nuns and sisters may not have provided a traditional sense of “home” to care for, but Elizabeth Smyth argues that they belonged to a central home. Large buildings, known as “Mother Houses” increased in Canada during the twentieth century, emphasizing the importance and stability of religion and the women who joined and worked within the community. The abandoned children, elderly, and sick who lived in the Mother Houses were the beneficiaries of the natural nurturing which nuns provided. They were the perfect women to bring up motherless children: their vocation restricted them from having children of their own, but to make sure their feminine talents were not wasted, raising orphans was an essential duty. Nuns were praised in their efforts to rescue those children deserted by their unnatural parents, and for instructing them in their studies. In the 1940s and 1950s Quebec hospitals were in financial difficulty. Operating costs were very high, and there was an increased demand for more institutions with enough beds for an increased number of admissions. Aline Charles explains that hospitals had difficulty hiring lay people who were frustrated with long hours, low wages, and rigid authority. For hospitals to function efficiently, nuns were hired because they performed unpaid work. The church presence was essential in the operation of these hospitals: religious orders owned more than two-thirds of public hospitals in Quebec, and nuns made up about twenty percent of hospital employees. The strict guidelines imposed upon women within the church followed them in their hospital duties as well. Idleness was unacceptableâ€"nuns were expected to be of use at all times, even drawing their last breath on the job. This dedication was dramatically different from the lay employees who complained of working long hours. For religious wome n, there was never enough work that could be done. In contrast to laywomen, the tasks appointed to sisters in the healthcare environment were often those of the domestic kind, such as making jam, preparing toast, or washing dishes. It was as if they were being allowed to experience the kind of domestic life traditional women experienced in their own homes. A woman who gave up being a housewife was still encouraged to nurture her natural domestic talents: not for a husband and children, but for patients and those who required their services. These secular duties were balanced by religious acts: darning socks, decorating a holy statue, sounding the morning bells, or praying for the community. The secular and religious duties performed by sisters were inseparable; everything was God’s work, and all sisters were responsible to fulfill their loyalty to God by performing any type of duty they could. The independence that women hoped for upon entering religious life, however, was not what they expected. Obedience, poverty, and chastity we re the key traits for religious women, requiring that they perform all tasks appointed to them, and earn little to no pay. Salaries were not granted to the nuns in these Quebec hospitals. Charles explains that a service contract was signed between the religious community and hospital that stipulated a lump-sum paid to the community in exchange for the work performed by the nuns. Between 1946 and 1957, one hospital paid twenty-five dollars a month to the community, who dispersed the money accordingly. Withholding of individual wages was a condition of being part of the religious order, but lay workers would never accept unpaid labour. It was not until the 1970s that sisters received salaries and benefits that made them equal with the lay workers, not only concerning wages, but in following hospital rules as well. They had regular working hours, coffee breaks, sick leave, and could be fired for any reason. These changes meant there was no special treatment given to either group of wor kers, and sparked debate regarding the amalgamation of spiritual and secular duties. Although sisters were not used to being treated as regular employees, they were forced to accept salaries in order to continue their life’s work. The financial independence women had hoped for upon entering the religious community was achieved, but sisters faced difficulty with their financial situation. Abbot describes “the bleeding” of sisters occurred due to resources being drained by a top-heavy senior membership. Although they were receiving pay, younger women had no authority over their salaries or allowances, and were in for a future of poverty if superior members continued to oversee finances and wages. Joining religious orders and being employed gave women more independence in the public sphere, but this did not necessarily ensure financial security. Younger women were not satisfied with being treated like children, and many decided to leave the Church. As the twentieth century progressed, women found affirmation in new professional roles, and many abandoned the option of joining religious life. The demographic of religious women was considerably older: of Canada’s 36 000 Catholic nuns, 57 percent were over sixty-five, and half of this number was over seventy-five. Only 1.4 percent was under thirty five. By 1993, the death rate of nuns was around twelve percent a year, which contributed to an endangered representation of women in religious orders due to lack of interest in convent life and fewer recruits. Not only did religious life fail to attract new members, but existing nuns frequently left. Although religious ideology and expectations required that nuns and sisters give up sexual activity, husbands, and children, these women were still paradoxically viewed as entirely feminine figures. Many women joined the Church because they did not want to be traditional wives or mothers; they wanted to escape dysfunctional families, traumatic experiences, or wanted financial stability and employment. Often the freedom they expected as single working women was not achieved, because they were required to live by the three main virtues of the Church: poverty, obedience, and celibacy. The rule to abandon their sexuality was easy for some initially, but as younger women matured they discovered sexual feelings and the desire for the same experiences as secular women. Women who were dissatisfied with the restrictions placed upon them by the Church frequently left, and the 1960s saw a rapid decline in the number of women recruited to and remaining in many religions. The statistics given by Stark and Finke reveal that because the twentieth century offered more opportunities outside of the Church for women, they no longer felt it necessary to join. All women benefited from increased professional and educational opportunities, and becoming a nun offered no special incentives for women. A nun working as a nurse alongside a laywoman was considered equal and received no added benefits in the workplace; if a woman chose to be a nurse or teacher, she could do so without committing to a life of poverty and obedience to superiors. By the middle of the twentieth century Canadian women decided that being a nun was not the path to independence and security that it once was, and ultimately discovered that they could experience education, employment, love, passion, marriage, and motherhood by escaping the lure of the convent. References: Abbot, Elizabeth. A History of Celibacy. Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2000. Charles, Aline. “Women’s Work in Eclipse: Nuns in Quebec Hospitals, 1940-1980.” Women, Health, and Nation: Canada and the United States since 1945, edited by Georgina D. Feldberg, Molly Ladd-Taylor, Alison Li, and Kathryn McPherson, 264-292. McGill- Queen’s UP, 2003. Clarke, Rev. T.S. “The Grey Nuns of Montreal.” The Christian Parlor Magazine.Vol.3, edited by Darius Mead, 156-157. New York: S.W. Benedict and Co., Ster. and Print, 1845. Fisher, Jacqueline. “Making a Transition between Elective Asceticism and Secular Life: A Life-Narrative Study of Former Roman Catholic Nuns.” Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality, Vol. 1, The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, 1998. nun01.htm MacIvor, Heather. Women and Politics in Canada. Toronto: Broadview Press, 1996. Martin, Tania. “Housing the Grey Nuns: Power, Religion, and Women in fin-de-siècle Montreal.” Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, 212-229. Vol. 7, 1997. Smyth, Elizabeth. “Preserving Habits: Memories within Communities of English Canadian Women Religious.” Framing our Past: Canadian Women’s History in the Twentieth Century, edited by Sharon Anne Cook, Lorna R. McLean, and Kate O’Rourke, 22-26. McGill-Queen’s UP, 2001. Smyth, Elizabeth. “Writing Teaches Us Our Mysteries: Women Religious Recording and Writing History.” Creating Historical Memory: English-Canadian Women and the Work of History, edited by Beverly Boutilier, 101-128. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997. Stark, Rodney and Roger Finke. “Catholic Religious Vocations: Decline and Revival.” Review of Religious Research, 125-145. Vol.42, No.2, 2000.

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Mental Illness A Mental Disorder - 1033 Words

What is it like to live with a mental illness? A mental illness can be caused by a substance abuse, a hereditary problem, and injuries or defects related to the brain. Having a mental illness gives sensations and thoughts as if one were insane and in need of an asylum. Living with a mental illness is difficult because people tend to feel alone in the world. It truly is a sad and desperate feeling. Sometimes, it even seems to be the worst feeling in the world. Anxious feelings, or anxiety disorders, are a type of mental illnesses amongst others. Millions of people all around the world suffer from anxiety disorders. This disorder is an extremely common mental illnesses. These disorders create terrifying feelings in a person. They â€Å"cause†¦show more content†¦The mind is working nonstop, thinking and thinking and thinking, but at the same time, it feels as if the mind is blank and all that is felt is fear. Treatment is highly needed for severe panic disorders because they can lead to a loss of control in one’s life. The treatments for panic disorder are: drug medications and therapy, or â€Å"psychotherapy.† The medicines, which are most commonly used, are antidepressants, anti-anxiety, and rarely, also â€Å"beta-blockers.† These medications do help, but they can either begin working right away or in a few days, or weeks. Also, like any other medication, they have the typical side effects, such as: nausea and headaches. Someone who takes antidepressants needs to be observed strictly because side effects may be suicidal. Psychotherapy is just like any other therapy, in which the person is taught how to control their disorder and think differently (Nimh.nih.gov). Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, or OCD for short, is another anxiety disorder that has â€Å"repetitive, ritualized behaviors† that one feels forced to do. These behaviors have thoughts that tend to be â€Å"uncontrollable, unwanted† (Helpguide.org). These thoughts consist of inappropriate images, â€Å"extensive focus,† fear, superstitions, and perfection. This disorder is compulsive because the mind causes a person to repeatedly â€Å"react† to something in a desperate, compulsive way. Physical behaviors of this disorder are to excessively

A Dirty Job Chapter 6 Free Essays

string(101) " English into wiggling the key in the lock that he felt an atrophied dancing muscle tear in his hip\." 6 VARIABLE SPEED HEROES In the alley behind Asher’s Secondhand, the Emperor of San Francisco hand-fed olive focaccia to the troops and tried to keep dog snot from fouling his breakfast. â€Å"Patience, Bummer,† the Emperor said to the Boston terrier, who was leaping at the day-old wheel of flat bread like a furry Super Ball, while Lazarus, the solemn golden retriever, stood by, waiting for his share. Bummer snorted an impatient reply (thus the dog snot). We will write a custom essay sample on A Dirty Job Chapter 6 or any similar topic only for you Order Now He’d worked up a furious appetite because breakfast was running late today. The Emperor had slept on a bench by the Maritime Museum, and during the night his arthritic knee had snaked out of his wool overcoat into the damp cold, making the walk to North Beach and the Italian bakery that gave them free day-old a slow and painful ordeal. The Emperor groaned and sat down on an empty milk crate. He was a great rolling bear of a man, his shoulders broad but a little broken from carrying the weight of the city. A white tangle of hair and beard wreathed his face like a storm cloud. As far as he could remember, he and the troops had patrolled the city streets forever, but upon further consideration, it might have just been since Wednesday. He wasn’t entirely sure. The Emperor decided to make a proclamation to the troops about the importance of compassion in the face of the rising tide of heinous fuckery and political weaselocity in the nearby kingdom of the United States. (He found his audience was most attentive to his proclamations when the meat-laced focaccia were still nuzzled in the larder of his overcoat pockets, and presently a pepperoni and Parmesan reposed fragrant in the woolly depths, so the royal hounds were rapt.) But just as he cleared his throat to begin, a cargo van came screeching around the corner, went up on two wheels as it plowed through a row of garbage cans, and slid to a stop not fifty feet away. The driver’s-side door flew open and a thin man in a suit leapt out, carrying a cane and a woman’s fur coat, and made a beeline for the back door of Asher’s. But before he got two steps the man fell to the concrete as if hit from behind, then rolled on his back and began flailing at the air with the cane an d the coat. The Emperor, who knew most everyone, recognized Charlie Asher. Bummer erupted into a fit of yapping, but the more levelheaded Lazarus growled once and took off toward Charlie. â€Å"Lazarus!† the Emperor shouted, but the retriever charged on, followed now by his bug-eyed brother in arms. Charlie was back on his feet and swinging the cane as if he was fencing with some phantom, using the coat like a shield. Living on the street, the Emperor had seen a lot of people battling with unseen demons, but Charlie Asher was apparently scoring some hits. The cane was making a thwacking noise against what appeared to be thin air – but no, there was something there, a shadow of some sort? The Emperor climbed to his feet and limped into the fray, but before he got two steps Lazarus had leapt and appeared to be attacking Charlie, but he soared over the shopkeeper and snapped at a spot above his head – then hung there, his jaws sunk into the substantial neck of thin air. Charlie took advantage of the distraction, stepped back, and swung the cane above the levitating golden retriever. There was a smack, and Lazarus let go, but now Bummer launched himself at the invisible foe. He missed whatever was there, and ended up performing a doggy swish shot into a garbage can. Charlie made for the steel door of Asher’s again, but found it locked, and as he reached for his keys, something caught him from behind. â€Å"Let go, fuckface,† the shade screeched. The fur coat Charlie was holding appeared to be swept out of his hand and was pulled straight up, over the four-story building and out of sight. Charlie turned and held the cane at ready, but whatever had been there seemed to be gone now. â€Å"Aren’t you just supposed to sit above the door and nevermore and be poetic and stuff?!† he shouted at the sky. Then, for good measure, added, â€Å"You evil fuck!† Lazarus barked, then whined. A sharp and metallic yapping rose from Bummer’s garbage can. â€Å"Well, you don’t see that every day,† said the Emperor as he limped up to Charlie. â€Å"You could see that?† â€Å"Well, no, not really. Merely a shadow, but I could see that something was there. There was something there, wasn’t there, Charlie?† Charlie nodded, trying to catch his breath. â€Å"It will be back. It followed me across the city.† He dug into his pocket for his keys. â€Å"You guys should duck into the store with me, Your Majesty.† Of course Charlie knew the Emperor. Every San Franciscan knew the Emperor. The Emperor smiled. â€Å"That’s very kind of you, but we will be perfectly safe. For now I need to free my charge from his galvanized prison.† The big man tipped the garbage can and Bummer emerged snorting and tossing his head as if ready to tear the ass out of any man or beast foolhardy enough to cross him (and he would have, as long as they were knee-high or shorter). Charlie was still having trouble with the key. He knew he should have had the lock replaced, but it worked, if you finessed it a little, so he’d never made it a priority. Who the hell thought you’d ever have to get in quick to escape a giant bird? Then he heard a screech and turned to see not one, but two huge ravens coming over the roof and diving into the alley. The dogs arfed a frantic barking salvo at the avian intruders and Charlie put so much body English into wiggling the key in the lock that he felt an atrophied dancing muscle tear in his hip. You read "A Dirty Job Chapter 6" in category "Essay examples" â€Å"They’re back. Cover me.† Charlie threw the cane to the Emperor and braced himself for the impact, but as soon as the cane touched the old man’s hand the birds were gone. You could almost hear the pop of the air replacing the space they had taken up. The dogs caught themselves in mid-ruff; Bummer whimpered. â€Å"What?† the Emperor said. â€Å"What?† â€Å"They’re gone.† The Emperor looked at the sky. â€Å"You’re sure?† â€Å"For now.† â€Å"I saw two shadows. Really saw them this time,† the Emperor said. â€Å"Yes, there were two this time.† â€Å"What are they?† â€Å"I have no idea, but when you took the cane they – well, they disappeared. You really saw them?† â€Å"I’m sure of it. Like smoke with a purpose.† Finally the key turned in the lock and the door to Asher’s back room swung open. â€Å"You should come in. Rest. I’ll order something to eat.† â€Å"No, no, the men and I must be on our rounds. I’ve decided to make a proclamation this morning and we need to see the printer. You’ll be needing this.† The Emperor presented the cane to Charlie like he was turning over a sword of the realm. Charlie started to take it, then thought better of it. â€Å"Your Majesty, I think you’d better keep that. It looks as if you might be able to use it.† Charlie nodded toward the Emperor’s creaky knee. The Emperor held the cane steady. â€Å"I am not a worshiper of the material, you know?† â€Å"I understand that.† â€Å"I am a firm believer that desire is the source of most of human suffering, you’re aware, and no culprit is more heinous than desire for material gain.† â€Å"I run my business based on those very principles. Still, I insist you keep the cane – as a favor to me, if you would?† Charlie found himself affecting the Emperor’s formal speech patterns, as if somehow he had been transported to a royal court where a nobleman was distinguished by bread crumbs in his beard and the royal guard were not above licking their balls. â€Å"Well, as a favor, I will accept. It is a fine piece of craftsmanship.† â€Å"But more importantly, it will permit you to make your rounds in good time.† The Emperor now betrayed the desire in his heart as he let fly a wide grin and hugged the cane to his chest. â€Å"It is fine, indeed. Charlie, I must confess something to you, but I ask you to grant me the credulity due a man who has just shared witness, with a friend, of two giant, raven-shaped shades.† â€Å"Of course.† Charlie smiled, when even a moment before he would have thought his smile lost somewhere in the months past. â€Å"I hope you won’t think me base, but the second I touched this, I felt as if I had been waiting for it my whole life.† Then, for no reason that he could think of, Charlie said, â€Å"I know.† A few minutes before, inside the store, Lily had been brooding. It wasn’t her general brood, the reaction to a world where everyone was stupid and life was meaningless and the mere act of living was futile, especially if your mother forgot to get coffee at the store. This one was a more specific brood, that had started out when she arrived at work and Ray had pointed out that it was her turn to wear the vacuuming tiara, and insisted that if she wore the tiara, she actually vacuum the store. (In fact, she liked wearing the rhinestone tiara that Charlie, in a move of blatant bourgeois sneakiness, had designated be worn by whoever did the vacuuming and sweeping each day, and no other time. It was the vacuuming and sweeping she objected to. She felt manipulated, used, and generally taken advantage of, and not in the fun way.) But today, after she’d put the tiara and the vacuum away and had finally gotten a couple of cups of coffee in her system, the brooding had gone on, bu ilding to full-scale angst, when it began to dawn on her that she was going to have to figure out this college-career thing, because despite what The Great Big Book of Death said, she had not been chosen as a dark minion of destruction. Fuck! She stood in the back room looking at all the items that Charlie had piled there the day before: shoes, lamps, umbrellas, porcelain figures, toys, a couple of books, and an old black-and-white television and a painting of a clown on black velvet. â€Å"He said this stuff was glowing?† she asked Ray, who stood in the doorway to the store. â€Å"Yes. He made me check it all with my Geiger counter.† â€Å"Ray, why the fuck do you have a Geiger counter?† â€Å"Lily, why do you have a nose stud shaped like a bat?† Lily ignored the question and picked up the ceramic frog from the night before, which now had a note taped to it that read DO NOT SELL OR DISPLAY in Charlie’s meticulous block-letter printing. â€Å"This was one of the things? This?† â€Å"That was the first one he freaked out about,† said Ray matter-of-factly. â€Å"The truant officer tried to buy it. That started it all.† Lily was shaken. She backed over to Charlie’s desk and sat in the squeaky oak swivel chair. â€Å"Do you see anything glowing or pulsating, Ray? Have you ever?† Ray shook his head. â€Å"He’s under a lot of stress, losing Rachel and taking care of the baby. I think maybe he needs to get some help. I know after I had to leave the force – † Ray paused. There was a commotion going on out in the alley, dogs barking and people shouting, then someone was working a key in the lock of the back door. A second later, Charlie came in, a little breathless, his clothes smudged here and there with grime, one sleeve of his jacket torn and bloodstained. â€Å"Asher,† Lily said. â€Å"You’re hurt.† She quickly vacated his chair while Ray took Charlie by the shoulders and sat him down. â€Å"I’m fine,† Charlie said. â€Å"No big deal.† â€Å"I’ll get the first-aid kit,† Ray said. â€Å"Get that jacket off of him, Lily.† â€Å"I’m fine,† Charlie said. â€Å"Quit talking about me like I’m not here.† â€Å"He’s delirious,† Lily said, trying to pry Charlie out of his jacket. â€Å"Do you have any painkillers, Ray?† â€Å"I don’t need painkillers,† Charlie said. â€Å"Shut up, Asher, they’re not for you,† Lily said, automatically, then she considered the book, Ray’s story, the notes on all the items in the back room, and she shuddered. It appeared that Charlie Asher might not be the hapless geek she always thought him to be. â€Å"Sorry, boss. Let us help you.† Ray came back from the front with a small plastic first-aid kit. He peeled back Charlie’s sleeve and began to clean the wounds with gauze and peroxide. â€Å"What happened?† â€Å"Nothing,† Charlie said. â€Å"I slipped and fell in some gravel.† â€Å"The wound’s pretty clean – no gravel in it. That must have been some fall.† â€Å"Long story.† Charlie sighed. â€Å"Ouch!† â€Å"What was all the noise in the alley?† Lily asked, needing badly to go smoke, but unable to pull herself away. She just couldn’t imagine that Charlie Asher was the one. How could it be him? He was so, so, unworthy. He didn’t understand the dark underbelly of life the way she did. Yet he was the one seeing the glowing objects. He was it. She was crestfallen. â€Å"Just the Emperor’s dogs after a seagull in the Dumpster. No big deal. I fell off a porch in Pacific Heights.† â€Å"The estate,† Ray said. â€Å"How’d that go?† â€Å"Not well. The husband was grief-stricken and had a heart attack while I was there.† â€Å"You’re kidding.† â€Å"No, he just sort of became overwhelmed thinking about his wife and collapsed. I gave him CPR until the EMTs came and took him off to the hospital.† â€Å"So,† Lily said, â€Å"did you get the – uh – did you get anything special?† â€Å"What?† Charlie’s eyes went wide. â€Å"What do you mean, special? There was nothing special.† â€Å"Chill, boss, I just meant will we get the grandma’s clothes?† He’s it, Lily thought. The fucker. Charlie shook his head. â€Å"I don’t know, it’s so strange. The whole thing is so strange.† He shuddered when he said it. â€Å"Strange how?† Lily said. â€Å"Strange in a cool and dark way, or strange because you’re Asher and you’re out of it most of the time?† â€Å"Lily!† Ray snapped. â€Å"Go out front. Dust something.† â€Å"You’re not the boss of me, Ray. I’m just showing my concern.† â€Å"It’s okay, Ray.† Charlie looked like he was considering how, exactly, to define strange, and not coming up with anything that was working. Finally he said, â€Å"Well, for one thing, this woman’s estate is way out of our league. The husband said he called me because we were the first secondhand store in the phone book, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of man to do something like that.† â€Å"That’s not that strange,† Lily said. Just confess, she thought. â€Å"You said that he was grief-stricken,† Ray said, dabbing antibiotic ointment on Charlie’s cuts. â€Å"Maybe he’s doing things differently.† â€Å"Yes, and he was angry at his wife, too, for the way she died.† â€Å"How?† Lily asked. â€Å"She ate silica gel,† Charlie said. Lily looked at Ray for an explanation, because silica gel sounded techno-geeky, which was Ray’s particular field of geekdom. Ray said, â€Å"It’s the antidesiccant that they pack with electronics and other things that are sensitive to humidity.† â€Å"The ‘Do Not Eat’ stuff?!† Lily said. â€Å"Oh my God, that’s so stupid. Everyone knows you don’t eat the ‘Do Not Eat’ stuff.† Charlie said, â€Å"Mr. Mainheart was pretty broken up.† â€Å"Well, I guess so,† Lily said. â€Å"He married a complete fucktard.† Charlie cringed. â€Å"Lily, that’s not appropriate.† Lily shrugged and rolled her eyes. She hated it when Charlie dropped into Dad mode. â€Å"Okay, okay. I’m going outside to smoke.† â€Å"No!† Charlie jumped out of the chair and put himself between Lily and the back door. â€Å"Out front. From now on if you have to smoke you go out front.† â€Å"But you said that I look like a child hooker when I smoke out front.† â€Å"I’ve reassessed. You’ve matured.† Lily closed one eye to see if she could better glimpse into his soul and thus figure out his true agenda. She smoothed over her black vinyl skirt, which made a tortured, squeaking noise at the touch. â€Å"You’re trying to say I have a big butt, aren’t you?† â€Å"I absolutely am saying no such thing,† Charlie insisted. â€Å"I am simply saying that your presence in front of the store is an asset and will probably attract business from the tourists on the cable car.† â€Å"Oh. Okay.† Lily snatched her box of cloves off the desk and headed out past the counter and outside to brood, grieve really, because as much as she had hoped, she was not Death. The book was Charlie’s. That evening Charlie was watching the store, wondering why he had lied to his employees, when he saw a flash of red passing by the front window. A second later, a strikingly pale redhead came through the door. She was wearing a short, black cocktail dress and black fuck-me pumps. She strode up the aisle like she was auditioning for a music video. Her hair cascaded in long curls around her shoulders and down her back like a great auburn veil. Her eyes were emerald green, and when she saw him looking, she smiled, and stopped, some ten feet away. Charlie felt an almost painful jolt that seemed to emanate from somewhere in the area of his groin, and after a second he recognized it as an autonomic lust response. He hadn’t felt anything like that since Rachel had passed, and he felt vaguely ashamed. She was examining him, looking him over like you would examine a used car. He was sure he must be blushing. â€Å"Hi,† Charlie said. â€Å"Can I help you?† The redhead smiled again, just a little, and reached into a small black bag that he hadn’t noticed she’d been carrying. â€Å"I found this,† she said, holding up a silver cigarette case. Something Charlie didn’t see very often anymore, even in the secondhand business. It was glowing, pulsating like the objects in the back room. â€Å"I was in the neighborhood and something made me think that this belonged here.† She moved to the counter opposite Charlie and set the cigarette case down in front of him. Charlie could barely move. He stared at her, not even conscious that to avoid her eyes he was staring at her cleavage, and she appeared to be looking around his head and shoulders as if following the path of insects that were buzzing around him. â€Å"Touch me,† she said. â€Å"Huh?† He looked up, saw she was serious. She held out her hand; her nails were manicured and painted the same deep red as her lipstick. He took her hand. As soon as she touched him she pulled away. â€Å"You’re warm.† â€Å"Thanks.† In that moment he realized that she wasn’t. Her fingers had been ice-cold. â€Å"Then you’re not one of us?† He tried to think of what â€Å"us† might be? Irish? Low blood pressure? Nymphomaniac? Why did he even think that? â€Å"Us? What do you mean, ‘us’?† She backed away a step. â€Å"No. You don’t just take the weak and the sick, do you? You take anyone.† â€Å"Take? What do you mean, ‘take’?† â€Å"You don’t even know, do you?† â€Å"Know what?† Charlie was getting very nervous. As a Beta Male, he found it difficult enough to function under the attention of a beautiful woman, but she was just plain spooky. â€Å"Wait. Can you see this thing glowing?† He held out the cigarette case. â€Å"No glow. It just felt like it belonged here,† she said. â€Å"What’s your name?† â€Å"Charlie Asher. This is Asher’s.† â€Å"Well, Charlie, you seem like a nice guy, and I don’t know exactly what you are, and it doesn’t seem like you know. You don’t, do you?† â€Å"I’ve been going through some changes,† Charlie said, wondering why he felt compelled to share this at all. The redhead nodded, as if confirming something to herself. â€Å"Okay. I know what it’s like to, uh, to find yourself thrown into a situation where forces beyond your control are changing you into someone, something you don’t have an owner’s manual for. I understand what it is to not know. But someone, somewhere, does know. Someone can tell you what’s going on.† â€Å"What are you talking about?† But he knew what she was talking about. What he didn’t know was how she could possibly know. â€Å"You make people die, don’t you, Charlie?† She said it like she had worked up the courage to tell him that he had some spinach in his teeth. More of a service to him than an accusation. â€Å"How do you – ?† How did she – â€Å"Because it’s what I do. Not like you, but it’s what I do. Find them, Charlie. Backtrack and find whoever was there when your world changed.† Charlie looked at her, then at the cigarette case, then at the redhead again, who was no longer smiling, but was stepping backward toward the door. Trying to stay in touch with normal, he focused on the cigarette case and said, â€Å"I suppose I can do an appraisal – â€Å" He heard the bell over the door jingle, and when he looked up she was gone. He didn’t see her moving by the windows on either side of the door; she was just gone. He ran to the front of the store and out the door onto the sidewalk. The Mason Street cable car was just topping the hill up by California Street and he could hear the bell, there was a thin fog coming up from the Bay that threw colorful halos around the neon signs of the other businesses, but there was no striking redhead on the street. He went to the corner and looked down Vallejo, but again no redhead, just the Emperor, sitting against the building with his dogs. â€Å"Good evening, Charlie.† â€Å"Your Majesty, did you see a redhead go by here just now?† â€Å"Oh yes. Spoke to her. I’m not sure you have a chance there, Charlie, I believe she’s spoken for. And she did warn me to stay away from you.† â€Å"Why? Did she say why?† â€Å"She said that you were Death.† â€Å"I am?† Charlie said. â€Å"Am I?† His breath caught in his throat as the day played back in his head. â€Å"What if I am?† â€Å"You know, son,† the Emperor said, â€Å"I am not an expert in dealing with the fairer sex, but you might want to save that bit of information until the third date or so, after they’ve gotten to know you a little.† How to cite A Dirty Job Chapter 6, Essay examples

The Role of Teacher Improvement in Modern Education

Abstract Teachers are arguably the most important professionals in the society today. This is because they are the ones who produce all the other professionals, whether high-ranking or low-ranking. The significance of teachers has never deteriorated since time immemorial. Although formal learning was unheard of hundreds of years ago, teachers were still there and they were respected. Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Role of Teacher Improvement in Modern Education specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Hundreds of years later, teachers are still respected but this time for a different reason. This paper aims at discussing a major research topic; teacher improvement. The information contained in this research paper has been widely researched and compiled in a bid to come up with the most accurate information. Major Definitions Educational leadership is a wide subject that encompasses a variety of topics. Of all the topics that fall under this topic, the author of this paper has found it most appropriate to select the topic of teacher improvement, leadership and technology as his final research topic. Teacher improvement is the increase in the skills and efficiency of a teacher from one level to another. Teacher improvement has been the rationale of classifying teachers into various categories ranging from elementary teachers to high school teachers and finally university lecturers. Teacher leadership is another aspect that goes hand in hand with teacher improvement. Every teacher is a leader because he or she is at the helm of a class. Students therefore look up to him or her for guidance. In fact, most students learn the definition of good and bad from their teachers. According to Kennedy (2007), this has been the case particularly with today’s school children who spend more time with their teachers than they do with their families. The author of this paper has personally bee n not only a guider but also a role model to hundreds of students who have passed through his hands. Technology has been the push factor that has necessitated teacher improvement. Technology changes with time. The introduction of technology in the students’ learning curriculum obliges each and every single teacher to be technologically updated. A major trend in the twenty first century has been the computerization of a couple of school operations. Advertising Looking for research paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Teachers no longer have to do everything manually as machines have been introduced to take care of some duties. This saves time that could have been wasted while performing the activities manually. Because of this, teachers have no choice but to keep up with the modern technology. There have been cases of teachers who have had their jobs taken by more tech-savvy people due to their reluctance in keeping up with dynamic changes in technology. Relevance And Importance Of The Topic of Study Having gone through the major definitions above, it is now necessary that the writer explains the relevance of his topic of choice and the personal interests that have contributed to the choice of this topic. The study of teacher improvement as a topic under education leadership is relevant because of the following reasons. First and foremost, teacher improvement in the United States of America is necessary to keep up with the changes and trends in the public education curriculum of the country. Various changes have taken place in the public education curriculum of America over the years. These changes have affected virtually every sector of the curriculum. Because of this, the system of education keeps changing within every few years. Teachers are consequently required to make various adjustments in order to suit in the new system of education (Cyrs, 2010). Failure to do so will make th e teacher wholly irrelevant and therefore unsuitable for the current curriculum. The major changes have been those that have affected the syllabus. While certain topics have been removed from the syllabus, there are others that have been introduced due to a need to match the trends in the society. In this case, the teacher will be forced to go over the newly introduced topics in a bid to get a grasp of the concepts before presenting the same before a class. In doing this, the teacher would have simply improved himself or herself in order to remain relevant to the education system. Teacher improvement is therefore important as it helps teachers to be at par with the changes and adjustments in the education sector. The topic of teacher improvement is also necessary because of the changes in the laws defining the relationship between students or pupils and teachers. Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Role of Teacher Improvement in Modern Education sp ecifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These are laws that clearly indicate the duty, role and control of teachers over students. The laws also state the limits which should not be passed by either the teacher or the students. For instance, punishment of a student in American public schools using canes was allowed when this system of education was first implanted in the 1800s. This was the case until this practice was halted a few years ago. In this incidence, teacher improvement would help the teacher to adjust to the changed laws and regulations. Failure of a teacher to improve in the sense of becoming updated with the current trends in education may in this situation lead to imprisonment after the teacher using a cane to punish a student. The personal interest of the writer in teacher improvement is derived from his thirteen years in the education sector. During the many years that the author has served as a teacher, he has come to a subt le conclusion that a teacher who is updated with the current happenings in the education sector stands a better chance of getting a higher position in a school than one who is not. This is because of the belief that a leader who is familiar with the current trends and changes in the education sector will be in a position to keep any educational institution updated and relevant to the outside education world. The author came to this conclusion after witnessing the promotion of more than half a dozen teachers in schools to senior positions due the fact that they were educationally updated. This is yet another significance of teacher improvement. The author has also developed a personal interest in teacher improvement because it is his personal ambition to always stay relevant to the current happenings in the outside world. An updated teacher has more confidence while in class and also while interacting with other colleagues. The author feels at ease in class because he is in a positi on to answer almost all questions raised by students that are related to current affairs in education. On the other hand, a teacher who has failed to improve himself or herself as far as education trends are concerned will definitely fail to answer any questions raised by students on current education affairs. This is also a sure way to ruin one’s teaching career because the students will then lose confidence in the teacher. They will start having doubts with everything this particular teacher tells them. The end results would be that the grades of these students will go down. Consequently, the teacher may be exposed to the risk of being demoted or even losing his or her job.Advertising Looking for research paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Benefits Of The Research To Administrators Information from the study of teacher improvement in relation to leadership and technology will be of much significance to administrators, teachers, parents, government agencies among others. However, the group that stand a chance of benefiting most are the administrators. The information from this study will provide the administrators with the qualities and characteristics that they should look for before employing a person. The study will enlighten the administrators on the advantages of having teachers who have improved themselves through getting updated with the current happenings in the education sector. The administrators will benefit here by reshuffling and reconstituting their staff members so as to have only those who are currently updated as far as technology and leadership is concerned. The administrators will also benefit because the results of the study can be adopted can be used personnel selection criteria. They can use the m as a rationale for gauging the suitability of job applicants for the jobs they would have applied (Cornesky, 2008). If they strictly base on the information imparted on them from the study, they will be sure of hiring only people whose knowledge will go a long way in raising the performance of the institutions. The information from the study can be solely relied on to weigh the skills and knowledge of the applicants. The administrators will also benefit the most because the information from the study will outline the desirable characteristics that a good leader should have. These good leadership skills can then be used by administrators in circumstances where they may need to select one person to lead over others. The person with the most qualities that match those outlined in the study information stands a chance of getting the top position. The qualities may include good communication skills, time consciousness, personal discipline and many others. This may also serve as a mot ivation to others who will then work on their personal attributes and character in a bid to acquire the same promotion. Apart from gauging the suitability of others for various positions in the institutions, the information form the study will also provide the administrators with an opportunity to analyze themselves and determine their strengths and weaknesses. There could be a possibility that the administrators rose to the high ranks they currently hold without a proper selection criteria. The information from the study will ensure that each administrator identifies areas where he or she is best-advantaged and others where he or she underperforms. If the administrators take this practice with utmost sincerity, seriousness and commitment, they can design ways of allaying their weaknesses and putting their strengths into better use. Lastly, the study information will enable the administrators to identity qualities that should be taught to the students. Because today’s studen ts are the ones who will be the leaders of tomorrow, the leadership skills and other significant information can be incorporated into their learning system (Christensen, 2007). By doing this, the administrators will help the institution to earn a reputation of one which cares about both the educational and moral development of students. At the end of the day, the credit would go to the administrators who will be heralded for their efficient management and control of the school. Sources Of Information For The Study When carrying out this study, there are a variety of sources of information that can be used by the author. One of the sources of information in this study is the use of previous research materials. These materials can be available in libraries across the country. These literatures will provide the researcher with information about the old systems of education and the education curriculum of America many years ago. The author can also access other information such as the qualifications of teachers who taught students many years ago. Other information that can be found in these old research materials may include the hierarchical structure of the administration of educational institutions during those past years. The author can then turn to recent educational publications for current information. The information may be found in educational magazines, scholarly journals and even general newspapers. These will provide the author with an insight of the current educational systems of America. In the same way, the author will also get an intuition of the administrative forms in the public education sector in America today. After acquiring all this information, the writer will then be in a position to compare and contrast the educational systems of the two ages and appreciate the importance of teacher improvement. A notable fact will be that a major difference exists between the qualifications of teachers, administrative forms and use of technology betwee n the ages. Some of these great changes can be attributed to teacher improvement. The author can also look into the performance records of institutions during the time when no significant improvement had been made in terms of qualification of teachers, use of good leadership skills and application of modern technology in educational institutions. It is obvious that the performance of students during those years was very poor compared to the performance of today’s students. This is most likely because the teachers of those days had less skills compared to those of today (Areola, 2008). In the same way, the exclusion of important topics from the syllabus, such as qualities of good leadership, must have led to low levels of discipline during those days. The low levels of discipline then translated into poor performance in class work. In the same way, inadequate technology must have contributed to the low performances of students many years ago. Technology was scarce and the onl y machine that could be found in an educational institution was a typewriter. The teachers were overburdened with huge amounts of paperwork which they had to do manually. This may have contributed to their loss of morale which then resulted to low performance of their duties. Improvements of teacher capabilities, leadership and technology have therefore had great impacts on the performances of current students in educational institutions. Use Of Surveys And Questionnaires In The Study The study of teacher improvement in relation to leadership and technology will greatly benefit from the use of surveys and questionnaires. In fact, surveys and questionnaires are the most appropriate methods to use in this study. This is because the respondents give answers to the questionnaires as people who have personally gone through the old education system of America (Angelo and Cross, 2009). Therefore, these people are familiar with both the advantages and disadvantages of this education syste m. The most suitable group to survey in this study is that comprising of learned old women and old men. These could be healthy individuals who are in their sixties. It would be prudent to avoid those who are well in their seventies because they are subject to memory failure. They may even end up giving either exaggerated or understated information. The reason for picking on educated old men and women is because these are the people who went through the old American system of education. Their memory is also in good shape enough to recall their activities while in school (Aleamoni, 2007). The fact that they went through the system personally lends credence to everything they have to say about it. The information gathered from them is especially important because it is primary information that cannot be found in other place. The information collected here is more detailed than that found in other research materials and publications. A suitable number of people to survey would be a mi nimum of a hundred. This is because this high number would safeguard against collection of inaccurate or biased information. This will be achieved by comparing and contrasting all the responses to the questionnaires at the end of the survey. Those responses that fail to match or tally with the majority can then be regarded as wrong and discarded. The information collected from the remaining responses will then be accurate and without any flaws. The author will then compare this information about old educational systems and practices with the current trends in education. A sharp contrast will be noticed, which will point to teacher improvement, development of leadership skills and use of technology. Importance Of The Study To The Author The dream career of the author is to be a public school superintendent. This study of teacher improvement in relation to leadership and technology will therefore be of much help to the writer. The study will help him in a number of ways to prepare fo r the career that awaits him ahead. First, the study will lay bare the importance of being updated about the current happenings in education. The author will certainly put this in practice so as to be able to get the position and maintain it effortlessly. Lastly, the author will appreciate the value of developing good leadership skills and keeping up with changes in technology. For such a position as a public school superintendent, the author will obviously need to develop good leadership skills. Because the study will reveal qualities of a good leader, the author will quickly pick up those that he is currently lacking. The author will also make a personal initiative of staying tech-savvy always. The study will also reveal some of the problems and hardships that leaders go through. After getting an idea of the nature of these problems, the author can start putting in place as early as now some of the mechanisms that can help to keep away or find an ultimate solution to these problem s. This early preparation will enable the author to be an outstanding public school superintendent when the time comes. Conclusion In conclusion, teacher improvement in relation to leadership and technology is a topic that is relevant to today’s society. It can be seen from the foregoing that it is necessary for any teacher or leader to stay informed about the current trends in education. It is also evident from the discussion in this paper that technology is significant in today’s computerized world. It is not easy for anybody to land on a well-paying job without a combination of good leadership skills and technological know-how. Reference List Aleamoni, L. M. (2007). Techniques for evaluating and improving instruction: New directions for teaching and learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Angelo, T. A. and Cross, K. P. (2009). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Areola, R. A. (2008). Developing a comprehensive faculty evaluation system. Bolton: Anker Publishing. Christensen, C.R. (2007). Teaching and the case method. Boston: McGraw Hill. Cornesky, R. A. (2008). The quality professor. Madison: Magna Publications. Cyrs, T. (2010). Teaching and learning in the college classroom. Needham Heights: Simon Schuster. Kennedy, D. (2007). Academic duty. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. This research paper on The Role of Teacher Improvement in Modern Education was written and submitted by user Nicholas David to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on Why Im In College

Why am I in College? College was a big goal that I have had since I started school. I was always pressured to go to college by my parents and by myself. Not only would I be the first child out of my brother and sister to go to college, but I would be the first out of my whole family to go. I have always had certain goals for my life since I was a child. One was to be a computer animator, and the other was to be an architect or mechanical engineer. Right now I’ve decided to go with being a mechanical engineer. Being a mechanical engineer has many benefits. One being that it has a lot to do with design. I’ve been an avid artist since the age of four. Design has been a big part of my life. I have become an excellent artist since then. I’m able to copy a picture or design perfectly if not better. I’ve always thought that the best job to have is a job that makes you want to go to work. Doing something like this would enable me to work on something and no that I would enjoy it. I also would like to be able to help my community. I would like to help design new ways to get construction done quicker and faster. I would also like to design better technology to keep our community in the best shape as possible. It could be new garbage trucks or new street sweepers. I think that our community needs some new technology to help out the hard working people of this community. Furthermore, I am in college to make my family proud. I would like to lead an example for the generation beneath me. I would like more of my family to know that they too can go to college. As long as you have goals, you will have something to drive you to success.... Free Essays on Why I'm In College Free Essays on Why I'm In College Why am I in College? College was a big goal that I have had since I started school. I was always pressured to go to college by my parents and by myself. Not only would I be the first child out of my brother and sister to go to college, but I would be the first out of my whole family to go. I have always had certain goals for my life since I was a child. One was to be a computer animator, and the other was to be an architect or mechanical engineer. Right now I’ve decided to go with being a mechanical engineer. Being a mechanical engineer has many benefits. One being that it has a lot to do with design. I’ve been an avid artist since the age of four. Design has been a big part of my life. I have become an excellent artist since then. I’m able to copy a picture or design perfectly if not better. I’ve always thought that the best job to have is a job that makes you want to go to work. Doing something like this would enable me to work on something and no that I would enjoy it. I also would like to be able to help my community. I would like to help design new ways to get construction done quicker and faster. I would also like to design better technology to keep our community in the best shape as possible. It could be new garbage trucks or new street sweepers. I think that our community needs some new technology to help out the hard working people of this community. Furthermore, I am in college to make my family proud. I would like to lead an example for the generation beneath me. I would like more of my family to know that they too can go to college. As long as you have goals, you will have something to drive you to success....

Review of Sylvia Plaths Novel The Bell Jar

Review of Sylvia Plath's Novel 'The Bell Jar' Written in the early 1960s, and Sylvia Plaths only full-length prose work, The Bell Jar is an autobiographical novel that relates the childhood longings and descent into madness of Plaths alter-ego, Esther Greenwood. Plath was so concerned about the closeness of her novel to her life that she published it under a pseudonym, Victoria Lucas (just as in the novel Esther plans to publish a novel of her life under a different name). It only appeared under Plaths real name in 1966, three years after she committed suicide. Plot The story relates a year in the life of Esther Greenwood, who seems to have a rosy future in front of her. Having won a competition to guest edit a magazine, she travels to New York. She worries about the fact that she is still a virgin and her encounters with men in New York go badly awry. Esthers time in the city heralds the start of a mental breakdown as she slowly loses interest in all the hopes and dreams. Dropping out of college and staying listlessly at home, her parents decide that something is wrong and take her to a psychiatrist, who refers her to a unit that specializes in shock therapy. Esthers condition spirals even further downwards due to inhumane treatment in the hospital. She finally decides to commit suicide. Her attempt fails, and a rich older lady who was a fan of Esthers writing agrees to pay for treatment in a center that does not believe in shock therapy as a method for treating the ill. Esther slowly starts her road to recovery, but a friend she has made at the hospital isnt so lucky. Joan, a lesbian who had, unbeknownst to Esther, fallen in love with her, commits suicide after her release from the hospital. Esther decides to take control of her life and is once more determined to go to college. However, she knows that the dangerous illness that put her life at risk could strike again at any time. Themes Perhaps the single greatest achievement of Plaths novel is its outright commitment to truthfulness. Despite the fact that the novel has all the power and control of Plaths best poetry, it does not skew or transform her experiences in order to make her illness more or less dramatic. The Bell Jar takes the reader inside the experience of severe mental illness like very few books before or since. When Esther considers suicide, she looks into the mirror and manages to see herself as a completely separate person. She feels disconnected from the world and from herself. Plath refers to these feelings as being trapped inside the bell jar as a symbol for her feelings of alienation. The feeling becomes so strong at one point that she stops functioning, at one point she even refuses to bathe. The bell jar also steals away her happiness. Plath is very careful not to see her illness as the manifestation of outside events. If anything, her dissatisfaction with her life is a manifestation of her illness. Equally, the end of the novel does not pose any easy answers. Esther understands that she is not cured. In fact, she realizes that she might never be cured  and that she must always be vigilant against the danger that lies within her own mind. This danger befell Sylvia Plath, not very long after The Bell Jar was published. Plath committed suicide in her home in England. A Critical Study The prose which Plath uses in  The Bell Jar does not quite reach the poetic heights of her poetry, particularly her supreme collection Ariel, in which she investigates similar themes. However, this does not mean the novel is not without its own merits. Plath managed to instill a sense of powerful honesty and brevity of expression which anchors the novel to real life. When she chooses literary images to express her themes she cements these images in everyday life. For example, the book opens with an image of the Rosenbergs who were executed by electrocution, an image that is repeated when Esther receives electro-shock treatment. Really, The Bell Jar is a  stunning portrayal of a particular time in a persons life and a brave attempt by Sylvia Plath to face her own demons. The novel will be read for generations to come.