The Role of the Teacher Essay Example for Free

The Role of the Teacher Essay Perhaps the most important factor in the learning environment is the teacher. This is because the most successful and accessible form of input for the learners in the learning environment is introduced by that of the teacher. The reason for this is somewhat obvious as the teacher is the primary focus and authority in the direction of any given topic. After all, they are there to teach. Essentially, when teachers talk in class they provide the learners with opportunities to develop and expand their comprehension in relation to the given subject. That is to say, that the teachers have the knowledge and it is their ultimate role to distribute this knowledge to the learners. However, this also extends to the significance of the zone of proximal development and the role of keeping the class focused. In relation to teaching English, the teacher can optimise this opportunity in choosing the relevant levels of vocabulary, structure, speed of delivery, degree of clarity, and range of register and style required in relation to the given topic. However, as we have concerned ourselves here, the delivery of teaching has come under scrutiny due to the aforementioned criticisms regarding testing in a formalised manner. This is particularly significant when the role of knowledge acquisition and group dynamics mentioned in the last section are taken into account. We will now return to some of the literature, theory and practise associated with the role of the teacher in the learning environment. The teacher is often perceived by children and learners as the leader of the learning environment. Essentially, they are perceived as the role model in relation to the learning process and therefore the group dynamic (Dornyei, 2003). There has been a great deal of research related to the nature of group dynamics in teaching that have indicated that without the understanding and/or application of the group dynamic, the teacher can unintentionally manipulate an environment that is not conducive to development and in many cases destructive with regards to learning outcomes. This is clearly a problem in relation to the criticisms associated with tests in the contemporary domain. The reason for this becomes apparent and can be seen in the theory and research related to group dynamics and the role of the teacher in the learning environment. For example, Hadfield indicates that the perception of the teacher as a leader and/or role model is in some way detached from the learning environment and the group dynamic. Further, to act upon this perception is given as a hugely significant disruptive factor in learning as it compromises the learner’s identity and inclination to disclose information by way of input. This is given by Hadfield explaining that: ‘From the point of view of emotional orientation, many teachers are not unlike the other members in their class groups. Great deals of the psychological processes that underlie group formation apply to teachers as well. For this reason, it may be particularly important for you at this stage to take part in the class room events as ordinary group members by joining as much as is feasible some of the ice breaking activities and, in a reciprocal fashion, sharing some personal information about yourself with the students. ’ (Hadfield, 1992, p. 17) In this key extract, a need for the teacher to acknowledge their position within, rather than above, the group dynamic is clearly outlined. Further, their role in providing group cohesion and productivity from within the group dynamic is given as essential to a cohesive group. From this perspective, we can assume that without knowledge of group dynamics and their own role within the group, the teacher would not realise their significance in the cohesion of the group and the need for extending and coordinating the focus of the class. This clearly has disruptive implications. Essentially, if the teacher were to perceive themselves as a leader and distributor of knowledge they may drag the group along leaving many of the group behind. The contrary positive effects of negating this form of teacher role are given by the findings of Broadfoot, who suggests that: Many pupils have found the opportunity of talking with their teachers on a one-to-one basis about achievements, experiences, needs and appropriate future targets a rewarding and helpful experience that has a positive effect on their motivation (Broadfoot et al, 1988). This shows that the role of teaching is significant in the nature of learning English. It indicates that the teacher is more than a distributor of predefined tests. It shows that although they are the leader of the learning environment, they should be immersed in it and be responsive to the inputs, goals and directions put forward by the children. This means that rather than maintaining a focus on testing the children, they should attempt to derive a focus and aim through following the feedback from the group. This means that continuous re-assessment rather than pre-defined testing is the primary tool to be used by the teacher. However, while we can perhaps reject the notion of a teacher role based upon top down input at this stage, we must still take into account the direction of learning. That is to say, that it would be unwise to allow the children and learners to simply guide the class outright and have the teacher allow the group to govern the class. For example, as well as losing focus and a sense of established knowledge, the children may form their own groups based upon friendships and other bonds that may disrupt the focus of learning and the acquiring new knowledge. We can perhaps view the teacher’s role as one looking to authentically allow for personal expression and social bonding. However, it must also be focused upon the input deriving from the class. If this is not observed then it is the suggestion at this point that it would be highly likely that there would be lower success in terms of acquired knowledge and a disruption to the process of input. It is with that we turn to the alternative forms of leading and assessing the focus of the group in the learning environment.

An Empty World To A Full World Environmental Sciences Essay

An Empty World To A Full World Environmental Sciences Essay For much of human history, the human population was low; its ability to harvest or extract natural resources and harness energy was within the carrying capacity of the biosphere; and anthropogenic waste, both quantitatively and qualitatively, was within the capacity of ecosystem sinks to absorb. As human population has grown and technology has advanced, consumption of resources and production of waste have vastly exceeded sustainable levels and now threaten to overwhelm ecosystem functions. An economic system designed for a world of unlimited resources and unlimited sinks is no longer functional in a world of finite resources and overflowing sinks. Prize-winning economist and former Senior Environmental Economist at the World Bank Herman Daly (born 1938) has devoted much of his professional life to creating a new conceptual framework for understanding the implications of these changes. Daly coined the term empty world to mean our earlier, if erroneous, view of the human role in relat ion to the biosphere and its resources, and full world to describe the present reality. In an empty world, it was possible to view human activity and the human economy as all encompassing, and the ecosystem as a subset of the economy, valuable primarily for its ability to supply throughput in the form of energy and stock-fund resources. When labor and human artifacts the things people make were in scarce supply, they were the limiting factors in human and economic development. Much of the focus of human endeavor was therefore on developing an infrastructure of technology to efficiently turn natural resources into needed manmade capital and artifacts. Throughput flowed from an apparently limitless abundance of resources to environmental sinks so apparently infinite that their services in absorbing and assimilating waste were not even assigned economic value or ownership. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR A FULL WORLD This picture is no longer realistic. The global economy, driven by surging population and consumption levels, has depleted both renewable and nonrenewable resources and degraded the air, water and land surfaces in the process. The ability of the biosphere to absorb and process the waste generated by economic processes is rapidly becoming overwhelmed. As natural capital is drawn down, we lose the very ecosystem services on which we rely to sequester carbon, regulate atmospheric gases, maintain climate, control flooding and erosion, form new soils, and recycle nutrients. [is this mine?] [full world graphic] This is the critical flaw in economic theory: it fails to take into account how economic processes consume resources and generate wastes, deplete resources and reduce assimilative capacities. Herman DalyNeoclassical economics was based on a preanalytic vision of unlimited growth unconstrained by questions of resource depletion or overwhelmed sinks. The framework for dealing with the new full world paradigm is provided by the emerging transdisciplinary field of ecological economics. If traditional, or neoclassical, economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources among competing interests using the market as the mechanism of distribution, then ecological economics is the study of how to balance competing needs for resources justly and sustainably among competing human and environmental interests within the constraints and limitations of the biosphere. While neoclassical economics has defined human welfare as the ability to satisfy wants, ecological economics searches for ways to reduce and redistribute consumption. Where neoclassical economics sees growth as a panacea, ecological economics, with its awareness of finite resources, sees growth as the problem. Where neoclassical economics measures progress in terms of per capita income and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), ecological economics utilizes alternative indicators of development such as the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). ECONOMIC CONCEPTS Some of the concepts which have emerged from ecological economics which are useful in understanding the full world paradigm are: Sustainable Scale is the level of consumption at which the economy functions within the bounds of biophysical carrying capacity, without drawing on natural capital. Optimal Scale is a concept from macroeconomics meaning the point at which marginal costs are equal to marginal benefits, ie the cost of producing a unit of product is equal to the benefit received. This concept can be extended to environmental impacts and social consequences as well. Uneconomic Growth All economic activities involve the throughput of materials and energy and a consequent cost to the environment. When the value of the natural capital being taken from the system is greater than the value of the manmade capital which is generated, Daly it uneconomic growth. This is a specific application of optimal scale to ecological economics. ENVIRONMENTAL CONCEPTS Natural Capital to draw an analogy from the monetary system, the ecological system can be visualized as being built upon a store of natural capital which yields interest in the form of natural resources and ecosystem services. If we are careful to live on the interest, the capital will last forever. When we dip into capital, as when we extract nonrenewable resources, overuse renewable resources, or overwhelm sinks, future income is reduced. Ecosystem Services The interactions of the plants, animals and resources within an ecosystem, and the results of those interactions, are called ecosystem functions. When an ecosystem function has a value to human beings, we call it an ecosystem service. In an empty world, ecosystem services were treated as open-access free goods. In a full world, ecosystem services are increasingly valuable. CAUSES OF A FULL WORLD HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH Sometime in July 2011, a baby will be born who brings the living human population of this planet to 7 billion. Using an exponential growth model, at our current 1.17% rate of growth, the population would be projected to double from 7 billion to 14 billion people in another 58 years. Although the historic population growth curve exhibits the classic hockey stick shape of exponential growth, most population scientists believe that a logistic growth equation, which adds calculations for death rates and ?, is a better model for predicting the future growth of the human population. Due to OVERCONSUMPTION LIVING IN A FULL WORLD SOURCE LIMITS Source limits: (see definition of source in Daly glossary, pg 440: That part of the environment that supplies usable raw materials that constitute he throughput by which the economy produces, and which ultimately returns as was to environmental sinks. ) Hubbert curve (graphic?) and resource scarcity (this will be a substantial section). I need to understand Hubbert curves. Check to see whether the graphics in EOE are sourced outside and write for permission to include an outside graphic. Vocab: depletion, Hubbert curve, The other huge change in carrying capacity is related to the new scarcity of natural resources. Economics has great difficulty in acting on the new scarcity and limits to growth. Distribution is also a problem with natural resources. RENEWABLE RESOURCES For every economically significant renewable resource, from forests to fisheries, the rate of extraction is now limited by scarcity, not by a lack of technology or equipment to extract it.-Herman Daly The term renewable resources is deceptive in a full world. If a resource is theoretically renewable but is being depleted faster than it can regenerate, the resource will eventually become exhausted. The worlds forests and fisheries are already critically depleted and are being consumed faster than they can regenerate. This issue has been called the tragedy of the commons.[link?] As stocks of a resource fall, it is in the common interest for individuals to use less. However, the individual forester, or the individual fisherman, has a family to feed and an investment in equipment which require that he continue to take as much of the resource as possible. Resources already depleted from overconsumption face additional threats from environmental degradation and climate change. Renewable resources depend heavily on ecosystem services such as rain. In turn, depletion of the natural capital through resource exhaustion threatens the ecosystem of which those populations are a part, thereby putting the ecosystem services provided by that ecosystem at risk. [graphic of this cycle] WATER Water occupies a unique position, not only because it is essential to life on the planet and plays a pivotal role in so many environmental processes, but because it has properties of both renewable and nonrenewable resources. Although the amount of water on earth is considered to be finite, the natural hydrologic cycle cleans and redistributes the supply in what have, until recently, been fairly predictable patterns. Human activities have made significant direct changes in the availability and distribution of water resources through pumping of aquifers, and the redirection, cooption, and pollution of natural flows of surface water. Human activity has also begun to make noticeable indirect changes in the distribution of rainfall and surface water through climate change. Water shortages may become the defining crisis for much of the worlds population in less time than it will take to test other facets of planetary carrying capacity. Worldwide, climate-related changes in rainfall are already being felt. A recent study by the Environmental Defense Fund, which added climate change projections to existing models of population growth and human water consumption patterns shows that 70% of the United States will be at risk for water shortages by the year 2050. In 35% of the country, the crisis is expected to be severe. NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES Every resource on the planet is limited to what is already here, with the exception of energy, which falls onto the earth at a fixed rate in the form of sunlight. This wealth is called natural capital. Some resources are nonrenewable, such as minerals [needs work] M. King Hubbart, a petroleum geologist, demonstrated that if you create a graph for the cumulative extraction of a nonrenewable resource over time, plotting the total extraction for a given period on a vertical axis, and time on the horizontal axis, the graph will form a bell curve starting at zero, before extraction began, rising gradually to a peak, and falling off again as the resource is depleted. The area under the curve measures the total available resource reserves. This type of graph is called a Hubbert curve. As the richest and most readily available resources are extracted first, many other mineral and other nonrenewable resources are now at or approaching peak on their respective Hubbart curves. [graph] FOSSIL FUELS AND ENERGY Fossil fuels are currently the predominant energy source in the world and a major component in vast numbers of manufactured products, from fertilizer and pesticides to plastic. Fossil fuels drive both the world economy and, through the release of greenhouse gases during combustion, climate change. A Hubbart curve demonstrates that oil production has peaked worldwide and is on the downward side of the curve. While oil reserves remain in the ground, both as crude and in oil shales, extraction of these reserves will be increasingly difficult and expensive, while the quality of the available reserves will decrease, requiring more technology to refine. SINK LIMITS Every economic activity produces waste. At one time, the earths ability to absorb waste was imagined to be unlimited. However, the sheer quantity of anthropogenic waste, much of which has no natural processes developed to break it down, means that land, air and water-based ecosystems are overwhelmed. Waste, of course, occurs during natural processes. However, the post-industrial waste stream has changed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Quantitative changes are due to human population and excessive consumption of manufactured goods. Anthropogenic waste includes chemicals and compounds not found in nature, naturally occurring substances purified or concentrated beyond what would be found in nature, and chemicals and minerals previously sequestered underground, has created a qualitative change in anthropogenic waste CARBON SINKS All living things are made up of carbons. Plants uptake waste carbon in the form of CO2 from the air and use it as building blocks, storing the carbon until it is released again through decay or combustion after the death of the plant. This process is called carbon sequestration. The cumulative ability of the earths plant life, as well as the phytoplankton in the oceans, to sequester carbon is called the carbon sink. Mathematicians are working to calculate the total capacity of the carbon sink. Excess carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. While debates occur over the exact amount of carbon which can be sequestered in the earths carbon sinks, the rising levels of atmospheric CO2 responsible for climate change are evidence that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are exceeding the capacity of the biospheric carbon sink. CLIMATE CHANGE CARRYING CAPACITY The total impact of the human population on the environment is dependent on the combination of the number of people and their per capita consumption of resources. Thus estimates of global carrying capacity are highly variable and controversial. The carrying capacity of the earth means the number of people who can be supported at a given rate of consumption with a given level of technology. Currently, 9.5 billion is considered to be the conservative estimate of the carrying capacity of the planet for human population, with some theorizing upper limits as high as 50 billion. However, it should be remembered that with a population approaching 7 billion today, over 1 billion people are chronically hungry or malnourished. One person dies of starvation every 3.6 seconds. Over the next decade, water issues are likely to be the largest threat to ecosystems and human survival in many parts of the globe. Estimates of the planets ability to support vast population increases assume empty-world a ccess to unlimited resources, a continued supply of ecosystem services, and development of new and unspecified technologies, which may or may not be consistent with the Second Law of Thermodynamics. [one planet-6 planets graphic] While waste and distribution problems play a part in the one billion people who are currently starving on Earth, it is highly unlikely that the planet can sustain another 7 billion with any reasonable quality of life. Estimates of the carrying capacity of the earth vary from 9.5 billion to 50 billion, but in point of fact, we have been drawing on reserves of many of the earths nonrenewable resources since 1980, when the earth only supported 3.5 billion people. This is analogous to spending the principle out of a savings account rather than drawing only the interest. It is likely that 3.5 billion is the number of people which the planet can comfortably support. FOOD The future of food production depends on human population, the impact of population growth on arable land, climate and weather, rates of topsoil depletion and degradation, and how decreasing stocks of oil will be allocated between the energy sector and the agricultural sector CHANGING THE PARADIGMS It is clear that we live in a full world and probably have for over a generation. It is imperative that we reduce both human population and levels of consumption, end the use of fossil fuels, and develop technologies to recycle close to 100% of scarce minerals and other resources, and focus on non-consumptive measures of quality of life. This will require a new economic paradigm. The neoclassical model, built on the empty world view of constant increases in system throughput, must be revisioned to conceptualize ways to optimize human welfare at or below current levels of throughput. This will require an emphasis on development rather than growth planet-wide, and reductions in consumption levels in the developed world. THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES The interactions of the plants, animals and resources within an ecosystem, and the results of those interactions, are called ecosystem functions. When an ecosystem function has a value to human beings, we call it an ecosystem service. These interactions are vast, complex, and incompletely understood, but without the natural ecosystems which surround us, we would have no air to breathe, no rain to water crops, no ability to assimilate any of the CO2 and other greenhouse gasses generated by human activity. Even the insects which pollinate our crops are an ecosystem service. Maintaining the requirements of life for other species is often seen in terms of the threat to competing human interests and becomes the focus of intense controversy. Because of the complexity of ecosystems, the subtle nature of the services they provide, and the fact that small losses to the web of life which makes up the living portion of the ecosystem often seem, at least at a casual glance, to have caused no damage, we have been slow to develop any system of valuation for ecosystem services. Efforts to assign value to natural capital have focused instead on stock-fund resources lumber, fish, maple syrup, pharmaceuticals, and crops. When environmental damage threatens a stock-fund resource, an industry, which represents a section of the economy, is threatened, and that is worthy of response, if only because if it is an industry, it has lobbyists and voters. Ecosystem services to the planet are reduced when their structural components are harvested as resources, and by unsustainable or toxic waste. One benefit of defining ecosystem services as services in the economic sense is that it places these services on a par with other economic services CONCLUSION SOURCES: Development, Heresy, And The Ecological Revolution:An open letter to the industrialized world by David C. Korten, Dancing Toward The Future (IC#32),Summer 1992, Page 30, The Context Institute An Essay on the Principle of Population by T. R. Malthus. 1798. _________

Quebec Sovereignty Movement :: essays research papers

The Quebec sovereignty movement has been going on for over 50 years, and it seems, may never rest until complete. So why not let them go? How would that impact other Canadians living outside of Quebec? True, Quebec has been part of Canada since confederation in 1867, and helps connect Canada from sea to sea (as MacDonald would put it). However, Quebec is much like a foreign country anyway, with its own language, culture and civil law. The majority of Canadians in the western provinces would welcome their sovereignty. Quebec is Canada’s spoiled child. They demand to be treated as a â€Å"distinct† society, and cry for their own language, more money, more rights, and special treatment. Because a large percentage of voters are in Quebec, our Government continues to be blackmailed by Quebec, and gives into the demands. Why should Quebec receive more than other provinces? The next few paragraphs will discuss how the separation movement started and how Quebec leaving would affect us everyday Canadians. The separatist movement all started just before the 1960’s when Maurice Duplesiss, the conservative Premiere of Quebec, died suddenly. Shortly afterwards, his successor, and newly appointed premiere, also passed on . The death of these two premieres was referred by historians as the start of the Quiet Revolution, and a period of rapid change in the province of Quebec. Soon after the death of the two conservative premieres, a liberal government was elected in the 1960 Provincial Election. The party was led by Jean Lesage, who quickly went to work by imposing a Quebec education system that replaced the Canadian government run educational plan. Major funding was put into the schools and several improvements were developed. On the economic level, the government looked for francophone to control the economic spectrum of Quebec, which prior to the revolution, was largely dominated by English-Speaking Canadians. The new government brought forward a new way of thinking for citizens of Quebec. There was a cultural shift from a Canadian identity to a separated society throughout the province. French-Canadians were now Quà ©bà ©cois, and a new identity was formed. The province took care of its own, this was the creation on an Etats-Providence (welfare state). In the 1962 Provincial Election, another liberal premiere was elected by the name of Rene Levesque, who would go on to found the Parti Quà ©bà ©cois (a party focusing on a Quebec Sovereignty as its primary goal).

The Most Important Element in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay

The Most Important Element in Frankenstein      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When reading a novel or watching a play, most people are deceived into believing that the plot is the most important element.   Many people believe that the characters, setting, and situations simply exist to develop the plot.   It can be argued, however, that the theme is the most important aspect of a given work, and that the plot exists merely to solidify the underlying messages that the author actually intends to communicate.  Ã‚  Ã‚         Theme is the most important element in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein.   In this novel, Victor Frankenstein's passion for scientific progress leads to the birth of a horrific monster that, in turn, seeks revenge upon Victor and his family.   This is simply the plot.   This plot is used to develop the themes of the potential evil inherent in technological advancement, human prejudice, and the universal desire for love and acceptance.      The novel has deservedly been named "the first true work of science fiction," alluding to the inherent absurdity of the theme of the dangers in technological advancement ("Visions of the Future, 5).   Moreover, since the novel's introduction in 1808, many writers of this genre have built gripping stories around scientific and technological capabilities and the consequences of misusing them.   Nevertheless, in this instance, it is Victor Frankenstein's interest in natural philosophy and chemistry that compelled him to create life and thereby "play God."       In turn, Frankenstein's being, composed of rotted corpses, obviously causes incredible evil and the consequences to man's attempt to master life and death are made evident when, the monster counteracts man's... ... Goodall, Jane.   "Frankenstein and the Reprobates Conscience."   Studies in the Novel.   Spring 1999: 19-44.    McKie, Robin.   "The Week that Dolly Shook the World."   Guardian Weekly.   March 9, 1997: 7.    Mellor, Anne K.   Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monster.   New York: Methuen, 1988.    Patterson, Arthur Paul. A Frankenstein Study. http://www.watershed.winnipeg.mb.ca/Frankenstein.html Shelley, Mary.   Frankenstein.   New York: Modern Library, 1984. Smith, Christopher. Frankenstein as Prometheus. http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/class/sf/books/frank/papers/FrankCS.html Spark, Muriel. Mary Shelly. New York: Dutton, 1987. Williams, Bill. On Shelley's Use of Theme. http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/class/sf/books/frank/papers/FrankWJW.html "Visions of the Future."   Literary Cavalcade.   January 2001: 5-6.      

Lowering the Drinking Age to Eighteen Essays -- essays research papers

In 1984 Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole lobbied for all states to raise the legal drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one. The consequence for a state not raising the age was to lose a portion of their federal highway funding. I personally believe that the drinking age being twenty-one is just like when the voting age was twenty-one, if I can go to war and die for my country, then I should be able to go to the bar and buy a beer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the biggest problems in our society is under age drinking. They tell us how we aren’t allowed to drink, that we aren’t old enough or mature enough to do it, but the more adults talk about it, the more teenagers want to do it. When a kid goes off to college, it’s expected that he is going to drink. Since most kids don’t know what a hangover feels like, or what it’s like to get the spins, they don’t know their limits and when they need to stop. That is when you get people doing stupid things because they don’t know any better. The most important thing for a young drinker to know is his or her limit. Any eighteen year old can drink responsibly if they have a little bit of experience. Unfortunately most parents don’t want their kids to drink, so we have to learn the hard way without anyone there to tell us to slow down or to stop. For some kids that means getting sick one night and realizing that they shou ldn’t drink that much next time, but for some others the idea just never hits them, and they drink too much and that is when the trouble starts. Last Saturday night a friend of mine drank too much while she was out camping. She started to pass out and was puking all over herself. The more experienced kids in the group realized that she was in trouble and they rushed her back to campus where we were able to get her cleaned off and taken care of for the night.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many people argue that when the drinking age was raised to twenty-one, that alcohol related deaths among people under twenty-one dropped from 43% to 21%. What they don’t tell you is that alcohol related deaths among people between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five went up almost as much as the other group went down. Experience is the biggest tool in fighting the problems with underage drinking. The kid who goes to college without ever having gotten drunk is going to go all out at his or her first par... ...er curfews or can stay at a friend’s house. This next piece of information is based on my personal opinion and experiences. For a high school student, alcohol is very hard to get. Some kids get lucky and have older siblings or friends who will buy it for them. For almost everyone else at that age, alcohol is not a big part of their everyday life, and they turn to a much easier to get substance. Marijuana is one of the most commonly used drugs by high school students. It is a lot easier to get than alcohol, and for most kids it doesn’t seem as dangerous. You don’t wake up with a hangover, and you aren’t as impaired as you are when you are drunk. Most kids will drive when they are high and not even think twice about it. There are many reasons why the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen, and there are many reasons why it should stay twenty-one. There is proof that both sides of the argument work. In other countries without a drinking age or with a lowered one, you don’t hear about as many drunk driving accidents as you do in the United States. Maybe the drinking in the U.S. is just like the violence, as Michael Moore put it, what’s so different about us that makes it happen?

Housing Discrimination

Allyson Jones Housing and Society Due: October 11, 2012 Dr. Joyner Housing, Neighborhoods and Health Disparities Corina Graif, PhD, RWJF Health & Society Scholar at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Many aspects of internal housing conditions are known to affect health. Limited but important evidence also exists on the health implications of the socio-spatial context of housing.For instance, fear of crime, crowding, neighborhood disadvantage, social exclusion, and residents’ social exchange are linked to cardiovascular and mental health, obesity, diabetes and low birth weight. In my dissertation work and related projects, I ask questions about the spatial context of neighborhood effects to investigate how the urban geography of inequality and cumulative spatial disadvantage shape the health and well-being of the inner-city poor.Several important questions about the neighborhood and spatial context aspect of housing remain critical to ask in our quest to understand and act on the constellation of factors shaping health outcomes: a) How do different spatially salient markers (such as nearby presence of crime hotspots; community health centers; daycare) interact with the neighborhood context in shaping health outcomes, employment, and health care. f) To what extent moving low income families to high quality neighborhoods increases or decreases their access to health related resources and critical social networks and jobs?Read more about Moving to Opportunity and how neighborhoods impact residents’ health. http://www. rwjf. org/en/blogs/human-capital-blog/2012/01/housing-neighborhoods-and-health-disparities. html RACIAL DISPARITY STILL HAUNTS HOUSING MARKET July 3, 2003 By Anders Hoerlyck IN THEORY, the American housing market is free and open. The report found that high-interest loans, many of which are illegal, are three times more likely in low- income neighborhoods than in high-income areas, and five times more likely in black neighborhoo ds than in white neighborhoods.HUD further noted that homeowners in high-income black neighborhoods are six times as likely as homeowners in upper-income white neighborhoods, and twice as likely as homeowners in low-income white neighborhoods, to have high- interest loans. Another study found that black homeowners receive less value for their homes than white homeowners. The study, which compared home values to homeowner incomes for owners of different ethnic and racial groups in the nation's 100 largest cities in 1990, found that, equalizing for income, black homeowners received 18 percent less value for their homes than white homeowners; white homeowners owned $2. 4 worth of house for every dollar of income, while black homeowners owned only $2. 16 worth of house. The study further revealed that the 18 percent gap imposed on black homeowners – the so-called segregation tax – primarily results from a high degree of racial segregation in neighborhoods. Working poor fac e shortage of affordable housing November 10, 1996 Consider Sam Brown of San Francisco, who pays more than two thirds of his monthly income to keep his family in housing.Housing officials estimate more than five million families are in dire straits when it comes to paying for a place to live. The affordable housing shortage has worsened as officials have torn down high rise tenements, characterizing them as warehouses for the poor. Some housing assistance programs have helped to ease the stress. http://articles. cnn. com/1996-11-10/us/9611_10_welfare. housing_1_affordable-housing-housing-assistance-programs-housing-officials-estimate? _s=PM:US Middle-income families facing housing shortageToday in America more than 3 million moderate income families have a critical housing need despite working the equivalent of a full-time job,† said Michael Stegman, one of the authors of the study, â€Å"Housing America's Working Families. â€Å"†The report was commissioned by the Cen ter for Housing Policy, a subsidiary of the National Housing Conference, which is a consortium of some 700 home builders and home lenders from across the country. http://articles. cnn. com/2000-06-02/us/housing. shortage_1_center-for-housing-policy-critical-housing-national-housing-conference? s=PM:US Housing at Risk AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE †¢ June 2012 What you need to know about three key changes that could have a big impact on the preservation of existing affordable housing BY DONNA KIMURA AND CHRISTINE SERLIN Three key changes are poised to make a big impact on the preservation of existing affordable housing developments. These new moves two new programs and one policy change arrive at time when the affordable housing stock is shrinking. This amounts to nearly 60 percent of units with federal project-based rental assistance.Approximately 50,000 units are assisted under these programs, including about 25,000 units under the Mod Rehab program. Under the legislation, a demo nstration program has been created that allows certain public housing and Sec. 8 Moderate Rehab properties to voluntarily convert to a long-term Sec. 8 rental assistance as a means of preserving these units. They could convert to either a project-based rental assistance contract administered by HUD and be eligible for renewal under the Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act or a project-based contract with a local public housing authority.As many as 60,000 units of public housing and Sec. 8 Mod Rehab housing may be converted under a competitive selection process. FHA PILOT PROGRAM Centerline Capital Group provided about $2 million in low-income housing tax credit equity. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has recently launched a pilot program that aims to speed up the processing time for FHA-backed deals that use low income housing tax credits (LIHTCs). NONPROFIT SALES PROCEEDS During the 1960s and 1970s, HUD worked with nonprofits to finance thousands of pr operties under its mortgage insurance programs, including Sec. 21(d)(3), Sec. 231, and Sec. 236 of the National Housing Act. HUD reports that nonprofits own 39 percent of all Sec. 236 and 221(d) (3) properties with maturing mortgages. More than 700 of these properties have mortgages that will mature within the next 10 years, representing roughly 80,000 affordable housing units, including 42,000 with project-based rental assistance. Historically, there have been restrictions on nonprofit owners receiving proceeds from the sale of FHA-insured properties. ttp://www. housingfinance. com/ahf/articles/2012/june/0612-special-focus-Housing-At-Risk. htm Growth through Low Income Housing Published on: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 Written by: Trista Winnie Low income housing makes housing more accessible for many families There is a common misconception that low income housing today is of the same quality as the low income housing projects of the past. This misconception is a hurdle that low in come housing developers and advocates have to work hard to overcome.Often, community members try to prevent low income housing from coming to their area, assuming that the stereotype that low income housing equals low quality housing is true. Low income residents have their own fears about property values. When planning a low income housing development within a community, â€Å"all kinds of fears come out,† Greer said. Mixed use projects, incorporating low income housing and retail, are gaining popularity Another way in which developers are gaining acceptance is through production of mixed income developments, rather than strictly low income developments. Affordable housing is a problem for every community because the cost of housing and the sale prices of houses are going up faster than incomes. † Low income housing developments that seek to be eligible for tax credits are required to be set aside as low income housing for a minimum of 30 years, according to the Danter Company. Financing is also available for other types of low income housing through programs such as tax credit allocations, partnerships, low interest loans, grants and donations. For more on the Hope VI program and other sources of low income housing financing, see our article on Financing Low Income Housing Projects. ) The rehabbing of rundown low income housing projects is just one avenue through which developers can be involved in low income housing, but it should serve as an overall notice for all investors that the low income housing industry is not a glamorous one. Communities and sources of funding both favor those who are experienced in low income housing. Competition for low-income housing funds is fierce. http://www. uwireinvestor. com/articles/low-income-housing-51313. aspx Housing discrimination â€Å"widespread† among disabled, immigrants, minorities, others May 07, 2012|Yvonne Wenger A survey of 549 community-based organizations suggests that housing discrimin ation is on the rise, particularly targeting disabled individuals, immigrants, minorities and families with children, according to the nonprofit Consumer Action. â€Å"Housing discrimination is all too alive and well in the United States today,† Ken McEldowney, executive director, Consumer Action, said in a statement.Forty-eight percent of surveyed organizations called housing discrimination very serious. Forty percent said housing discrimination has gone up in the last two years; 11 percent said discrimination has gone down. http://articles. baltimoresun. com/2012-05-07/business/bal-housing-discrimination-widespread-among-disabled-immigrants-minorities-others-20120504_1_housing-discrimination-minorities-and-families-baltimore-neighborhoods Report | September 2007 New Housing, Income Inequality, and Distressed Metropolitan AreasBetween 1970 and 2000, both distressed and non-distressed metropolitan areas with rapidly growing income inequality experienced rapidly growing reside ntial segregation by income. In distressed metropolitan areas between 1970 and 2000, rising income segregation was associated with excess housing construction. In non-distressed metropolitan areas, there was no relationship between income segregation and excess housing construction. Rising income inequality and neighborhood income segregation accounted for 16 to 50 percent of new construction in distressed metropolitan areas between 1970 and 2000.Policies that reduce income inequality can help reduce overbuilding and income segregation in distressed areas. http://www. brookings. edu/research/reports/2007/09/newhousing-watson The Links between Income Inequality, Housing Markets and Homelessness in California The housing market rapidly rising rents, the declining number of low-income rental units in the housing stock, and deceleration in federal housing programs. Homelessness in California John Quigley, Steven that growing income inequality working through homelessness.Income inequali ty has grown substantially Distribution of Income in California (1996). Of California’s income distribution suggests that there income distribution. Better-quality housing, enter the lower-quality market, and the resulting higher rents suggest very low incomes can no longer afford housing and are forced that affect homelessness associated with greater homelessness. The links between income inequality and homelessness, income in a number of locations higher and incomes move lower), the greater the incidence of homelessness response to changes in income distribution.Decrease the average income of households in the lowest fifth increases in the homeless population. Policy Interventions which policy interventions in the housing market can lower homelessness rates one trend in federal programs built housing rates on lower-quality housing to encourage landlords to of income (currently 30 percent) in units available on the study uses simulation models to explore how homelessness und er Section 8) to all low-income households, targeted â€Å"barely-standard† housing, and a general maintenance subsidy the landlord programs maintenance program.The demand for and price of the lowest-quality housing, forcing out the lowest-income renters responses identified above would go to low-income households to make low-quality housing more affordable and thereby, Section 8 program and by compensating local governments very low end of the housing stock. www. ppic. org/main/publication. asp? i=211 Claudio Frischtak Benjamin R. Mandel Crime, House Prices, and Inequality: The Effect of UPPs in Rio January 2012 Residential property prices are an important gauge of economic conditions writ large.Property’s location determinants of house prices can alter the level and dispersion of household wealth connection between crime and house prices. Document the relationship between crime and house prices. Distributional consequences of removing the public bad of crime; that is , the removal of crime the degree of overall inequality among property values. Crime rate a dynamic model of property valuation. Our empirical work will show that decreasing crime does, in fact, benefit lower valued properties disproportionately, reducing the inequality among properties.House prices for the city of Rio de Janeiro since 2008. Both homicides and robberies coefficient measures the level of inequality of house prices across Rio’s neighborhoods. It objective of crime reduction residential property prices in Rio’s formal housing market, as well as on homicide and robbery rates in each of Rio’s neighborhoods, we formally test the hypotheses that Neighborhoods closer to a UPP station experienced larger than average decreases in crime and larger than average increases in house prices after the UPP was put into place.Prices increased by an average of 5-10 percent, homicides decreased by an average of 10-25 results to construct counterfactual price and cri me rates and, with those, city-wide statistics. We note that since we do not observe house prices skyrocketing residential property prices in the formal housing markets surrounding the favelas. Having established that the UPPs influenced crime and house prices in opposite directions house prices. Returns to crime reduction; this implies that properties with either high initial crime rates or current property values.This treatment of the dynamic transmission of crime rates into house prices is quite duration of crime rates in the past; lower initial crime rates with low historical duration gives rise to the biggest increases in price when the crime rate declines. Implementation of the UPP policy counterfactual house prices described above shows that the disparity in house prices across Dispersion in property prices within those neighborhoods narrowed, suggesting that even change in the crime rate.Works identifying the impact of crime and violence on property prices, with the paper by exploit both spatial and temporal variation in crime data to identify the effect on house prices, persistence of historical crime rates. The present study uses more disaggregate price data, at on the implications of crime for the dispersion of house prices. First draw connection between crime reduction and wealth inequality. Our empirical measurement of the crime elasticity of house prices is connected to a crime rate as exogenous, which ay have biased the elasticity estimates if, for example, crime occurs disproportionately in poorer neighborhoods with low property values or, conversely, if criminals target areas with higher-priced homes. (2009) found 12 instances in of a set of 18 empirical studies relating house prices and crime variation around an exogenous policy experiment, the UPPs in Rio to historical crime rates or the levels of property prices is a reasonable instrument for the effect of crime on house prices. www. newyorkfed. org/research/staff_reports/sr542.Housing and inequalities in health Professor Hoyden-Chapman The existence of debilitating inequalities in health across social groups has become the first law of public health. People privileged by more education, income, the dominant ethnicity, higher status jobs, and housing standards, have better health than those with less education and income, minority ethnicity, lower status jobs, and poorer housing. Focusing on housing and neighborhood improvements have historically been key policy instruments to improve population health.Housing tenure has been associated with health in a number of studies—those who rent their houses appear to have poorer health than those who own their houses even after controlling for age, gender, and education. 5Housing for most households is their largest monthly expenditure and housing costs in the survey were related to health. The psychosocial aspects of housing such as pride in a house and neighborhood showed an association with health status only before controlling for other variables.Several multilevel studies have shown that some neighborhoods are indeed bad for people's health. 6Surveys to explore new associations and intervention studies to test causal links between housing and health are important. The social and economic aspects of housing, and the lack of it, continue to play an important part in generating inequalities in health. http://jech. bmj. com/content/56/9/645. full Green Building Saves $$$ Developers open their books to show low operating costs at green properties BY BENDIX ANDERSONAFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE †¢ April 2008 Thanks to these energy savings, the reserve accounts of the 600 green affordable apartments in the portfolio of Homestead Capital are an average 36 percent larger than the rest of Homestead's affordable portfolio. The apartments were built to a variety of green standards. Early operating data from the green portfolio of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. , shows energy savings of up to 40 pe rcent, compared to properties built to the standards of local building codes.Of course, the biggest energy savings are at projects built to the toughest green standards. Denny Park also meets the demanding standards set by Enterprise for its Green Communities investments. It cost Denny Park's owners, the Seattle-based Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI), a total of $1,000 per apartment in utility expenses to operate Denny Park in 2007, from electricity to hot water to trash pickup. That's as much as $200 per apartment lower than the utility costs at LIHI's other affordable properties.Conserving water green developers and investors also report steep savings on their water bills, which are 35 percent to 40 percent less on average than water costs at comparable properties, according to information from the portfolio of green properties in Enterprise's Green Communities Initiative. Denny Park racked up savings, with water and sewer costs of $188 per resident, compared to $235 and $322 p er resident at LIHI's comparable properties. Saving water also helps keep the hot water heating costs down.Denny Park's hot water bill was just $133 per apartment in 2007, roughly a quarter less than at LIHI's comparable properties. It cost $102 per apartment to haul trash away from Denny Park in 2007. Green projects have low turnover Tenants are also less likely to move out of green affordable housing properties, according to developers. Many residents appreciate the improved air quality at green building projects, said Oberdorfer. http://www. housingfinance. com/ahf/articles/2008/apr/FOCUSGREENBUILDINGSAVES0408. htm Towns get new deadline for affordable housing July 01, 2004Last year, the General Assembly passed the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act, which encourages municipalities with less than 10 percent affordable housing to develop a plan to increase that percentage. http://articles. chicagotribune. com/2004-07-01/news/0407010376_1_municipalities-towns-percentage-poi nts HUD program to target jobs for poor residents November 23, 1993|By Eric Siegel | Eric Siegel, Staff Writer Baltimore will serve as a pilot program for a national effort to channel more federal housing funds toward low-income residents and minority businesses, officials announced yesterday.HUD also promised stricter enforcement of the so-called â€Å"Section 3† requirement, part of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968. â€Å"HUD estimates the federal money could support 300 low-income jobs in the city. City housing officials could not immediately say how much of the federal housing money the city receives goes to fulfilling the Section 3 requirement. Of 85 city residents hired to renovate units at Cherry Hill Homes, 26 were public housing residents, they said. http://articles. baltimoresun. com/1993-11-23/news/1993327087_1_public-housing-residents-federal-housing-housing-and-urban Census: housing disparities continueBy Brandt Williams Minnesota Public Radio Septe mber 17, 2002 For most Americans, the value of their home is their prime source of wealth. During the 1990s, a booming economy and buyer-friendly housing market helped many Minnesotans build thousands of dollars in home equity. They were able to buy at low prices and watch the value of their homes skyrocket. Goetz says home values remain lower in those neighborhoods than in predominantly white areas, where the demand for homes is higher. Census figures show the statewide median home value for African Americans is $106,000, which is slightly higher than for Hispanics.American Indians have the lowest statewide median home value, at $78,000. Asian American home values remain slightly higher than that of whites. In Hennepin County, home of the state's largest concentration of people of color, African American home values are the lowest at $103,000. Goetz says this gap in home values will feed future economic gaps between whites and people of color, because home equity is passed on from generation to generation. In 1990, white home values were 3 percent higher than those of Hispanics and 6 percent higher than for African Americans. ttp://news. minnesota. publicradio. org/features/200209/17_williamsb_censushousing Environ Health Perspect. 2005 May; 113(5): A310–A317 PMCID: PMC1257572 Environews Focus Dwelling Disparities: How Poor Housing Leads to Poor Health For most Americans, the value of their home is their prime source of wealth. During the 1990s, a booming economy and buyer-friendly housing market helped many Minnesotans build thousands of dollars in home equity. They were able to buy at low prices and watch the value of their homes skyrocket.Goetz says home values remain lower in those neighborhoods than in predominantly white areas, where the demand for homes is higher. Census figures show the statewide median home value for African Americans is $106,000, which is slightly higher than for Hispanics. American Indians have the lowest statewide median ho me value, at $78,000. Asian American home values remain slightly higher than that of whites. In Hennepin County, home of the state's largest concentration of people of color, African American home values are the lowest at $103,000.Goetz says this gap in home values will feed future economic gaps between whites and people of color, because home equity is passed on from generation to generation. In 1990, white home values were 3 percent higher than those of Hispanics and 6 percent higher than for African Americans. http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC1257572 Disparities in Risk To a large extent, disparities in health and access to care among minorities reflect disparities in socioeconomic status. The fact that minority populations on average are poorer than whites underlies many health disparities.Health insurance coverage and access to preventive care play a major role in determining health outcomes. Although insurance coverage improves access to health care, minority ch ildren have less access to primary medical care than white children, even after accounting for differences in insurance coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation Report. Inadequate routine and preventive care increases a child’s incidence and burden of disease. Hospitalization for asthma generally is avoidable if the disease is well managed.Poverty, substandard housing, inadequate access to health care, lack of education, and failure to adequately control asthma with medication all contribute to asthma episodes and deaths. Ethnic minorities also experience poorer cancer survival rates than whites. According to the American Cancer Society, cancer mortality rates are 40 percent higher for African-American men than white men. Efforts to eliminate health disparities are underway both nationally and locally. NIEHS and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have supported several urban asthma studies. Many states also have created offices addressing min ority health.The HHS OMH funds health projects conducted by minority community and national organizations, maintains minority health consultants in HHS Regional Offices, and operates a Resource Center on minority health issues. The National Institutes of Health also has a National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities to coordinate research, training, and outreach programs surrounding health disparities. Due to the strong link between socioeconomic status and health disparities, programs designed to improve the socioeconomic status of minorities also could help to reduce health disparities.Focusing on properties that pose the greatest health risks, which are overwhelmingly older, low-income, and in substandard condition, will yield the greatest improvement in health outcomes and address the striking health disparities borne by low-income and minority families. http://www. afhh. org/ifc/ifc_disparities. htm A growing number allege unfair treatment in housing market| Update d 9/29/2007 | Nearly 40 years after a national law banned housing discrimination, an increasing number of complaints are alleging unfair treatment of minorities, the disabled, families and other groups.The Department of Housing and Urban Development and housing assistance agencies logged 10,328 complaints last year, a 12% jump from 2005. Between 2002 and 2006, seven states and the District of Columbia averaged more than 10 housing discrimination complaints per 100,000 housing units, according to the GNS analysis. The average state rate was 7. 6 complaints per 100,000 units. The 1968 Fair Housing Act, amended in 1988, bans discrimination in the housing market based on disability, race, sex, national origin, religion, skin color or whether a family has children.Reasons for the growing number of discrimination complaints vary, housing officials say. Agency's performance criticized Last year, 36% of the complaints to HUD were settled. Federal officials and fair housing advocates say it' s difficult to know whether housing discrimination is on the rise in a particular area. Private housing groups also get complaints that aren't included in the data. †¢ In almost one third of counties, no housing discrimination complaints were filed with HUD or its contract agencies between 2002 and 2006. †¢ Housing discrimination complaints related to disability are as common as those related to race.Nationally, disability-related cases accounted for 40% of complaints filed with HUD and its contract agencies last year. Race-related complaints accounted for 39%. Housing experts expect disability complaints to climb as the nation's population ages and older Americans better understand their housing rights. Last year, HUD dismissed 40% of complaints, citing lack of evidence. One reason may be that housing discrimination today can be subtler. HUD must investigate discrimination complaints within 100 days. http://usatoday30. usatoday. com/news/nation/2007-09-28-housing-main_N. htm

Race and Ethnicity Essay

Stereotypes have existed in a very long time, and almost everyone has stereotyped a person or has been considered as belonging to a particular group of stereotypes. But what is a stereotype actually? Stereotyping is a way to group races or individuals together and make a judgment about them, without even knowing them. It’s a belief about a certain social group or type of individuals. Stereotypes can be positive, however stereotypes are most often associated with negativity. Stereotypes often exist about cultures and countries as a whole, and it makes it easier to define a country or race, if you put them in specific groups. Almost every country or race has a stereotype. There exist infinitely many different stereotypes. As said before, they exist based groups and race, but also on gender and age. There are common stereotypes, which is about and between the cultures. Some common stereotype examples are, that all Asians have high IQs or black people are always connected to crime and violence. It’s grouping the race together saying that every Asian person is smart and every black person is criminal. Another type of stereotyping is the individual, which is about skaters, emos, gangsters and so on. Emos are stereotyped as being depressed people, who listen to sad music and cut themselves. Individual stereotypes are most between teenagers and in the schools, because younger people want to make one group or person superior and above another group or person. Stereotypes are not just about different races and backgrounds however. Gender and ago stereotypes also exist in our society. For example, if you say that men are better than women, you’re stereotyping all men and all women. The invention of stereotypes has come naturally though time. When we see persons we don’t know, we automatically begin to put them in different groups in our head. It makes us believe we actually know them better or know what type of persons they are. An example can be a person from the Middle East, because many people often connect them with only troubles and thefts. In that way we personally feel more safety, because then we might say to ourselves that we have to take care and be more careful about what to say so there won’t be any problems. On the other hand our thoughts about stereotypes aren’t always negative. We say that Italian are great cooks and make delicious food, which is a positive stereotype about Italy. ThereforeIda Jessen og Rikke Hemmingsen HH1C Silkeborg Handelsgymnasiet aren’t stereotypes the same as prejudices. Stereotypes are often exaggerated and funny and prejudices are only negative opinions about people and things. Stereotypes always appear negative in the medias. Again we’re comparing with the people from the Middle East. When there has been a crime and they’re talking about it in the medias, it has always been told loud and clear if it’s immigrates who had make a crime. On the other hand when it’s a local person, it has never been told. Therefore we actually compare stereotypes with only bad things, because that’s how it has been appeared in the medias and it affects us, but stereotypes are often fun.