Monday, September 30, 2019

Changinng Life Style Essay

Indian Culture is time tested and represented the progressively refined way of life, that had unfortunately suffered a set back, a sub culture process as it were, drifting from its salutary ways of living. Did not Lord Mecaulay say in the UK parliament how the Indians had such a perfect social harmony and faith in their way of life, that they can not be subdued unless they were weaned from their prestige and made to adore the alien way of life, to feel subordinated to a †superior culture†, wherefore they could be easily subdued and dominated for the best advantage of the colonial rule! That was perfectly achieved and Indians forgot their own merits in a strange infatuation with alien culture! Foreign culture was best for them, unique to them, deserved respect, but not fit for absorption into our own way of life! Apart from an initiation into new unfolding findings of secular science and technology – which was absent in our nation under colonial subjugation – we had gained least in other spheres, particularly in the social and ethical qualities. We became divided, in the names of religion and castes losing the force of harmony that united us under the princely states! The increasing divorce culture, night clubs and pub culture, promiscuity and desertions etc among youth, the divide and rule policy among the politicians, the aggressive conversions (against more benign missionary activities a century ago) are the only major impacts in the social domain. So except the technological inputs, even economic exploitations under free trade or repressive regimentation under socialist govts that came from the west, have least served the society to achieve equality. Social impacts have been worse. The break down of joint family system due to new life styles, uncontrolled deviancies in the name of liberty etc have made youth defy control of society and family in a big way. In a chapter on †Consequences of Innovations† in the book by Rogers and Shoemaker entitled, †Diffusion and  Adoption of Innovations†, it is discussed how any change made in any aspect of social sphere – agriculture or medicine or arts or whatever – may end up in unexpected †side effects† as well. The chaos in the aborigins of Australia after replacement of traditional stone tool etc make interesting reading! In India itself, the introduction of rural TV programme for education of people in modern agricultre, health care etc was studied in UP state when Indiraji was Minister of Broadcasting, in 100 villages. The study revealed significant increase in knowledge and attitude of people in modern techniques and the project was cleared for large scale introdcution across the country. After govt project was ended, many behavioural scientists took up studies in change of life pattern in the villages. They came across many critical adverse changes traceable to exposure of untreated †entertainment† programmes given by TV apart from the educatinal inputs! Like that our adoration for the modern knowledge gained from the west, had made us adopt their other life styles as well to the detriment of society. So the demerits have been devastating as we see from the increase of family courts to deal with increasing divorce cases, the skewed development of trade and industy at the cost of other primary enterprises, policy of social divide by politicians for vote bank advantage etc! In my opinion, we had paid a heavy price for all the technological good we received from the west, by our own unwise emulation of their social perceptions and political strategies as well! have a good day! TRADITIONAL CULTURE AND MODERNIZATION R. BALASUBRAMANIAN BACKGROUND This paper focuses upon three issues. First, I want to show that the perennial elements in traditional cultures like those of India and China are  relevant even today as they play an important role in the achievement, on the one hand, of harmony between the individual and society at the social level, and, on the other hand, of harmony of spirit, mind, and body at the individual level. Second, we should not lose sight of the distinction between knowledge and information, between wisdom and knowledge, and more importantly between life and living. The perennial elements in the traditional culture have helped us to care for life, knowledge, and wisdom, which are essential for spiritual development. Third, modernization as interpreted by the West has a narrow connotation and is, therefore, a distorted concept. Through science, it brings in the colonial attitude, the imperialism of the West. It is possible for one to be modern without accepting all that is implied by modernization. Culture, which comprises philosophy and religion, art and literature, science and technology, social organization and political administration, is the mirror of the theory and practice of a people. It is originated, developed and sustained by the people over a period of time. In turn, the perennial elements which constitute its core inspire and sustain the posterity to whom it is transmitted from time to time. Traditional cultures like those of China and India are undoubtedly ancient, but not antiquated; their ideals and practices, which are relevant in any situation, help the people to meet the new challenges which surface from time to time. As a result they not only survive, but are admired, adored, and accepted by the people. There cannot be a better explanation of the way a culture is able to hold the people and sustain them than the one given by Sri Aurobindo: The culture of a people may be roughly described as the expression of a consciousness of life which formulates itself in three aspects. There is a side of thought, of ideal, of upward will and the soul’s aspiration; there is a side of creative self-expression and appreciative aesthesis, intelligence, and imagination; and there is a side of practical and outward formulation. A people’s philosophy and higher thinking give us its mind’s purest, largest, and most general formulation of its consciousness of life and its dynamic view of existence. Its religion formulates the most intense form of its upward will and the soul’s aspirations towards the fulfillment of its highest ideal and impulse. Its art, poetry, literature provide for us the creative expression and impression of its intuition, imagination, vital turn and creative  intelligence. Its society and politics provide in their forms an outward frame in which the more external life works out what it can of its inspiring ideal and of its special character and nature under the difficulties of the environment. We can see how much it has taken of the crude material of living, what it has done with it, how it has shaped as much of it as possible into some reflection of its guarding consciousness and deeper spirit. None of them express the whole spirit behind, but they derive from it their main ideas and their cultural character. Together they make up its soul, mind, and body.1 Of the various components of culture the role of philosophy and religion is significant. Philosophy and religion can never be separated though they can be distinguished. It may be that in a particular culture, philosophy is in the forefront and religion in the background. It can also be the other way with religion at the surface and philosophy in the background. The point to be noted here is that philosophy and religion interact with, and influence each other. Philosophy is made dynamic by religion, and religion is enlightened by philosophy. If it is admitted that there is the need for a unity of theory and practice, p hilosophy cannot remain merely as a view of life; it must also be a way of life. In other words, philosophy has to become religious if it is to mold, organize and regulate life. Religion is not an untouchable; its need for life can neither be ignored nor underestimated. It will be helpful to contrast the pursuit of philosophy in Europe with that in India and China. Unlike the Europe of the Enlightenment where philosophy did not touch life at all, there was a tremendous impact of philosophy on life both in India and China. In the words of Sri Aurobindo: Philosophy has been pursued in Europe with great and noble intellectual results by the highest minds, but very much as a pursuit apart from life, a thing high and splendid, but ineffective. It is remarkable that, while in India and China philosophy has seized hold on life, has had an enormous practical effect on the civilization and got into the very bones of current thought and action, it has never at all succeeded in achieving this importance in Europe. In the days of the Stoics and Epicureans it got a grip, but only among the highly cultured; at the present day, too, we have some renewed tendency of the kind. Nietzsche has had his influence, certain French thinkers also in France, the philosophies of James and Bergson have attracted some amount of public interest; but it is a mere  nothing compared with the effective power of Asiatic philosophy.2 There is no doubt that the average European who draws his guidance not from the philosophic, but from positive and practical reason, puts â€Å"the philosophical treatises on the highest shelf in the library of civilization.† The situation is entirely different in India. Sri Aurobindo says: The Indian mind holds . . . that the Rishi, the thinker, the seer of spiritual truth is the best guide not only of the religious and moral, but [also of] the practical life. The seer, the Rishi is the natural director of society; to the Rishis he attributes the ideals and guiding intuitions of his civilization. Even today he is very ready to give the name to anyone who can give a spiritual truth which helps his life or a formative idea and inspiration which influences religion, ethics, society, even politics.3 The phenomenon known as modernization is a product of the one-sided pursuit of both philosophy and science — philosophy purely as an intellectual affair without any bearing on life and science as the most effective instrument for the possession of unlimited power, eliminating the sacred. I shall take up the problem of modernization later. It may be added here that what is said about the Indian mind is equally true of the Chinese mind. Confucius, Mencius, and others are the great Rishis of China, the seers who exhibited the most uncommon insight into men and matters, into the moral and social problems of human beings. Drawing a distinction between two kinds of philosophers, systematic and edifying, Richard Rorty characterizes Wittgenstein as an edifying philosopher, like Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and others. In a brief analysis of the spirit of Western civilization which is fully manifest in the industry, architecture, and music of our time, in its fascism and socialism, Wittgenstein openly admits that he has â€Å"no sympathy for the current of European civilization, that he does not understand its goals, if it has any,† and that â€Å"it is alien and uncongenial† to him.4 He goes on to say: A culture is like a big organization which assigns each of its members a place where he can work in the spirit of the whole; and it is perfectly fair for his power to be measured by the contribution he succeeds in making to the whole enterprise.5 Wittgenstein’s brief explanation of culture requires some elucidation. He says that culture is a whole, that every individual has a place in it, that every individual has to function as a member of the whole, and that what he does is significant socially as well  as morally. The two traditional cultures, Chinese and Indian, have recognized the importance of the ideas embedded in Wittgenstein’s explanation of culture. While the Indian culture appears to be predominantly spiritual and religious, the Chinese culture seems to be basically humanistic, with a clear emphasis on the moral and social dimensions of life. It must be pointed out in this connection that the difference between these two traditional cultures is only at the surface. Since the traditional culture comprehends the total life of a person, it provides a place for the different dimensions of life — spiritual, religious, moral, and social — which can be distinguished, but not separated. The spiritual and religious dimension of life presupposes the moral and social realm ; and the moral and social sphere of life points to the religious and spiritual goals. That the two realms, ethico-social and religio-spiritual, are complementary, has been recognized by both these cultures, even though the Indian culture lays emphasis on the spiritual and religious side of man while the Chinese culture focusses on the ethical and social side of man. The motif of the two cultures is the harmony of spirit, mind, and body; and it is to achieve this harmony that they take care of both realms of life. Once again what Sri Aurobindo says in this connection is worth quoting: A true happiness in this world is the right terrestrial aim of man, and true happiness lies in the finding and maintenance of a natural harmony of spirit, mind, and body. A culture is to be valued to the extent to which it has discovered the right key of this harmony and organized its expressive motives and movements. And a civilization must be judged by the manner in which all its principles, ideas, forms, ways of living work to bring that harmony out, manage its rhythmic play, and secure its continuance or the development of its motives.6 There is need to harmonize the eternal and the temporal, for the spirit works through mind and body, which belong to the temporal; and this is what every great culture has aimed at. There are four components in the traditional culture associated with India and China. They are: (1) the primal Spirit which is the source and support of the universe may be viewed both as transcendent to, and as immanent in, the universe; (2) this Spirit which is immanent in all human beings can be realized by every human being; (3) it lays down a discipline which is both moral and spiritual for realizing the Spirit; and (4) it has provided an organization of the  individual and collective life not only for the sake of the harmony between the individual and society, but also for the sake of the harmony of spirit, mind, and body. Each one of these components needs some explanation in the context of these two cultures. INDIAN CULTURE Though Indian culture as it is today is composite in character, comprising Hindu, Jaina, Buddha, Islamic, and Christian elements, it can be characterized as Vedic culture since not only Hinduism, which is predominant, but also Jainism and Buddhism, which originated in protest against Vedic ritualism, have been influenced by the Vedas, the basic and oldest scriptural text in the world. Islam and Christianity entered the Indian soil consequent on the invasion of India by the foreigners — by the Moghuls in the former case, and by the English, French, and Portuguese in the latter case. Though they try to retain their identity, the followers of these two religious traditions have been influenced by the Vedic culture. Kabir (1398-1518 AD), for example, who is a greatly respected personality in the religious history of India, is a product of both Hinduism and Islam. In recent times, Indian Christians talk about and practice inculturization, which is a new and growing phenomenon. The predominant Hindu culture which has a long and continuous history is the Vedic culture; and the Vedic culture, which has its beginning round about 2500 BC, may be characterized as primal culture, since it traces everything in the universe to the primal Spirit, which is variously called Brahman, Ä€tman, Being, and so on. Spirit or Being is the primal reality. It is that from which all beings arise; being supported by it, they exist; and all of them move towards it as their destination. In the language of T.S. Eliot, the beginning is the end. The Upanisad says: That, verily, from which these beings are born, that by which, when born, they live, that into which, when departing, they enter. That, seek to know. That is Brahman.7 Spirit or Brahman is primal in the sense that it is foundational. It is the sole reality; it is one and non-dual; and there is nothing else beside it. It is spoken of as the First Cause, Unmoved Mover, of the entire manifest universe. With a view to bring o ut the independent nature of the primal Spirit on which the manifest universe is dependent, it is referred to as the Ground. That which is independent is real; what is dependent is an appearance. The ground-grounded  relation brings out the reality of Spirit and the appearance of the universe. Ordinarily we distinguish the material cause from the efficient cause; the one is different from the other. The wood from which a table is made is the material cause; and the carpenter who works on the wood and makes a table according to a certain design is the efficient cause. The carpenter is different from the wood. What makes the primal Spirit unique is that it is both the material and efficient cause of the universe, because it alone existed in the beginning and nothing else beside it. Like wood, it is the material cause of the world; and like a carpenter, it is the efficient cause of the world. So, the Vedic culture traces all beings, living as well as non-living, to one source, viz. Spirit or Being. It may be pointed out here that in recent times quantum physics attempts to trace everything in the manifest universe to one source which is non-material or spiritual. Einstein declared: Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the Laws of the Universe — a Spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we, with our modest powers, must feel humble.8 That Spirit or Brahman is the source, support, and end of everything in the universe, is the major premise of the Vedic culture. Derived from the major premise are two minor premises, one relating to living beings called jÄ «va and the other, to non-living beings called jagat. Since Spirit or Brahman is immanent in jÄ «va and jagat, neither jÄ «va nor jagat is isolated from the primal Spirit. It means that all living beings, whatever the y may be — humans, animals, birds, reptiles, and so on — are spiritual or divine. Non-living beings which are material constitute the physical universe. They are the products of the five elements — ether, air, fire, water and earth — which are material. The divine principle is present not only in living beings, but also in non-living beings, and so they are also divine. Characterizing Brahman as the indwelling Spirit (antaryÄ min), the BrhadÄ nrayaka Upanisad says that Brahman is present in all beings — the sun, the moon, and the stars, the elements which constitute the physical universe, and the organs of the jÄ «vas. Just as our body does not know the Spirit inside it, even so the beings, whatever they may be, do not know Brahman, the indwelling Spirit in them. The following text is relevant here: He [Brahman or Spirit] who dwells in all beings, yet is within all beings, whom no beings know, whose body is  all beings, who controls all beings from within, he is your Self, the inner controller, the immortal.9 That which dwells in material objects and controls them also dwells in all living beings and contr ols them. Just as all living beings are essentially divine, even so the entire physical universe is essentially divine. Whatever may be the differences among the species and within the individual members of a species, all are essentially one, because one and the same divine Spirit is present in all of them. The message conveyed by these two minor premises of the traditional culture deserves careful consideration. First of all, if the land and the water and the sky of the physical universe are divine, then we should take care of them in the same way as we take care of our body. The claim that human beings are rational, that they are superior to the physical world, and that they are, in the words of Descartes, the â€Å"masters and possessors of nature† resulted in the unscrupulous, cruel, and destructive despoliation of nature in the name of the quest for knowledge, scientific development, and technological progress. It is not nature that is red in tooth and claw, but the human being who is unabashedly selfish and blatantly aggressive and makes nature bleed and scorch. Fortunately for us, there is a global awakening to the significance of the earth and the water and the sky as sources of sustenance and nourishment. Secondly, the application of this principle of the oneness to the human realm is of great consequence. The understanding that all human beings are essentially one and that differences of color and caste, of gender and race, of sharpness and dullness of mind, and so on are due to the mind-sense-body adjunct by which the Spirit is enclosed will help us to tackle the universally rampant problem of discrimination of all kinds — social, religious, economic, and political. VedÄ ntic philosophy, which is an important component of culture, tells us what a human being is, does, and should do in order to achieve the harmony of spirit, mind, and body. A human being (jÄ «va) is a complex entity consisting of Spirit and matter. The term used in VedÄ nta for Spirit is the Self or Ä€tman. Matter which is totally different from the Self i s referred to as not-Self, as other-than-the-Self. According to VedÄ nta, the not-Self, which is the material outfit of the human being, is made up of the mind, the senses, and the body. The Self in the human being requires a physical medium for its involvement in the day-to-day life as the subject of knowledge, the  agent of action, and the enjoyer of the consequences of action. The mind and the senses are the cognitive instruments. With the help of the mind, the five senses give us knowledge of the things of the external world. The work of the mind does not stop with the cognitive support it gives to the senses. As the internal organ (antahkaraa), the mind generates the knowledge of the subjective states such as pleasure and pain. It also does something more, which is very important from the moral and spiritual perspectives. It gives us knowledge of the right and the wrong, dharma and adharma as they are called. When chastened by the moral and spiritual discipline, it is the mind which helps us to realize the primal Spirit or Brahman. So the work of the mind is manifold. The mind is the most marvelous instrument that a human being possesses. The emergence of the mind has not only accelerated the evolutionary process in its upward movement, but also has given enormous powers to the human being, making him/her the crown of creation, unique among all living beings. In the course of his commentary on the scriptural account of the creation of the world, Sankara raises the question about the preeminence of the human being among all creatures and answers it by saying that the human being is preeminent because he alone is qualified for knowledge and the performance of prescribed duties (jnÄ na-karma-adhikÄ rah).10 Why is it that he alone has this competence? Sankara justifies the supremacy of the human on three grounds. First, he has the ability for acquiring knowledge not only of the things of the world, but also of the supreme Being, the primal reality. This is because he is equipped with the mind which, being inspired by the Self or Spirit in him is capable of comprehending everything including the highest reality. Secondly, he has the distinctive quality of desiring certain ends as a result of discrimination, deliberation, and choice. Thirdly, when he has consciously chosen an end, he is earnest about it, finds the right means for achieving the end, and persists in it till he reaches the goal. A scriptural text which is quoted by Sankara in this connection says: In man alone is the Self most manifest for he is the best endowed with knowledge. He speaks what he knows; he sees what he knows; he knows what will happen tomorrow; he knows the higher and the lower worlds; he aspires to achieve immortality through perishable things. He is thus endowed (with discrimination) while other beings have consc iousness of hunger and thirst only.11 According to  VedÄ nta, the Self in the human being is eternal, whereas his material outfit, the mind-sense-body complex, is temporal. The birth and death of a human being are connected with, and because of, the body. They are illicitly transferred to the Self with the result that we think of it as perishable and finite. The human being is caught in the cycle of birth and death because of ignorance (avidyÄ ) whose beginning is not known. The empirical journey of the Self through its association with the material adjunct is due to avidyÄ . It is avidyÄ  that pulls down the trans-empirical Self into the empirical realm, superimposes on it, which is non-relational, a relation with matter, and is thus responsible for the â€Å"fall† of the Self. What is above categorization is now categorized and made an object of knowledge; what transcends relation is now explained through the logic of relation; and what is beyond the scope of language is now brought within the grammar of language. Thus, just as a tree and a table are known through perception and other means of knowledge, even so Brahman or the Self, we claim, is known through the scriptural text called Sruti. The trans-relational reality is viewed as characterized by omniscience and other qualities and also as the cause of the world. What is trans-linguistic is now spoken of as real, knowledge, infinite, and so on. In other words, we employ the categories of substance and attribute, cause and effect, whole and parts for the purpose of understanding the highest reality. It will be of interest in this connection to refer to the views of two influential thinkers from the West — one belonging to the pre-sixth century and the other our own contemporary. Pseudo-Dionysius, who occupies an important place in the history of Western spirituality, observes: [The supreme reality] is neither perceived nor is it perceptible. It suffers neither disorder nor disturbance and is overwhelmed by no earthly passion. . . . It endures no deprivation of light. It passes through no change, decay, division, loss, no ebb and flow, nothing of which the senses may be aware. None of all this can either be identified with it nor attributed to it.12 Again, he says: It falls neither within the predicate of non-being nor of being. Existing beings do not know it as it actually is and it does not know them as they are. There is no speaking of it, nor name, nor knowledge of it. Darkness and light, error and truth — it is none of these. It is beyond assertion and  denial. We make assertions and denials of what is next to it, but never of it, for it is both beyond every assertion, being the perfect and unique cause of all things, and, by virtue of its preeminently simple and absolute nature, free of every limitation, beyond every limitation; it is also beyond every denial.13 Pseudo-Dionysius conveys in the most unambiguous terms the VedÄ ntic conception of Brahman or the Self. Instead of terms such as Brahman or the Self used by the VedÄ ntin, Wittgenstein uses terms such as the â€Å"metaphysical subject,† the â€Å"I,† the â€Å"philosophical ‘I’ † and contrasts it with the â€Å"body.† The human body, he says, is a part of the world among other parts, but the Self or the philosophical â€Å"I† is not a part of the world; it is outside the space-time-cause world. In the words of Wittgenstein: The subject does not belong to the world, but is a border of the world.14 The philosophical â€Å"I† is not the human being, not the human body, or the human soul of which psychology treats, but the metaphysical subject, the border — not a part — of the world.15 What is obvious from the foregoing account is that we have to make a distinction between two concepts, Brahman-in-itself and Brahman-in-relation-to-the-world, for the purpose of analysis. The latter concept is meaningful only on the presupposition of the fall of Brahman or the Self. When did this fall take place? No one knows, and no one can answer. Once there is the fall, the empirical journey of the Self goes on in different forms, conditioned by the space-time-cause framework. However, the promise of VedÄ nta is that the empirical journey of the lÄ «va can be put an end to, that the vicious cycle of birth and death can be broken by destroying avidyÄ  through knowledge of one’s Self. That is why there is the scriptural instruction of â€Å"Know thy Self.† Not only does scripture say that the Self should be realized or seen, but it also suggests the means for realizing it. It will be difficult to understand the full significance of the distinction between Brahman-in-itself and Brahman-in-relation-to-the-world without a reference to the principle of standpoints which is enshrined in Indian culture. There are two sets of features, perennial and temporal, in Indian culture which contribute to its continuity as well as its change. While the basic doctrines constitute its perennial dimension, religious practices covering a wide range are temporal and transitory. Decadence sets in when the temporal and transitory features gain importance almost to the point of ignoring or sidetracking the  perennial features. Historical, social, and political changes call for modification, sometimes radical, sometimes minor, in the religious practices and social norms of the people, while the basic doctrinal side remains intact. Continuity of the essentials amidst the changing flow of life helps to preserve the cultural tradition. The essential structure which has endured through the vicissitudes of time contains the basic doctrines as stated in the major premise and the two minor premises to which reference was made earlier. The three basic doctrines are: primal Being or Spirit is the source, support, and end of everything, sentient as well as non-sentient; all living beings are divine; also, the physical universe which has originated from the primal Spirit is spiritual. The monistic vision, which is pervasive in the Vedic corpus, is a notable feature of Indian culture. The doctrine of levels or standpoints skillfully adopted by Indian culture helps to reconcile monism and polytheism as well as monism and pluralism. Though each pair contains two extremes in the religio-philosophical thinking, they have been accommodated as different standpoints at different levels. They are irreconcilable only when they are placed together at the same level. For example, one of the oft-quoted hymns of the Rg-veda provides a clue for reconciling the problem of one Godhead and many gods and goddesses. It says: â€Å"What is but one, wise people call by different names — as Agni, Yama, MÄ tarisvan.†16 Reference to gods, such as, Agni and Yama may be replaced by the well known gods of the Hindu pantheon such as Siva, Visnu, Sakti, and so on. Sankara explains the distinction between the supreme Godhead and its various forms such as Siva, Visnu, and so on, as the distinction between the â€Å"unconditioned† reality, what we referred to as Brahman-in-itself, and its â€Å"conditioned† forms such as Siva and Visnu, all of which can be brought under Brahman-in-relation-to-the-world. _iva, Viu, and other gods are conditioned beings endowed with a name and a form and other qualities, whereas the One is unconditioned, devoid of name and form, specifications and qualities and is, therefore, trans-empirical, trans-relational, and trans-linguistic. This mode of drawing the distinction between the supreme Godhead and its many forms for the purpose of worship and other religious practices of the devotees, which is unheard of in other religious traditions of other cultures, is of great consequence in the religious practice of the people.  Since it is the one reality that is worshipped in many forms such as Agni, Siva, and so on, one who worships Agni or Siva, should not quarrel with one who worships Yama or Visnu, because Agni, Yama, Siva, and Visnu are the conditioned aspects of the same reality. This significant idea of the Rg-Vedic hymn was accepted, fully elaborated, and further deepened by the Upanisads. It provides a theoretical framework for religious harmony, which is one of the characteristic features of primal culture and which has received special emphasis right from the beginning till this day. What makes primal culture valid for all times and in all places is its inclusiveness. It includes everything by providing a place for it in the whole. Religious, social, economic, scientific, and political activities are necessary and meaningful; but they must be made subservient to, and must be viewed and judged in the context of the spiritual goal of life. A culture which is mainly concerned with the bare economic necessities of life, social institutions, and political organization will be neither enduring nor elevating; it may look energetic and enterprising, but it is not worth the name, if it is not geared up to the spiritual side of life. Once again, what Sri Aurobindo says is worth quoting here: A mere intellectual, ethical, and aesthetic culture does not go back to the inmost truth of the spirit; it is still an ignorance, an incomplete, outward, and superficial knowledge. To have made the discovery of our deepest being and hidden spiritual nature is the first necessity and to have erected the living of an inmost spiritual life into the aim of existence is the characteristic sign of a spiritual culture. 17 The VedÄ nta philosophy solves the problem of monism versus pluralism on the basis of the distinction between two levels or standpoints called pÄ ramÄ rthika and vyÄ vahÄ rika, or absolute and relative respectively. The Upanisads make use of this distinction in the explanation of the epistemological, metaphysical, axiological, and soteriological problems. What is true at one level may not be so at another level. A dream-lion which is accepted as real in dream experience loses its reality at the waking level. What is accepted as a value at one time may turn out to be a disvalue at another time. The pluralistic universe which is accepted as real may cease to exist in the state of liberation following the spiritual ascent. The pÄ ramÄ rthika or absolute standpoint is higher, whereas the vyÄ vahÄ rika or the relative standpoint is lower. It must be borne in mind that the  higher standpoint which transcends the lower does not invalidate it. One who has moved from th e relative to the absolute standpoint knows the truth of the former; but one who is tied to the relative standpoint cannot understand the truth of the absolute standpoint. Consider the case of two persons who attempt to climb up a mountain in order to reach the highest peak. While one of them reaches the top, the other, due to some disability, is not able to proceed beyond the foothill. The person who has reached the summit knows what kind of experience is available to one at the foothill; but one who is at the foothill does not understand the kind of experience one has at the top. We have to apply this logic to the different kinds of experience without subverting the pÄ ramÄ rthika-vyÄ vahÄ rika hierarchy. The Upanisads describe the two levels as signifying higher wisdom and lower knowledge. Experience of plurality is quite common; it is quite natural; we have it in our daily life. No special effort or discipline is required for such an experience. But experience of oneness is uncommon. One does not get it without special effort or appropriate discipline. The transition is from the common to the uncommon. A text of the BrhadÄ rayaka Upanisad describes the two levels of experience as follows: For, where there is duality as it were, there one sees the other, one smells the other, one knows the other. . . . But, where everything has become just one’s own self, by what and whom should one smell, by what and whom should one know?18 Without disregarding the pragmatic value of day-to-day empirical knowledge, primal culture emphasizes the importance of higher wisdom. It will be of interest to quote Wittgenstein in this connection. He says: In religion every level of devoutness must have its appropriate form of expression which has no sense at a lower level. This doctrine, which means something at a higher level, is null and void for someone who is still at the lower level; he can only understand it wrongly and so these words are not valid for such a person. For instance, at my level the Pauline doctrine of predestination is ugly, nonsense, irreligiousness. Hence it is not suitable for me, since the only use I could make of the picture I am offered would be a wrong one. If it is a good and godly picture, then it is so for someone at a quite different level, who must use it in his life in a way completely different from anything that would be possible for me.19 The teaching of the VedÄ nta philosophy is positive. According to it, life in this world is meaningful  and purposive — meaningful for the reason that it serves as the training ground for one’s spiritual uplifting through the proper use of the objects of the world by the mind-sense-body equipment of which one is in possession, and purposive as one has to achieve freedom or liberation by overcoming the existential predicament. Freedom or liberation which is projected as the goal must be understood in the spiritual sense. It is true that human life is made difficult by economic constraints, political oppression, social hierarchy, and religious discrimination; and a situation of this kind points to, and calls for, freedom of different kinds so that a person can exist and function as a moral agent enjoying economic, political, social and religious freedom. However, the goal of life remains unfulfilled in spite of these different kinds of freedom. Though they are necessary, they are not sufficient. The highest freedom which is eternal and totally satisfying is spiritual freedom, which is called moksa in Indian culture. A socio-political system may ensure political freedom, social justice, economic satisfaction, and unrestricted religious practice; but still there is no guarantee of harmony of spirit, mind, and body which one can achieve only through the teaching of philosophy and religion. The socio-political machinery cannot be a substitute for religion and philosophy, though it can and should maintain a system of rights and obligations in which alone a human being can lead a moral life as formulated in religion and can pursue the goal of liberation as projected by philosophy. Sri Aurobindo says: The whole aim of a great culture is to lift man up to something which at first he is not, to lead him to knowledge though he starts from an unfathomable ignorance, to teach him to live by reason, though actually he lives much more by his unreason, by the law of good and unity, though he is now full of evil and discord, by a law of beauty and harmony, though his actual life is a repulsive muddle of ugliness and jarring barbarisms, by some law of his spirit, though at present he is egoistic, material, unspiritual, engrossed by the needs and desires of his physical being. If a civilization has not any of these aims, it can hardly at all be said to have a culture and certainly in no sense a great and noble culture. But the last of these aims, as conceived by ancient India, is the highest of all because it includes and surpasses all the others. To have made this attempt is to have ennobled the life of the race; to have failed in it is better than if it had never at all   been attempted; to have achieved even a partial success is a great contribution to the future possibilities of the human being.20 Excepting the CÄ rvÄ ka, which advocates a thoroughgoing materialism, all other philosophical systems in India accept the ideal of moksa. The Indian mind, right from the beginning, has accepted a hierarchy of values, ranging from the bodily and economic values at the bottom to the spiritual values of which liberation is at the top. The human being leads his life at two levels — organic and hyper-organic. Bodily and economic values which he pursues belong to the organic level. In so far as the pursuit of the organic values is concerned — values which are necessary for life preservation — his life and activities are in no way different from those of animals; at this level, hunger and sleep, shelter and sex are common to man and animals. Endowed as he is not only with the body, but also with the mind, he also lives at another level, pursuing higher values such as truth, beauty, goodness. The life-activity of man which is fully reflective of his cognition, desire, deliberation, and choice cannot stop short of the highest value called moksa. It is not necessary here to discuss the broad scheme of values accepted in the Indian tradition. Suffice it to say that, though artha and kÄ ma, which emphasize the importance of the material and hedonistic side of life, have been accommodated in the scheme of values, the moral and spiritual side of life has received special attention in Indian culture. That is why it has accepted two higher values, dharma and moksa, the former functioning as a moral guide, and also as a regulative principle of artha and kÄ ma pursued in our secular life, for the realization of the latter. All the philosophical systems, Vedic as well as non-Vedic, hold the view that moksa as the highest value is both ultimate and all-satisfying — ultimate since there is nothing else to which it can be the means, and all-satisfying since it comprehends all the higher values. Sankara says that one gets the feeling of the fulfillment of all values when one attains moksa.21 There are three questions that we have to consider in connection with the ultimate value. The first one is whether it can be realized at all. There is the view that the ultimate value is only an ideal to inspire and regulate our conduct and that it can never be attained. We can regulate our life so as to come nearer to it from time to time, from stage to stage; but we can never reach it. Suc h a view is untenable. Also, it goes against the spirit of Indian  culture. Realization of one’s true nature is liberation. We have already pointed out that the human being is a complex entity consisting of Spirit and matter. Spirit by its very nature is ever free and never bound. But it appears to be bound because of the material adjunct with which it is associated in the empirical life. Overwhelmed by ignorance, the human being does not realize that he is essentially Spirit and therefore free. When he attains the right knowledge and knows his real nature, he is no more under the limitation or bondage of the psycho-physical material outfit, because ignorance which conceals his real nature is removed by knowledge. It means that the ideal of moksa has a basis in the very constitution of the human being; also, the human being, not being satisfied with the material achievements, what the Upanisad calls preyas, longs for spiritual freedom, which is called Sreyas. The Upanisad says: Both the good and the pleasant approach a man. The wise man, pondering over them, discriminates. The wise chooses the good in preference to the pleasant. The simple-minded, for the sake of worldly well-being, prefers the pleasant.22 One cannot have both Sreyas and preyas. The pursuit of the former requires the renunciation of the latter. Spiritual illumination follows purgation. Speaking about the importance of the ideal and its close relation to human nature, Hiriyanna observes: Ideals are rooted in needs inherent in human nature. It is their reality that constitutes their true charm. Take this charm from them, and they reduce themselves but to pleasant fantasy. The reality of such a value may not be vouched for by common reasoning. But we should remember that neither is there any adequate proof for denying it. Not to admit the ideal would therefore be to be dogmatic in the sense that we deny it without adequate proof for the denial.23 The second question is wheth er the ideal of moksa can be realized by all. Here also the great philosophical traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, are unanimous in their affirmative answer. There is nothing in human nature which either disqualifies or incapacitates him from attaining this ideal. Whatever may be the differences among human beings at the bodily, vital, and mental levels, everyone has the right and duty to aspire for the highest value by virtue of what he/she is. As every human being is endowed with the mind, the most precious and unequalled instrument through which one can look before and after, know the things given to him, and choose from them after  discrimination and deliberation, he is not in any way incapacitated from pursuing the ultimate value. Indian culture looks down on the doctrine of the chosen few. Since ignorance is the obstacle that stands in the way of realizing one’s divine nature, realizing one’s Spirit, which is liberation, it can be removed by knowledge which anyone can acquire through moral and spi ritual discipline. The philosophy of VedÄ nta, according to which every human being is divine, is opposed to the theory of privilege — of birth, intellect, spirituality, etc. It is anti-hierarchical. In everyone there is a sleeping Buddha, a hidden Brahman, to which everyone can have access. That the doors to the spiritual realm do not remain closed to anyone is conveyed in a forthright manner by Sri Aurobindo: A wider spiritual culture must recognize that the Spirit is not only the highest and inmost thing, but all is manifestation and creation of the Spirit. It must have a wider outlook, a more embracing range of applicability and, even, a more aspiring and ambitious aim of its endeavor. Its aim must be not only to raise to inaccessible heights the few elect, but to draw all men and all life and the whole human being upward, to spiritualize life and in the end to divinize human nature. Not only must it be able to lay hold on his deepest individual being, but to inspire, too, his communal existence. It must turn, by a spiritual change, all the members of his ignorance into members of the knowledge; it must transmute all the instruments of the human into instruments of a divine living. The total movement of Indian spirituality is towards this aim. 24 The third question, whether the ultimate value can be realized here in this life or only hereafter, is answered in two different ways. Some philosophical systems maintain that the proper preparation that a person undertakes for achieving this end will help him to realize it only after death, whereas some other systems hold the view that it can be realized in this life itself, if one follows the prescribed moral and spiritual discipline. The former view is called the eschatological conception of moksa while the latter is known as lÄ «van-mukti. â€Å"LÄ «van-mukti† means liberation-in-life. The person who has attained enlightenment or wisdom is free even while he is in the embodied condition. It is not necessary to discuss these two views of moksa in detail. It may be pointed out here that the view that it is possible to overcome bondage and attain liberation here and now deepens the significance of the present life. A  lÄ «van-mukta does not run away from society. He l ives in society for the benefit of others; when he is engaged in activities, he has no sense of â€Å"I† and â€Å"mine†; his activities, that is to say, are impersonal. Also, he imparts spiritual instruction to others, for, having realized the truth, he alone is competent to do this. The life of a lÄ «van-mukta, as portrayed in the Hindu tradition, is comparable to that of a Bodhi-sattva as explained in the MahÄ yÄ na tradition. The ideal of life goes beyond self-perfection; it also includes work for the universal good. According to the Indian tradition, knowledge is different from information, and wisdom is different from knowledge. We may say that information, knowledge, and wisdom constitute a hierarchy. To know a thing is to know it in a determinate way, as such-and-such — as a substance possessing qualities, as a whole consisting of parts, as the cause or effect of something, and so on. Every object has two kinds of relations, internal and external. A lump of clay, for example, is internally related to its color, its parts of which it is made. It is also externally related to the ground on which it is placed, its immediate surroundings, and so on. No object remains isolated from other things; on the contrary, it has a network of relations with other things in such a way that it is what it is because of other things. When the poet says that, to know a flower seen in a crannied wall, one must know the plant, root and all, and also the wall, its location, and so on, he draws our attention to the fact that every object is an integral part of the cosmic system and that, to get an insight into the nature of a thing, one must know the whole of which it is an integral part. Bits of information do not constitute knowledge. Piecemeal information about the roots, the trunk, and the branches of a tree cannot be viewed as the knowledge of a tree. Just as knowledge is different from information, even so wisdom is different from knowledge. Though knowledge is superior to information, it cannot be a substitute for wisdom. The Vedic tradition draws a distinction between two kinds of knowledge, higher (parÄ ) and lower (aparÄ ).

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Effects of Osmosis on Living Tissue Essay

What is the effect of osmosis on a slice of potato in varying salt solutions? Six different concentrations of salt water (0%, 0,4%, 0,8%, 1,2%, 1,6% and 2,0%) will be used in order to observe how the inserted potato slice changes. The length of the potato slice will be measured before and after leaving it for 24 hours in the various solutions. Hypothesis: Salt solutions will be hypertonic to the potato cells thus decreasing it in size as placed in higher solutions. Materials: †¢ 6 petri dishes †¢ Fresh potato sticks †¢ Dissecting razor blade †¢ Ruler †¢ Distilled H2O, 0,4% NaCI solution, 0,8% NaCI solution, 1,2% NaCI solution, 1,6% NaCI solution, 2,0% NaCI solution Procedure: (Obtained from the worksheet) 1. Obtain 6 Petri dishes 0.4% NaCl; 0.8% NaCl; 1.2% NaCl; 1.6% NaCl; 2.0% NaCl. 2. Add enough of the appropriate liquids to nearly fill each of the Petri dishes. 3. Obtain six fresh potato strips. Using a razor blade, angle cut one end of each strip to a beveled point. 4. Measuring from the tapered end, carefully and precisely angle cut each strip to a length of 70 mm so that both â€Å"points† are on the same side of the strip. 5. Place one measured potato tissue strip into each of the prepared Petri dishes. Cover the dishes and leave undisturbed for 24 hours. 6. After 24 hours, remove the strips of potato, one at a time, immediately measuring the length (mm) of each. Data Collection: Group 1 Test Solutions (% salt) Initial Length li (mm) Final Length lf (mm) Change in Length ∆ l (lf – li) (mm) Rigidity of the Strip Distilled H2O 30 mm 33 mm +3 mm Solid, Hard 0,4 30 mm 32 mm +2 mm Solid, hard 0.8 30 mm 31 mm +1 mm Flexible 1.2 31 mm 31 mm 0 mm Flexible, soft 1.6 31 mm 30 mm -1 mm Very flexible, soft 2.0 31 mm 30 mm -1 mm Very flexible, soft Group 2 Test Solutions (% salt) Initial Length li (mm) Final Length lf (mm) Change in Length ∆ l (lf – li) (mm) Rigidity of the Strip Distilled H2O 42 mm 46 mm +4 mm Hard 0,4 42 mm 44 mm +2 mm Hard 0.8 42 mm 41 mm +1 mm Flexible 1.2 42 mm 40 mm -2 mm Flexible 1.6 42 mm 39 mm -3 mm Flexible 2.0 42 mm 39 mm -3 mm Very flexible Data Processing: Group ∆ l (mm) Distilled H20 ∆ l (mm) 0.4% NaCl ∆ l (mm) 0.8% NaCl ∆ l (mm) 1.2% NaCl ∆ l (mm) 1.6% NaCl ∆ l (mm) 2.0% NaCl 1 +3 mm +2 mm +1 mm 0 mm -1 mm -1 mm 2 +4 mm +2 mm +1 mm -2 mm -3 mm -3 mm Average ∆l (mm) +3.5 mm +2 mm +1 mm -1 mm -2 mm -2 mm Result: In both groups the size of the potato increased when put into distilled H2O, 0,4% solution and 0,8 solution. From 1,2% solution and upward, the size of the potato stayed the same or decreased in both groups. One last similarity is that from 0,8% solution onwards the rigidity of the potato strip changed from hard to flexible and soft. Conclusion: Different concentrations of solute do affect the length of the potato strips. Our data shows that water moved from lower solute concentration to higher solute or descriptions of trends shown concentration. Hypertonic solutions, which have higher solute concentration and therefore graphs. The explanation should contain lower water concentration, cause the cells to lose mass and shrivel because water moves out observations, trends or patterns of the cell through the plasma membrane. This was the case with the slice left in salty where revealed by the data.the sample lost 9.09% of its original mass. Hypotonic solutions, on the contrary, have lower solute concentration and higher water concentration and cause the potato cells to expand because the water moved into the cells. In this case, the distilled water and the tap water samples were hypotonic to the potatoes and hence the potato slices gained 54.4% and 17% mass respectively. These results also indicate that the distilled water was more hypotonic than the tap water compared to the potatoes as the water mass gained by the potato slice was considerably higher in distilled water.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

5 Summer Programs at Georgetown University for High Schoolers

As the oldest Catholic and Jesuit university in the United States, Georgetown University has been committed to research, scholastic achievement and service since its inception. For high school students, attending a summer program at Georgetown affords the invaluable opportunity to experience college-level learning at a historically renowned university. Summer programs are a great way for students to gain a deeper understanding of their favorite subjects in a more hands-on environment. Spending a summer academically engaged on a college campus can help prepare your student for learning beyond high school. Ultimately, having the opportunity to learn from and alongside talented faculty and students alike can help your student realize their full academic potential. Additionally, involvement in summer programs demonstrate your student’s drive and passion for a particular area of study to admissions officers when it comes time to apply to college. Prospective schools want self-motivated students who will positively contribute to campus and pursuing a diverse set of extracurricular experiences, like a summer program for instance, can help convey that motivation. The Ultimate Guide to Applying to Wake Forest Were you to happen upon Wake Forest’s campus accidentally, you might initially mistake it for a members-only country club. With its manicured lawns, stately buildings, and winding drives, this community is one that beckons at first glance. It doesn’t take long to realize that the school’s culture is just as welcoming and warm as its grounds. With its emphasis on â€Å"educating the whole person† and dedication to bettering entire societies rather than individual students—its motto is Pro Humanitate , â€Å"for Humanity†Ã¢â‚¬â€Wake Forest is a university that emphasizes the importance of humanitarian pursuits alongside educational ones and accordingly supports its students to achieve all manner of academic and extracurricular successes. Initially founded in 1834, Wake Forest is a private, co-ed liberal arts university that now finds its home in Winston-Salem, NC. It is currently ranked on the country’s list Top Ten schools for stellar quality of life, due in large part to its campus culture. Wake enrolls just under 5,000 students per year, making it a healthily mid-sized undergraduate community. Its acceptance rate is highly competitive, coming in at roughly 34%, and its athletic teams participate in the ACC (Division I) conference. Wake Forest students are known for their warmth, spirit, and energy; various campus traditions—such as â€Å"Rolling the Quad,† where the entire student body wraps trees in toilet paper—foster strong inter-student camaraderie, and community service as well figures largely into the campus’ ethos of general betterment. Meanwhile, Wake’s home city, Winston-Salem, boasts thriving cultural attractions all throughout the year, from the Western Film Fair and Winter Dance Concert to the National Black Theatre Festival and â€Å"Tour de Food.† And if you are planning to study abroad, Wake owns and operates three separate international houses—one in Vienna, one in Venice, and one in London—and offers its students access to programs in over 200 worldwide cities. Wake Forest prides itself on the breadth of academic opportunities it offers its students. Students can take a variety of classes in Film Studies, English, Humanities, East Asian Languages and Literatures, Political Science, and Counseling, to name just a few. As well, Wake offers slightly more pre-vocational options like â€Å"Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise† and â€Å"Finance† for students are so inclined. Wake Forest allows for the possibility to study any combination of a major and minor; in turn, its students gladly take advantage of this opportunity. It is common for Wake student to study both a major and a minor, and often, these two are unrelated topics of study. Wake Forest also proudly boasts stellar job placement services, and has a near perfect success rate in finding employment for its seniors seeking jobs well before they graduate. Paying for a Wake Forest Education: Tuition, Financial Aid, Deadlines, and other Fun Things Wake Forest’s undergraduate tuition currently costs $41,120, while room and board is an additional $12,998. Wake guarantees housing for 100% of freshmen and 77% of upperclassmen, so a full year of tuition plus room and board comes out to $64,478 as per Wake Forest’s admission viewbook . If you are unable to pay out of pocket, Wake Forest offers both need-based and merit-based financial aid to prospective students, but the application processes for each of these differs. Likewise, the deadlines for applying for each of these are dependent upon the deadline you have chosen for your application to the college (Early Decision, Early Decision II, and Regular Decision). First, let’s discuss the process of applying for each type of aid, as they differ from each other. If you plan to apply for need-based financial aid, you will need to fill out 3 forms: the Free application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) , a CSS/PROFILE , and copies of official 2015 federal income tax forms. Wake Forest is part of a small group of universities that pledges to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need, so if you think that you might be eligible for need-based aid based on Wake Forest’s criteria (outlined here ), you should certainly plan to submit these forms and apply   for the attendant aid. If you plan to apply for need-based aid, be sure to submit your forms by the appropriate deadlines. Early Decision applicants must submit their need-based aid requests by November 15 and can expect to hear back as soon as Dec. 1 if they are offered admission. Early Decision II applicant must submit their paperwork by January 1 and will receive notification of an award if they are offered admission as early as February 15. Regular decision applicants need to submit their forms by January 1 and will receive a response as early as April 1. Meanwhile, Wake Forest offers several merit-based scholarship to less than 3% of its incoming students each year. The Reynolds, Carswell, Stamps, and Gordon Scholarships do not require a separate application in addition to the application to the college. All students who apply to Wake Forest are considered for these scholarships so long as they apply before December 1, and winners are rewarded for different combinations of achievement, talent, and leadership. Likewise, just as it is not necessary to complete an interview for the college application, it is not necessary to complete an interview to be considered for these scholarships. It is important to note, though, that most students who are awarded these scholarships did participate in an interview for the school. As well, there are two merit-based scholarships that do require additional applications to the one for college admission. The Presidential Scholarship for Distinguished Achievement is a talent-based award requiring a separate application that is due November 15. Similarly, the William Louis Poteat Scholarship awards North Carolinians who are active in the Baptist Church; this scholarship requires a recommendation from a member of the applicant’s church. As well, Wake Forest awards Army ROTC Scholarships to some applicants. There is one family of scholarships that is both need- and merit-based. Early Decision applicants who plan to apply for need-based aid can as well apply separately for the Brown, Fletcher, Heritage, Hankins, Kutteh, Lowden, K.W. Smith, Z.T. Smith, and Woodard scholarships. There are four different ways to apply to Wake Forest, and the admissions committee has no preference as to which you utilize. You can apply through the Common App ; by using the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success Application ; by filling out the school’s online application ; or by sending Wake’s application by mail. As you are filling out your application to Wake, whether it is through the Common App or the university itself, you should know that Wake Forest is â€Å"test optional.†Ã‚   If you choose to fill out Wake Forest’s application through the University’s website, you will come to a page that looks like this. The first section, entitled â€Å"You and Your Family† is largely self explanatory and should not be too stressful to fill out. Likewise, the following section entitled â€Å"Your Accomplishments† mimics the similarly named section of the Common App. You can pretty much lift your extracurricular information from there and put it here. It is important to note that Wake Forest does NOT prefer its applicants submit a resume and has specifically designed this section to fulfill the purpose that your resume would. In light of this, the Activities section on the Wake-specific application is followed by a section entitled â€Å"Work Experience,† which looks like this: If there is any outstanding information on your resume that did not make it into the â€Å"Activities† section of the application, you may include those experiences here. Next, you’ll come to the section entitled â€Å"Your Thoughts.† This functions as the supplemental essay section of Wake’s application. Here is the first question you’ll be expected to answer, along with its attendant instructions: Use the following essay to give the admissions committee insight into your character and intellect. In 2017, Transcending Boundaries will be a defining theme at Wake Forest. What boundaries have played a role in shaping the individual you are today? How will you engage the Wake Forest community to expand your view of the world? † Following this, you’ll come to a series of supplements that are labeled â€Å"In Brief,† with the following directions: The text of these questions are as follows: For an in-depth analysis on how to respond to these questions, follow this link to our Wake-Forest dedicated guide to writing supplemental essays. Interviewing and Visiting: Do They Matter? Wake Forest offers interview to a limited number of students, both on campus and remotely through Skype. Though interviews are not a mandatory element of the application, they are highly encouraged. Thus, you should schedule an interview at your earliest convenience if you are seriously considering Wake Forest as an option for college. Not only does Wake Forest greatly value the opportunity to get to speak to you in person, but they weigh demonstrated interest considerably in the application process. In this vein, Wake encourages its students to visit the campus if possible. If it is possible for you economically and logistically, you should certainly consider visiting the school to see for yourself all that it has to offer. If it is not possible for you, you need not worry. Odds and Ends: Things to Note When Applying Most importantly, note this: Wake Forest used to be test optional, but this is no longer the case . Currently, their website is a bit confusing because it is not fully updated. Do not let this mislead you and wait until the last minute to submit your SAT or ACT scores. As well, note that one teacher recommendation must be submitted with your application. Since the school specifically notes on its teacher recommendation form that only â€Å"one recommendation is sufficient,† we advise you to refrain from submitting more than that unless you have an exceptional case and solid reasons for submitting a second. In general, adcoms value your ability to follow directions and respect their requests first and foremost. Wake Forest offers three different application cycles in which its students may apply: Early Decision, Early Decision II, and Regular Decision. The relevant deadlines for each cycle are below. Application Due: Application Due: November 15, along with the Early Decision Agreement form Application Decisions Released: Notified on a rolling basis only. Applicants will either be accepted, deferred to the Regular Decision applicant pool, or not accepted. Early Decision II: January 1, along with the Early Decision Agreement form Application Decisions Released: Notified by mail only, with letters released sometime around February 15. ED II students are either accepted, offered a spot on the wait list, or not accepted.

Friday, September 27, 2019

EXAMINE THE PROBLEM OF DEFINING DEVELOPMENT Essay

EXAMINE THE PROBLEM OF DEFINING DEVELOPMENT - Essay Example With this, these theories draw influence from various disciplines and approaches to social science. Ideally, the principle behind the establishment of the development theory was the alleviating of poverty in marginalized areas on the globe (Schuurman, 1993: 1). The establishment of the development theory happened in the period after the 1960s when this aspect became one of the most sought after means of disseminating progress theories. Many researchers concluded that the development theory was one of the modernization theories. However, the advancement in defining this concept of modernity brought with it intense problems that led to the failure of the theory making impact. With this, this essay will delve into the failure of defining development as a theory in relation to the third world nations. Development as a teaching subject Arguably, teaching of development as a theory in institutions of learning evolved into a matter of conflict because there was no clear definition on explai ning development theories. Nevertheless, many institutions organized forums with the aim of streamlining the development agenda to make a unified concept in teaching. One of the institutions that organized such an initiative was the Nijmen University in Netherlands, which planned a forum in 1990 that intended to consolidate the various development theories that were in existence. The result of the forum became visible as the consolidation of theories made it possible to re-evaluate the approach to this theory and made the challenges for the future of the theory approachable. Additionally, the development theory also experienced critical challenges as many analysts suggested â€Å"the impasse in the development theory† (Schuurman, 1993: 45). In essence, many developing nations were in the process of utilizing their potential towards achieving economic stability and were becoming socially competent. With this, there was a shift from the initial view on development to a liberali zed and modern view because of the democratization. According to many, the change through democracy was partly the reason as to why many of third world nations experienced progress, that is, because of the inception of favorable conditions that harbored progress potential. On the contrary, the concept of development was not a stand-alone idea in that it had to work with the aid of other theories such as the dependency theory (Schuurman, 1993: 3). Ideally, the dependency theory illustrated the relationship between industrially stable economies and developing economies. This was dominant in many of the developing nations because they were non-independent from the nations that had initialized the process of progress for them. However, many criticized this theory because they viewed its explanation on development as shallow and unable to cover the matter in entirety. Politics as a contributor to the failure of the development theory Ideally, political structures within a nation tend to have a direct influence on the development levels that a nation intends to achieve. In essence, the policy frameworks that exist within a political structure have a correlation with the growth and political stability of a country. The problem also lies in the implementation of policies that may result into failure or success because of the inadequacies

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Corporate Strategy - HSBC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Corporate Strategy - HSBC - Essay Example The economic activities have accelerated in the current century, the economic opportunities have been explored, and wealth proportion has expanded instead of getting more concentrated. The HSBC therefore adopted a policy of variance, aimed at adaptability towards economic progression. The economic expansion and rapid circulation of wealth intensified the activities of the banking sector, and for the procurement of its share, the HSBC broadened the horizon of its banking facilities. The requirements and the expectations of the consumers revolutionized, and for this purpose the banking sector was compelled to adopt and introduce set of revised and modified scheme which primarily focused on lending services, the deposition activities although gained a massive momentum, but the contribution in this regard was mainly from the wealthy people, the lending services were sought by the industries, corporate world and the major portion of society. Initially the banking institute was reluctant to adopt the concept of accountability and transparency, but once the population of the consumers rose, and the banking institute developed linkages with different clients, the bank was forced to ensure that accountability and transparency is practiced in all its form. The economic expansion did not only broaden the horizon for the HSBC, rather the other banking institutes also strengthen and received an equal opportunity for procurement of contracts and opportunities. The HSBC ther efore had to intensify the implementation of its plan in the wake of economic expansion, and rising competition. The HSBC developed an strategy, previously when the economic activities were sluggish, the bank focused on the areas where the community sought financial assistance and safeguard for the deposition of their money and other valuables, lately when the technological revolution improved the qualitative and the quantitative standards of living, the bank adopted an entirely different strategy to overcome the needs of the customers, not by offering to them what they require, but by offering to the customers all which they should inherit in this period of technological development, so that the improved quality standards can be availed by the customers. The bank focused from routine operation to an arena of innovation, where the need was never felt but generated to apprise the customers about the qualitative enhancement of life, through different financial schemes. Financial scheme has been another area where the banking institute adopted subjective approach, and tried to offer variety of financial awards and offers to facilitate the customers in return for nominal interest rate. The institute explored the areas, and converged in those where the public interest was dominant. Previously the banking institute expressed their reluctance towards plans of investment for the incorporation of financial modalities and services, aimed at fostering ties with the customers. With the passage of time, the HSBC adopted and

Self esteem issues that arise for adults who have returned to edcation Essay

Self esteem issues that arise for adults who have returned to edcation - Essay Example Adult education is a serious effort made by government and voluntary agencies to provide a platform for the adults to improve their educational qualifications. It provides them a wide option of educational curricula, designed to utilise their increased knowledge and enhanced skills so that they can better rehabilitate in their social environment and improve their job prospects. Adult education also facilitates and provides a challenging atmosphere for the people who wish to diversify and follow a career in new areas. It therefore becomes all the more important that adults who wish to further their educational qualifications, are made to feel comfortable in an academically challenged atmosphere, without any embarrassment or other such psychological impediments. We would, thus, be taking the role of self esteem of the adults, who wish to pursue education in a changed atmosphere. It is seen that adults who are intending to either resume their education or the one who embark on adult literacy for advancing their careers, are faced with multitude of psychological problems which might hinder with their fair intentions and goals. Issues of self esteem are major impediments for a smooth adult education course because adults who convince themselves for the course are still sensitive to public comments and outlooks which may frown upon or look down on their endeavours as mere whims and wastage of good money on a lost cause. The main aim and objectives of the study are to find ways and means of providing people with incentives so that adults, who have had to leave their education for one or the other reasons, are able to resume their education with fresh zeal and motivation with higher self esteem. It is equally important that due consideration be given to their status as adults who have other priorities, so that they are not forced to compromise with their self esteem and ego, and as such, it is imperative to

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Equations of Motion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Equations of Motion - Essay Example In absence of sliding the motion of rolling is normally called pure rolling (Walker, 2010). This means that for a rolling object the mass centre moves by the translational motion, where as the other parts of the object, rotate around the centre mass. In practical experiments, the small deformations on the area of contact results into sliding. The resistance in rolling is lower than the friction due to sliding, hence rolling objects need minimal energy to be shifted than the sliding objects. In this respect, such objects move in an easier manner, whenever they go through some force due to a component along the surface (Adams, 2008). For example the existence of gravity on a surface that is tilted. Different from symmetrical objects, a cone’s rolling motion, happens in a manner such that during rolling, on a surface that is flat, the centre of gravity goes through a circular motion instead of a linear motion. The objects that roll may not only be axially symmetrical. The princip le of rolling objects has been applied in the bearings of rolling elements like ball bearings in devices that are rotating. These objects are normally made of smooth metal substances, and the elements that roll encased in between the two rotating rings. In many processes, the ring in the inner part is normally linked to the stationery shaft. In this respect, as the inner ring remains stationery the outer ring remains free to allow movements having very minimal friction. This principle has been applied in motors. In many cases, the quantity of friction is depended on the parts mechanisms, ball bearings quality, and the amount of lubricants within the mechanism (Adams. 2008). Additionally, rolling objects are mostly used as transportation tools. One key way is through keeping the object on a number of rollers that are lined-up. The wheel objects are normally moved along a straight line, especially when the wheels are replaced continuously to the front.. For a rolling object, the parti cle velocity is normally given by; Velocity = r x w....................

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

EU Legal Contexts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

EU Legal Contexts - Essay Example The company terminated her services on 19 December 2006, providing her with a notice period up to 31 January 2007, calculating the period of service as 3 years, that is the computation period commencing from the time she was 25 years of age. The company ignored her pleas that she was serving the company for a period of 10 years that is, since December 2006, and thus her notice period should have been four months and not over one month as provided to her in her termination notice. Aggrieved, the petitioner took up this matter with Labour Court on the grounds that the subject clause in German Civil Code (BGB) which denies credit for the period below 25th year of service validity was void and â€Å"Paragraph 622(2) of the BGB is a measure which discriminates on grounds of age, contrary to European Union law, and must be disapplied.†1 Laws: There were two main questions that need to be answered in this case. The first question would be in terms of whether national legislation such as that at issue, under which periods of employment completed by the employee before reaching the age of 25, which was not taken into consideration in calculating notice period for dismissal, constitutes a difference of treatment on grounds of age prohibited by European Union law, with special reference to EC Directive 2000/78/EC. ...The main contention in the reckoning would be â€Å"Thus in the case of two employees each with 20 years’ seniority in service, the one who joined the undertaking at the age of 18 will be entitled to a notice period of five months, whereas the period will be seven months for the one who joined at the age of 25. †¦ the situation of Ms Kucukdeveci shows – may, despite several years’ seniority in service in the undertaking, be excluded from benefiting from the progressive extension of notice periods in the case of dismissal according to the length of the employment relationship, from which older workers of comparable seniority w ill, by contrast, be able to benefit.†

Sunday, September 22, 2019

The importance of speaking and writing in the Field of study dealing Essay

The importance of speaking and writing in the Field of study dealing with Cisco Systems - Essay Example Today Cisco is considered to be the largest computer information systems corporation of the world. It generates revenue of approximately 41 billion USD per annum. Cisco, apart from developing, designing and selling computer technology products, also offers a series of IT professional certifications. Entry, Associate, Professional, Expert and recently Architect are categorized under the levels of certification that the corporation offers. Apart from the levels, there are 8 paths that are also present in the certification program which include service provider, routing and switching, design, network security, service provider operations, storage networking, voice and wireless. These well known and valuable IT professional certification programs held at Cisco certifications are highly beneficial for the professionals, managers and the corporation staff itself. Importance of writing in the field of study dealing with Cisco systems: Writing is one of the most important factors in every fi eld of study. Be it the field of science, medicine, managerial sciences, commerce, law, humanities, in all sorts of field, researches are being done. This is to improve the fields of study and to update the students with the latest and accurate information in their fields and also to correct the wrong research works and theories which were made in the past. This is why writing is very important for every field because only good writing will put down the research work more vividly in front of the world. Without a good writing capability, the research worker will not be able to illustrate his/her research work clearly and will not be able to make others understand what the research work actually is all about. Cisco, being the world’s largest computer and networking corporation, needs to update itself with the new computer techniques and technologies and also to introduce new designs and technologies in the world of computer systems. As we advance into the new era and are living in a very fast moving world, where every technology, every theory, every scientific research and everything is changing its state day by day because of more and more research done on every tiny particle worldwide. Therefore, it is important for Cisco as well to hunt for new and unique technologies in the computer and networking operations. Therefore, a student who is studying IT professional certification dealing with Cisco should also constantly make researches. For writing down a research paper, a student must have good writing abilities and skills, without which a good piece of work cannot be written as the student will not be able to clearly elaborate the research which he has made and will not be able to explain his research work, his points of view and the benefits which he thinks he can provide to the computer and networking systems through his research work. Therefore, researching and writing in the field of study, especially dealing with Cisco systems is very important now adays. Writing in the field of Cisco involves qualitative research work. A qualitative research work includes a good quality of data, documents and evidences to understand the research and rely on it. Qualitative research work dealing with Cisco systems is done with a great variety of methodologies, logics and techniques. In Cisco systems, the

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Rhetorical Analysis compare Essay Example for Free

Rhetorical Analysis compare Essay This is a rhetorical essay comparing, Looking At Women, written by Scott Russell Sanders; and What Is A Homosexual?, Written by Andrew Sullivan. These two essays describe in detail how children are growing up and knowing at an early age that they are either heterosexual or homosexual. When comparing these two essays both boys are going through puberty, watching their body change and develop. Mr. Sanders essay is about boys learning when they are attracted to girls, usually its around the time they are going through puberty; while Mr. Sullivan essay is about when boys learn that they are attracted to boys. This also was when the boy went through puberty. Looking At Women is about when a boy realizes his body and mind are changing towards girls, and realizes his attraction toward girls. When you can look at a girl, and realize it is the opposite sex. Mr. Sanders talks about how should the male figure look at the female when they display their body with little to no clothing. He goes on to explain that its natural for us to look at the opposite sex. We as humans are curious in the opposite sex, so our eyes naturally wander and look. Upon reading these essays I realized we all go through puberty and that is basically when we find ourselves. Our wants and desires for either the same or the opposite sex. Having said that, what if you were not attracted to the opposite sex, but were attracted to the same sex. What Is A Homosexual is a persuasive essay about gay adolescents realizing they are attracted to the same sex at an early age. Mr. Sullivan realizes his attraction to the same sex after he went through puberty as the boy in Mr. Sanders essay noticing his attractions to girls. Both boys have to control their desires to look at either the opposite sex or the same sex. I realized that both boys are going through similar situations under different circumstances. While the  homosexual cant not be caught looking at another male while dressing in the locker room. But, the heterosexual can look at the opposite sex and want be picked on. In todays society the clothes for girls has changed sense I was a preteen and going through puberty. The preteens now wear little clothing as possible to show off their developing figure into a woman. This will attract the eyes of the young male thats also going through puberty, and doesnt want to be caught staring at the developing young female. This is also similar to the young boy that is having homosexual thoughts in the locker room. He has to control his action of staring at his same sex friend that has change over the summer from puberty. Both the boys are going through similar situations, one is with the same sex while the other is the opposite sex, finding sexual attraction and the urge to look and their desires for the other person. While Looking At Women and What Is A Homosexual seem very different, they are quite similar. The boys are going through the same body changes and realizing the attraction to either girls or guys. The boys are sorting out their desires on how to look at the other person weather its the opposite sex or the same. Interesting enough the boys learn to control their wandering eyes, and when its appropriate to look at either gender.

Friday, September 20, 2019

World War II Late Attempts to Save the Jewish

World War II Late Attempts to Save the Jewish Anh Nguyen The Holocaust is a horrified event in world history. It killed over six million and left permanent scars on the Jewish population. During 1941, America engaged in the World War II. Essentially, all the resources must have been prioritized to win the war. Rescuing the Jews from the Nazis administration was not the first item on the list. Not until 1942, when the Americans fully had information about the mass killing of the Jews, there were two millions Jews killed by that time. The numbers kept on going until it reached to six millions people. It was an unimaginable scale of deaths. Americas government indifference and the media did not have an immediate actions towards the holocaust. The United States was a bystander during Germanys reign and the Holocaust because the State Department wanted to suppress the news about the Holocaust as well as the media which conflicted with the Treasury Department. The two important men that had a huge effect on the genocide were Adolf Hitler and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hitler was the mastermind behind the holocaust and he believed that the Jews were responsible for the spread of communism which was operating in Moscow. Based on this conspiracy, he and his most dedicated followers tried to destroy and murder every single person of Jewish ancestry. Hitler also believed in Darwinism which is a theory that races of humanity are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection as plants and animals Survival of the fittest economy. In this case, the Jews were threats and Hitler had all the rights to destroy them. At first, Hitler and his followers wanted to abuse German Jews so that they would emigrate to other countries. However, after Hitler successfully invaded Poland in 1939, instead of continuing to abuse the Jews, the new policy was to put the Jews to reservations and mass killing them all. The mass murder of the Jews first ha ppened in the fall of 1941 (McMillan, 6). Holocaust is a word originated from Greek meaning sacrifice by fire. Not only the Jews were the targeted group, some other groups were also the victims of the Holocaust. For instance, the Gypsies, the disabled, homosexuals, Slavic peoples, and other groups that were persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds were also in the systematic murder under Hitlers rules (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Words could not describe the crimes that Hitler had put on those people. Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt was remembered for rescuing the Jews by establishing the War Refugee Board. However, on January 22, 1944 when Roosevelt issued the Executive Order 9417 to establish the War Refugee Board, he did not have the intention to rescue the Jews and open the door to welcome the refugees to the United States. It was not an easy decision for him whether to act about that or not. At that time, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the pressure of the economic depression and the problems of millions of unemployed people (Morse, 202). Moreover, the Neutrality Law was passed during Roosevelts presidency by the United States Congress in 1935 and he did not veto the law. The law was passed to limit U.S involvement in future war. Roosevelts first interest in rescue began when he invited the thirty-two nations to meet Evian, France, to discuss about the refugee situation. However, he had no intention to change the immigration regulations and so others countries. Bef ore the establishment of the War Refugee Board, Roosevelt did not have a policy or take in any refugees. It was also a hard move for President Roosevelt to take in the refugees. President Herbert Hoover passed the quota laws after the Great Depression in 1929. This quota laws made it extremely difficult for people who were trying to obtain immigration visas. The American people did not need to give shelters for the immigrants who could not support themselves. They needed to have the financial resources to prove that they can support themselves in the United States. In addition, after the World War II began in 1939, the country was put in a different stage. The refugees needed to be screened on national security grounds which made the immigration process even harder. Moreover, the United States entered the war in December 1941, most of the American consulates had closed in most of Europe which made it nearly impossible for the refugees to escape the continent. (United States Holocaus t Memorial Museum). The War Refugee Board was established on January 22, 1944 by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The board was headed by John Pehle. The board came to work immediately. Their mission was to aid the victims of Nazism while pressing the Allies and neutral nations including Turkey, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, and Sweden to take diplomatic action and create free ports to take in refugees. These free ports would only take in refugees temporarily and give them shelters until they could be sent back to their original countries. This idea of free ports came up by Samuel Grafton, a popular columnist of the New York Post. In addition, the War Refugee Board pressured against the Axis satellites. They reminded them that if they kept mistreating the Jews, the mistreatments would not go away and it would have terrible consequences. However, this action was not approved by the State department. They thought that these undiplomatic messages were placing the neutrals in an uncomfortable position. On the contrar y, these warnings did have a positive effect to rescue the Jews. For instance, the Rumanian officials feared the threats and agreed to evacuate the Transnistrian concentration camps (Morse, 317). This effort mostly succeed by the help of Ira Hirschmann an ambassador in Ankara who was determined to rescue the Jews after his visit to Evian. Hirschman persuaded the Rumanian government to issue transit visas so that thousands of Jews can go the sanctuary in Palestine. Also, he requested the Rumanian government to empty the Transnistrian camps which had only 48,000 survivals out of 185,000 Jews. Even when the United States was late in rescuing the Jews, the efforts were still counted. For instance, the War Refugee Board expedited the transmission of funds to Switzerland to pay for the Red Cross relief supplies and other rescue operation (Morse, 330). Sadly, the victory came rather late. More than 4,000,000 Jews were already in ashes (Feingold, 85) The conflict between the State department and the Treasury department made it hard for the Americans to rescue the Jews. It all started when Gerhart Riegner the representative in Switzerland of the World Jewish Congress tried to send a message to Rabbi Wise who was the president of the World Jewish Congress to know about the plan of physically annihilate the Jews of Europe in August, 1942. However, Riegner message did not go to Rabbi Wise immediately. It was suppressed by the State Departments Division of European Affairs with general agreement that the facts had not yet been verified. The message did not reach Rabbi Wise until August 28 through the London branch of the World Jewish Congress. In the final months of 1942, the stories about the mass murder of the Jews in Europe shocked the Jewish community. There was an opportunity for the Jews in Rumania to survive. Riegner also attempted to forward the information to the America about rescuing the Rumanian Jews when their governmen t was willing to co-operate to transfer seventy thousand Jews to any refuge selected by the Allies but his message ended up in the State Departments telegram number 354 of February 10, 1943 (Morse, 73). His second part of the message was asking the money to rescue the children in French concentration camps and the United States government must give the license to transmit the funds. However, the State Department did not believe Riegner message and they procrastinated to give Riegner the answer. Until December 23, 1943, the State Department issued the license to Riegner to rescue the Jews in Rumania and France (Morse, 86). The wait time to authorize Riegner the license was eight months in total. Moreover, on March 2, 1944, the War Refugee Board prepared a message to send to the Red Cross. However, this message was shot down by the State Departmentdue to the regulations of U.S British blockade of Europe. The message from the Board was sent on March 23 and not until April 29 the message was delivered (Morse, 326). The International Committee of the Red Cross had remained silent in the face of Nazi murder. The Board tried to reach out to the Red Cross from time to time and request them to take action and obtain humanitarian treatment for the helpless Jews in German. However, it never went through. The representatives from the Red Cross said they had no legal rights to force German to improve the treatment of the Jews. Their only concern were the prisoners of war and civilians. The War Refugee Board wanted the Red Cross to urge the German and its satellites to treat Jews on a status equal to the prisoners. If they turned this down, the Red Cross should demand the right to ship and distribute food packages to inmates of the German camps. With constant pressuring the Red Cross from the War Refugee Board and the help of Prince Johannes Schwarzenberg who was an anti Nazi aristocrat, they found a way to provide food for the Jews in the camps. In addition, the racial conflicts in the government was one of the motive that suppressed the rescuing of the Jews within the State Department. Breckinridge Long the chief architect of the State Department held a grudge against the Jews. As he saw the fight against the refugees as a battle against Jewish Communist agitators who were trying to ruin his political career. One of his tactics to downplay the rescue projects was to call the Jews political refugees even though the problem was only about the Jews in Europe. Also, the racial discrimination was proven by a conversation that was heard by a friend of Josiah Dubois a Treasury Department official. That Jew Morgenthau and his Jewish assistants like Dubois are trying to take over this place (Morse, 324). Even when Mrs. Ruth Shipley who headed the Passport Division asked if all the employers in the Board were American. John Pehle was surprised by the question and asked why would Mrs. Ruth Shipley asked that. Mrs. Shipley simply sa id: Well, Ive never read cables like those your people send. They just arent worded like our cables (Morse, 324) The racial discrimination was deep-rooted in the State Department. It was one of the barriers to help the helpless Jews out of Nazis rules. The media, specifically the New York Times failed to cover the fate of the Jews from 1938 to 1945. It passed many chances to inform the public about the unimaginable scale of murder of the Jews in Europe under Hitlers command. The genocide happened in the same time with the war in Europe on September 1, 1939 to nearly six years later 1945, the New York Times and other media suppressed the stories and treated the mass murder as a secondary story. According to Leff, the media did publish some of the stories about what was happening to the Jews, an average of 17 stories in a month in the Times. However, throughout the years in war, the destruction of the Jews only made the Times front page just 26 times. In those 26 times, only six stories portrayed the Jews as the victims of the mass murder. The stories are never appear back to back and the paper rarely highlighted the problems in the News of the Week or the magazine section. For instance, the Times first story on the mass slaughter was on page five of the paper. On that same paper, the story of the deaths of some civilians appeared on the front page. Some may say that the New York Times did not have enough information to write stories or the good sources. Conversely, the Times had a good idea of what was happening to Europes Jews. Even after the Allied governments confirmed the truth of the Holocaust in December, 1942, the paper did not change its coverage. There are three main explanations to this matter. The first one was the overwhelming demands of covering a world war. The World War II involved two groups of countries which were the Axis Powers and the Allies. There were total twelve countries that were involved in the war. Comparing that to the small minority group such as the Jews in Europe might make it hard to recognize the suffering they had to endure at that time. The second reason explained why some journalist found it hard to believe the authenticity of the sources. In World War I, there were a lot of fake stories about the death factories and mass gassings which was too horrific to be believed. When World War II happ ened after two decades, the journalists became more experienced and skeptical. Moreover, some of the journalists did not believe the information simply because it was too horrible. The last reason for the lack of coverage for the horrified large scale murder was the United States government. The press mainly based their news on what the government did or said and since the government did little action on the matter of rescuing the Jews, it was considered not important. In addition, the papers were afraid it would bring too much attention to the public that the America was trying to win the war to rescue the Jews. These three reasons help explain why the press downplayed the news of the Holocaust. However, during all those times, not all the front page covers were about the war. The New York Times printed twelve to fifteen front -page stories every day and only half of these were about the war. Moreover, the comparison between the numbers of deaths between the victims of the war and the extermination of the Jews were not fair. As Leff stated in her book, the murder of the Jews was not just collateral damage. It is safe to conclude that the Jews alone were singled out for complete eradication in a systematic and purposeful program (Leff, 6). As stated in the website uhsmm.org, very few reports about the Holocaust included photographs. Only after May 1945, the final days of the war and the victory of the Allied, there were more visual evidence of Nazi atrocities in American newspapers and magazines (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). In conclusion, many choices were made during the crisis which did not base on human concerns. The conflicts within the Americas government, between the State Department and the Treasury Department delayed the rescue missions. The War Refugee Board went over and beyond to help the victims running from the death camps. However, since it was established in 1944, it rescued thousands of Jews but it was too late to rescue millions (Feingold, 262). Moreover, the New York Times and other mass media at the time did not efficiently inform the Americans about the Holocaust. Most of the Americans did not know about the Holocaust as it was happening. Additionally, the media treated the mass murder of millions of Jews as secondary news. According to Leff, the New York Times was unique in the information and other American press too cues from the Times. If the mass media was able to bring the facts and the stories about the extermination of the Jews to the public, many more Jews would have been sa ved and survived from the Nazis rule (Leff, 358). Works Cited Page Dwork, Deborah, and R J. Pelt. Holocaust: A History. New York: Norton, 2002. Print. Feingold, Henry L. Bearing Witness: How America and Its Jews Responded to the Holocaust. Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 1995. Print. Leff, Laurel. Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and Americas Most Important Newspaper. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print. McMillan, Dan. How Could This Happen: Explaining the Holocaust. , 2014. Print. Morse, Arthur D. While Six Million Died; a Chronicle of American Apathy. New York, Random House [1968], 1968. EBSCOhost, 0-search.ebscohost.com.lasiii.losrios.edu/login.aspx?direct=truedb=cat01047aAN=lrois.b1019655site=eds-livescope=site. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The United States and the Holocaust. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.