Which Foreign Language Should You Take in High School

Which Foreign Language Should You Take in High School SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Part of being a high school student is making a lot of decisions about which classes to take. While your foreign language courses may not be as critical to colleges as, say, which math classes you took,they are still something colleges look at and use to determine if you'd be a good fit for their school. Also, if you play your cards right, the language you choose to study in high school could have a big impact on your future. I chose to study French and with my language skills I have been able to participate in an exchange with French high school students, get a job improving African schools, and spend a year in France teaching English. I'll go over what colleges look for in foreign language study as well as the steps you need to follow in order to choose the best language for you. Do Colleges Care Which Foreign Language You Take? Nope!College admissions officers do not view certain languages as harder or more impressive than othersbecause all foreign languages require time and dedication to learn and all provide benefits.This is great news because it means you can choose which language to study based on your interests! The only exception to this would be if you chose to study a language you already learned while growing up. Some colleges ask for your native language(s) in their applications and seeing you take classes for a language you already know won't impress them. So What Do Colleges Look for in Your Foreign Language Courses? Colleges look fordepthof foreign language study, not breadth, so they want to see that you'vestudied one language for several years. Studying one language for three or four years is much more difficult than taking introductory classes inseveral different languages, and it also shows that you have the ability to build off previous knowledge and stick with a subject. Many colleges require applicants to have completedtwo or three years of foreign language study, and most top schools highly recommend or require four years. The average high school student completes two years of foreign language study, but even if that is all that is required by the colleges you are interested in,studying a foreign language longer is always betterand will make your application stronger. Most students in the US begin their foreign language study at least by middle school, so if you took Mandarin in 8th grade and want to switch to Spanish next year, high schools usually allow that, and it won't negatively impact your college applications as long as you stick with the new language throughout high school. The best things you can do to make your foreign language study a strength on your college applications are tostick to one language, take a course in that language each year, and get good grades in those courses. Choose one foreign language and stick with it throughout high school. Image via Valencia College. How to Choose the Best Foreign Language toStudy Choosing a subject to study for four years while getting good grades requires a lot of time and dedication. Studying a foreign language is different from other subjects because people get frustrated and want to stop not because the material is too difficult (after all toddlers in other countries are learning it), but because learning another language can often feel boring, tedious, and never-ending. There will come a time (probably many, many times) while studying a foreign language when you become frustrated and want to quit. Simply knowing yet another verb tense or vocabulary word will not always be enough to keep you motivated.You'll need a bigger reason to keep wanting to learn. Here are two ways to stay motivated: 1. Choose a Language That Relates to Your Career Goals When I was in high school, I made the decision to study French because I wanted to do international development work in Africa. Since France used to rule several African countries, millions of Africans speak French, and I knew that if I could speak French too, that might help me get a job. For some career fields,knowing a certain language can make you more employable or better at your job, and reminding yourself that your language skills could help with your future job search can provide an incentive to keep learning a foreign language. Ask Yourself: What Type of Career Do I Want? This doesn't have to be a specific job; a broad career field is fine. Are you interested in business? Do you think you might want to study medicine? Below are five of the most popular foreign languages high school students study and some of the fields those languages are most used in. See if any of them match the type of job you'd like to have. Having a future career in mind can help you choose which language to study Spanish By far the most common foreign language to study in the US 405 million native speakers, mostly in Spain, North America, and South America 2nd most common language spoken in the US Because Spanish is spoken so widely in the United States, it is useful for many professions. It's particularly valuable for students planning to work in medicine or social work (so they can assist people who cannot speak English but may need immediate help), people interested in doing service work in Central or South America, and those considering customer service jobs. High school Spanish is a solid choice that many students take - you generally can't go wrong with this. French 74 million native speakers, mostly in Western Europe and Western and Central Africa Official language of the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee, and NATO Because many international organizations use French, it is most valuable for students planning careers in diplomacy or international relations, as well as those who would like to work in or with Africa. Also, because Africa's economy has the potential to boom in the near future, French can be useful for business students looking to capitalize on the continent's growth. Mandarin Chinese Rapidly growing in popularity as a foreign language to study 955 million native speakers, mostly in China Spoken by 1/5 of the world's population With China continuing its huge economic growth, many US businesses have operations in the countryand are working with Chinese corporations, making Mandarin useful for students planning to study business. Unlike the other languages in this list, Chinese is not written with the Roman alphabet, so it's an interesting challenge to learn as an English speaker. German 89 million native speakers, mostly in Western Europe 2nd most common language in science and technology fields 3rd most common language to publish books in Germany has one of the world's largest economies, and the country is also a leader in scientific and technological innovations. Learning German would be most valuable for those planning to study banking, science, engineering, and publishing. If you're interested in science, German may be a good language to consider studying Latin "Dead language", no cultures use it as a native language anymore The Romance languages (including French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian) descended from Latin and currently include 800 million native speakers While there are no longer any native speakers of Latin, this language is still useful for those interested in careers in linguistics or students planning to learn multiple languages. Many words in the Romance languages come from Latin roots, and once you have mastered Latin, learning the Romance languages becomes a much quicker process. Remember, these are just suggestions. It's perfectly ok to take Mandarin even if you want to be a doctor or Latin if you plan on a career in business.It's sticking with the language and getting closer to fluency that's most important. So what's the best way to make sure you keep studying the language? 2.Choose a Language That Is Interesting to You Remember when I mentioned being frustrated and bored while studying a foreign language? Having a genuine interest in the language will give you motivation to keep studying it, maybe even years after you graduate high school. How do you know which language you'll find most interesting? Ask yourself the following questions: Do Any of My Hobbies Relate to a Foreign Language? This is an important consideration. Connecting a hobby to your foreign language study can make you enjoy that hobby more and motivate you to continue learning the language. Make a list of your hobbies and see if any of them tie-in to a specific language. There are a lot of possibilities, so think creatively. Are you into fashion? Italy and France are widely seen as the world's fashion capitals. Do you enjoy reading? Perhaps you could learn a language that will allow you to read classic works of literature in their original language. Do you have a favorite type of food? Cooking traditional recipes from a country can make learning its language more interesting. Or maybe you're really into anime or Asian dramas? If your school teaches a language like Japanese or Korean, you could one day enjoy those shows without subtitles. Where Do I Want to Travel? Do you dream of eating croissants in Paris or walking along Venice's canals? Thinking about a dream vacation to a country where the language you are learning is spoken can give you an extra boost of motivation. Grab a globe or a map of the world, pick out your top travel destinations, and see if your school teaches any of the languages spoken in those places. Your travel goals can help you decide which language to study Which Languages Sound the Best to Me? This may seem like a minor consideration, but most languages sound very different from one another, and since you'll be hearing it a lot as you practice, you want to make sure you choose a language you enjoy listening to. Search for videos on YouTube or listen to foreign radio or tv stations to hear different languages and get an idea of which ones you enjoy listening to. Do I Know Anyone Who Speaks These Languages? Perhaps you have grandparents who speak Japanese or a neighbor who speaks Spanish. Communicating with friends and family members in their native tongue can help strengthen your relationship with them along with giving you lots of speaking practice. How Similar Do I Want This Language to Be to English? Some languages, such as Mandarin and Arabic, can be more difficult and time-consuming to learn in the beginning because the way they look and sound is so different from English. Ask yourself if you'd prefer to try something completely new or if you would feel more comfortable sticking to a language closer to English such as Spanish, French, or German. You can do an internet search for "beginner lessons in [your language of interest]" to find free introductory lessons for any language and get a feel for what learning it would be like. Do I Want a Lot of Opportunities to Speak This Language? Is being able to easily practice your speaking skills outside the classroom important to you? If you’d like to have a lot of other speakers nearby, choose a more popular language like Spanish where many libraries, hospitals, etc. appreciate bilingual volunteers. If not, you can be open to less commonly used languages, such as Latin. The bottom line is that the way to stay interested in a language so that you study it for multiple years and get high grades like colleges want to see is to remember the big picture. Learning a new language is more than conjugating verbs and memorizing the gender of nouns. Knowing another language can introduce you to people and parts of the world you wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. Keep that in mind when deciding on a language and choose one whichwill hold your interest outside the classroom and encourage you to push your boundaries. What's Next? Thinking about whichother classes to take in high school? Take a look at our guides to choosing which math and science classes to take and start planning your schedule. Trying to decide whether to take the ACT or the SAT? Read our guide to figure out which test you'll score higher on! Are you considering summer academic programs for middle school and high school students? Learn about the SIG, CTY, and Stanford EPGY programs to see if one of them might be right for you. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Shaping the foundation of racial independence through social Assignment

Shaping the foundation of racial independence through social revolution - Assignment Example This essay discusses that for hundreds of years, blacks and other minority races were considered as little more than speaking animals to the elite aristocracy, unable to be in the ranks of polite or civilized society, not allowed to seek education, and certainly not allowed to hold important or political offices. The racial inequality in this standardized caste system is such that it hinders social evolution as a whole by accepting as custom that people of a different skin color hold less value than those of white descent. With that said, a close look will be taken into the social revolution that sparked racial equality during the War of Independence between 1808 and 1824 in Spanish America to illustrate the role of minorities and the significant power they attained by refusing to further be defined by the color of their skin. There are at least three leading arguments proposed by George Reid Andrew, John Lynch, and Marixa Lasso that expound upon how the minority races took strides i n shaping the revolutionary efforts for racial equality by abolishing the caste system as well as illustrating how the elite reacted to the activism and consequent construction of the newly defined nation-states. To begin with, George Reid Andrew’s Afro-Latin America entitled â€Å"Our New Citizens, the Blacks: The Politics of Freedom, 1810-1890,† notes that â€Å"at the same time that the slaves were using the openings created by the independence wars to pursue freedom and emancipation, free blacks and mulattoes were capitalizing on wartime conditions to strike down the colonial racial laws.† 1.† Andrew makes an important distinction in his discourse of the minority groups as he defines the separation also felt by the slaves and the free blacks and mulattoes in that even in a minority situation where camaraderie would have ensured political success, still the priorities differed. Even though they shared an ethnicity and were similarly oppressed within the caste system, still they fought the same battle separately. Luckily, this dissention didn’t hinder the social revolution because as â€Å"nineteenth-century jurist Peridigao Malheiro described slavery [was] ‘a volcano†¦a bomb ready to explode with the first spark,’ and slave rebellion was most likely, he noted, during periods when the free population was divided by internal disputes and conflict2.† In this, the minorities held power they might not even have known to exist because the caste system was ready for collapse; it was only a matter of time. Essentially, the caste system in Spanish America was one dictated from birth and based purely upon the color of one’s skin. This meant that no one could ever move above their caste (unless they were a woman and lucky enough to marry a man of lighter skin tone), and that those in the elite levels held ultimate control over society because they were granted certain inalienable assets and power. In pe rhaps the most poignant definition of the inherent impact the caste system held over those in the lower castes, Andrew cites a satirical poem from a newspaper in Rio de Janeiro â€Å"about a planter’s efforts to hire newly freed libertos to work on his plantation3.† In the poem, â€Å"the writer leaves no doubt of the damage done to these former slaves by slavery: the liberto’s crippled condition, his shortness of breath4,† and finally, his refusal to be defined by the color of his skin when being directly referred to as ‘black.’ In comparison, in an excerpt from John Lynch’s The Spanish American Revolutions 1808-1826 entitled â€Å"Revolution in the Rio de la Plata,† Lynch highlights that, pressed by economic expansion and cracks within the current aristocratic mores, revolutionaries made decisive militant advances and found leadership under Pedro Domingo Murillo and Jose Antonio Medina. The minorities created an official annou ncement that â€Å"now [was] the time to organize a new system of government, founded upon the interests of our country which is

Community needs analysis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Community needs analysis - Coursework Example The needs analysis links the terminal and instrumental values with the community needs, through effective project work and collaboration with the local charity. Family security, health and exciting life are instrumental for individuals with learning disabilities. The project team and charity will collaborate to identify the number of individuals with disabilities who have poor health, exciting life and family support. These individuals will then be supported to enhance comfort, and effective information sharing. Individuals with learning disabilities must also possess significant values such as ambition, responsibility and intelligence. The number of individuals who desire to be part of the project will be identified. The identification will be done through baseline surveys that involve local authorities, religious leaders, and opinion leaders (Bekas 196). Individuals experiencing learning disabilities must be stimulated intellectually. This is through enhancing the information sharing processes within the community (Wright, Foran & Wood 139). They should also demonstrate responsibility through being punctual for learning program, and also illustrates ambition by a great desire overcoming disability challenges (Sanchez 343). The main purpose of the needs assessment is to determine the number of disabled individuals willing to participate in the project, their disability level and category, and also the resource level required for successful operation of the project. The research team will partner with the local charity to collect and analyze data on the learners with disabilities, and in the implementation of the project. 100 participants will be identified for the study, through sampling approach. The study will be conducted through the qualitative research approach. The methods of data collection to be applied are interview, questionnaire and data mining. The data collected will be used to determine the community needs. Data mining

Comparison On Higher Education Between China And America Education Essay

Comparison On Higher Education Between China And America Education Essay The paper is set out to compare the difference of higher education between China and America from educational ideology. The author points out that the main differences of higher education between China and America from educational ideology are displayed in entrance selection system, teaching method, concept of private and public university, curriculums, evaluation criteria to students, and education on students personal characteristics and morality. In conclusion, the paper holds that both China and America have to adopt different reform measures to advance the quality of respective higher education. Moreover, the integration of these two different higher educations is also very necessary, especially for the perfection and improvement of higher education of China. Keywords: Higher Education, Difference, China, America 1 Introduction China, as one of the Brick Countries, has shocked the whole world by its rapid development in recent decades. America, as NO.1 super power since the end of the Cold War, has remained its hegemony in the world in terms of many aspects, including national politics, economy, science, technology, culture, higher education, etc. Since higher education is the symbol of national strength of one country and a vital way of cultivating its talents for the future, we Chinese ought to compare our higher education system with Americas from educational ideology and then take advantage of Americas strong points and close the gap. Higher education is the important source of power of social development on the ground that it cultivates talents and provides human resources for the social development. Therefore, only through continual improvement of higher education can China finally achieve the great rejuvenation of China. 2 Comparison of Higher Education Between China and America The difference of higher education between China and America can originate from their different historic and cultural background. 2.1 Background of Higher Education 2.1.1 Historic Background The Chinese higher education of the ancient times is mainly based on Legalist and Confucian ideals. As a matter of fact, Confucius played an important role and has shaped the overall Chinese mindset for the past 2500 years. The mode of Chinese ancient higher education was The Unity of Higher Education and Politics-which reflects the combination of government and educational structure. From Han Dynasty, China carried out the rejecting the other schools of thought and respecting only Confucianism. Since ancient Chinese Empire regarded higher education as the foundation of empowering a country, Chinese held imperial examinations to select the talents regularly. In fact ¼Ã…’Imperial examination in Qing Dynasty has formed the integral and tightening system. The Burning of Opium Stocks in Humen in 1839 marked the eruption of The First Opium War and the opening of Chinese modern tines, which, however, ended with the failure of the Qing government and then made Chinese intellectuals disc over the numerous western advances in science and technology. This new information influenced the higher education system and curriculum a lot. It is widely accepted that the first modern Chinese university was established in 1895, right after the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), which shifted the dominant influence in Asia from China to Japan. Beiyang University (now Tianjin University) was established in the city of the same name in 1895, followed by Qiushi Academy (currently Zhejiang University) in 1897, and Jingshi University (now Beijing University) in 1898. By the time the Peoples Republic of China was founded, there were 227 higher institutions in China. The Chinese higher education of contemporary times has gone through enormous changes. From 1967 to 1976, Chinas Cultural Revolution took another toll on Chinese higher education, which was devastated more than any other sector of the country. The enrollment of postsecondary students can be used as example to illustrate the impacts. The number dropped from 674,400 to 47,800. The decline in educational quality was profound. In 1977, Deng Xiaoping made the decision of resuming the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (Gao Kao), having profound impact on Chinese higher education in history. From the 1980s on, Chinese higher education has undergone a series of reforms that have slowly brought improvement. The historic background of American higher education, however, is quiet diverse from that of China on account of its much shorter history (only 236 years). Puritanism was a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England in the late sixteenth century. In the early 17th century, thousands of English Puritans settled in North America, mainly in New England. Puritans value the higher education very much. Thus, American higher education at that time was certainly the matrix of Puritan thinking. In 1636, Harvard was founded as the first university by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. The Ivy League is an athletic conference composed of sports teams from eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States ,which includes Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. The Ivy League, ranks among the top universities in both USA and worldwide, is well known as the symbol of American higher education. American higher education has gone through a great expansion and democratization over the past several decades. In 1900, only four percent of high school graduates attended college. Nowadays, 75 percent of high school graduates will continue their educations in colleges. American higher education opened to women in 1836.Some of the men school handled a subsidiary of the Womens College, such as Barnard College of Columbia University (1889) and Radcliffe College of Harvard University (1894). The girls gradually entered Medical and Legal vocational schools. In 1969, the Supreme Court mandatorily canceled the black-and-white segregated schools. Congress allocated large sums of money to reward the schools of enrolling both the black and white, trying to change the racial discrimination in education in the past three hundred years. According to statistics, in 1976, the black youths of school age in colleges and universities accounted for about 20% and white youths accounted for about 25%. 2.1.2 Social Background and Culture Tradition There are three important factors which exert intense influence on American higher education: Individualism, pragmatism, creative humanities. American higher education system emphasizes the actual effect and encourages their university students to expose themselves to social practice, which accounts for the equal social position of white collars and blue collars in America. The American university has set the progress of economy, the research of science and improvement of life standard together as three targets of higher education. American universities only set up the curriculums and majors meeting the needs of society. Moreover, students influenced by American higher education boast full creative humanities spirit. For example, the rise of Information Technology marked by some famous corporations in silicon valley such as Microsoft, Facebook , Apple are prominent evidences of the good result of American higher education of creative humanities spirit because all of those entrepreneu rs went to American universities, receive the higher education and then establish the corporation by their extreme creativities. With all these factors contemplated, the American higher education, to some degree, has caused Americas fast development, high technology and economic level. Chinese Higher education, however, is more collectivism, formalism and Copinism compared with that of USA. American higher education seeks diversity and individuation while Chinese ones chase unity. Therefore, Chinese students intend to interpret cases according to standard answers while American ones adopt critical thinking. In China, the reputation of ones Alma Mater can cast a great influence on the social position, occupation, even marriage because the brand of university is closely bound to Chinese typical faceproblem, which easily explain the different social position of white collars and blue collars. Chinese higher education also emphasizes the reform and improvement of higher education to meet the needs of social, economic and scientific development, but it changes so little and blindly copies too much from Americas instead of forming a perfect system suitable for Chinese current condition. 2.2 Differences of Higher Education 2.2.1 Different Entrance Selection System America has no uniform examinations for enrolling students.The five major parts of admission are ACT/SAT scores, GPA, College Application, Essay, and Letters of Recommendation. Not all colleges require essays or letters of recommendation, though they are often proven to increase chances of acceptance. American students can choose their major according to their own hobbies and the plans of development; they may also continuously finish all curriculums in universities or choose to have some gap years outside the campus till they want to come back to school and precede their higher education. To be different from the entrance selection standard of China, America has more flexible and objective one. However, the competition of The Ivy League is very fierce which demands more to students and it is quite difficult to attain the degree of a good university. On the contrary, China has a uniform system of selecting students for higher institutions by National Higher Education Entrance Examination (Gao Kao),once described asà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ a powerful army single-plank bridgeà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾.However, once one step into the gate of a university, it is easy to be accessible to the degree. Being different from the individualism of American students, Chinese students tend to be more of collectivism-which means they would choose their major by the standard of common value of Chinese society in stead of their interest. Thats why some prevailing majors such as economics, finances, management require much higher score than other majors. 2.2.2 Different Teaching Method In US, teachers duty is not what they have taught the students, but to help them construct knowledge. The teaching process takes the students independent thoughts and encourages them to propose something new and different. In the teaching method, emphasizing indefinite teaching methods, teachers encourage the students to participate in the teaching process, and even encourage them to challenge the academic authority. In this kind of free and loose environment, students can be more positive on studies and initiative concretion, applying theory to the practice easily. But in China, many teachers still adopt force-feed type teaching method. They teach with sweat streaming, while the students hear drowsily. This kind of teaching method, not only has violated the original intention of teaching and studying, but leads students comprehensive quality and the lifelong study skills to sell at a discount greatly. Teachers sing the one-man show in the teaching process phenomenon, while in the Am erican university this phenomenon is extremely rare. Whether students can make great progress or not, the teaching method plays an important role. 2.2.3 Different Curriculums In the United States, liberal arts colleges are schools emphasizing undergraduate study in the liberal arts. After four years of full-time study in general, students earned either a Bachelor of Arts degree or a Bachelor of Science degree. Liberal Education is an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g. science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest. A liberal education aims to make students build up social responsibility, strong and transferable intellectual practical skills. Students could also grasp communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in working. American Universitys courses are made up of general education courses, professional foundation courses and elective courses. General education courses take up about 35% -50% and elective courses almost 1/3 among the whole courses, which aims to strengthen general education and endeavor to cultivate the comprehensive knowledge and skills to solve practical problems. Nevertheless, Chinas higher education, due to the limitation of economic and scientific level, focuses on implementing so-called the professional educationin other words, the employment education. It aims to affect ones value as a tool. Though the structure of course is close, the content and quality are far behind. General education courses or, we say public courses, including Politics, ideological and Moral class, Military Theory and P.E in Chinese university, are compulsory to whole students with a unified standard, accounting for about 18-24 credits; the applied foundation courses are mainly in English, Computers, Advanced Mathematics, and Chinese, accounting for about 20-26 credits. It is obvious implied that the proportion of general education courses is too low, the novelty is not enough and the system is so messy. Selective courses are neglected or regarded as something unimportant in China, whereas they are necessary and essential in American universities as an approach to getting exposure with other knowledge of other fields or majors. For want of basic attainment and general knowledge, Chinese graduates tend to become workers but not creators. China is globally well known as World Factory because Chinese higher education focuses the cultivation of labor skills. If China wants to trans fer from World Factory to world Designer, there will be a long way to go for the reforms and improvement of curriculums. 2.2.4 Different Concept of Public and Private University America boasts more than 1500 public universities and the number of private ones is up to 1600. Chinese public higher institutions take up 87 ¹Ã‚ ª, whereas the private ones is as low as 13 ¹Ã‚ ª. In USA, the most prestigious schools are almost private ones such as Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of Chicago, Duke University and Stanford University. China underestimates the position of private universities because the enrollment mark is comparatively low. However, for want of high qualified private universities, China confronts intense obstacles in the path of the strategy of strengthening the country by education on the ground that private universities possess the flexible management, sufficient funds, free academic surroundings and excellent faculties which are exactly the shortage of public universities. The income of America private universities is mainly form four channels: the tuition, the government funding, the sponsorship of alumni and the sales and service of patent. The sufficient fund and free academic surrounding make it easy for American private universities to support scientific research, establish the new subjects and attractive great masters in each field. Moreover, private universities are not only successful educational institutions but also the cores of industries. The rise of Silicon Valley depending on Stanford University and the boom of high-tech industry around Boston attributed to IMF can be illustrated as two good examples. 2.2.5 Different Evaluation Criteria to Students The standard of inspecting the students of American high institutions is the capability to analyze and solve the problems, but not the ability of mechanical memorizing, which means American students do not need to cram up before final examinations. Chinese universities, however, adhere to the principle of learning everything by rote, especially for preparation of final examination. What is far worse is that high score becomes the one and only standard of evaluating students in China. It can be predicted that this kind of one-sided evaluation criteria has written off lots of students creativities, enthusiasm and desire to do better. American students are allowed to take some pieces of cards in the fixed size recording intricate expressions and theories to attend the final examinations. The aim of examination is very clear in American universities: it is practice but not memorizing. Some expressions would even be listed on the paper because reciting of expressions is not required, which is so incredible in China. As long as students work out the questions correctly, they would attain the due score. In China, the situation turns out to be opposite. As a matter of fact, the examination emphasizing mechanical memorizing has seriously ruined the students enthusiasm of studies, leading to excessive attention to pure theory and neglect the real practice of knowledge. The score of final examination accounts for different proportion in GPA between Chinese universities and American ones .GPA stands for Grade Point Average and it is a standard method of measuring academic achievement. The way of calculating GPA in American universities is distinct from that of China. The GPA of American universities are made up of many parts and the final examination is just one of it. One wouldnt get low GPA even though he or she plays below par as long as the assignments have been finished perfectly according to the teachers requirements, because the score of final examination only occupies 35% in the calculation of GPA, however, which closes to 70% in most Chinese universities. The standard of American universities is more objective and fair as the evaluation to students. It is high time that China abandoned the old and ossified evaluation criteria to students. There is still a long way to go before rote learning and test-taking turn into innovation by far. 2.2.6 Different Education on Students Personal Characteristics and Morality In America, volunteering and community service are two important standards of measuring ones personal characteristics and morality. Though technically not a requirement, many colleges make community service an unofficial requirement for acceptance. However, some colleges prefer work experience over community service, and some require that their students also continue community service for some specific number of hours to graduate. American universities encourage students to participate in the social and through which raise their citizen consciousness. Volunteering is also an essential part while enterprises employing new staffs, so American students are very willing to be volunteers. Certain academic honor societies such as Delta Epsilon Sigma have rejected 4.0 GPA students that lacked community service experiences on their applications because they honor community service so much. In China, volunteering and community service are not as important as in America. Chinese universities have never set the time of volunteering and community as one of the requirements of getting the diploma. However, the awareness of volunteering and community has increased by leaps and bounds. For example, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 2010 Shanghai World Expo has witnessed the function of volunteers, and most of them are university students. In order to continue the volunteering sprit of 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Shanghai has set up many city volunteers service stations in the tourist attractions to provide the service for tourists, which offer a good opportunity to university students. Rare as social activities are in China, Chinese university has endeavored to improve the personal characteristics and morality by making more volunteering chances. 3 Prospective of Chinese and American Higher Education 3.1 Reform Measures for Chinese Higher Education Education reform in China has reached a new and crucial stage. The driving force is the need to produce an increasingly knowledgeable workforce equipped to handle the challenges of an economy that is not only growing extremely rapidly, but also becoming increasingly diversified and sophisticated. The latest reforms are outlined in a comprehensive plan formally called State Guidelines for Medium-to-Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan between 2010 and 2020, otherwise known as the Development Plan.1 A second round of national discussion of the Development Plan has just been completed, and more than 30,000 suggestions were collected, reflecting national involvement in such an important issue. This plan is enormous and comprehensive, and is based on studies of various educational models. Two aspects for higher education reform are key: a relaxation of central control, and opening up of the college admission process. The Development Plan specifically calls for the government to release central control, give universities autonomy, and allow presidents and faculty to run their schools. The Development Plan states that it will change from the one-exam-decides-all method to a thorough evaluation of a student as a whole person using multiple tests and factors. The plan is divided into four sections. Each section covers several chapters and each chapter includes numerous issues. Section One describes the plans overall strategy. Section Two lays out missions to accomplish and goals to achieve. Section Three outlines the reform of the educational infrastructure. Section Four provides measurements to ensure implementation. Six chapters are devoted to specific measures, which include the following: strengthening the quality of teaching faculty; increasing the government funding of education to 4% of GDP by 2012; completing education laws and regulations; and ensuring every step of the reform meets the laws and regulations. In order to accomplish these missions and goals, the Development Plan encourages educational institutions to design their own reform programs and policies. (Guo-hua Wang ,April 20,2010) 3.2 Reform Measures for American Higher Education In his State of the Union address, President Obama laid out a blueprint for an economy thats built to last an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values. As an important part of keeping the American promise alive, the President called for a comprehensive approach to tackling rising college costs. In todays global economy, a college education is no longer just a privilege for some, but rather a prerequisite for all. Reforming student aid to promote affordability and value: To keep tuition from spiraling too high and drive greater value, the President will propose reforms to federal campus-based air programs to shift aid away from colleges that fail to keep net tuition down, and toward those colleges and universities that do their fair share to keep tuition affordable, provide good value, and serve needy students well. These changes in federal aid to campuses will leverage $10 billion annually to keep tuition down. Creating a Race to the Top for college affordability and completion: The president will create incentives for states and colleges to keep costs under control through a $1billion investment in a new challenge to states to spur higher education reform focused on affordability and improved outcomes across state colleges and universities. A first in the World competition to model innovation and quality on college campuses: The president will invest $55 million in a new First in the World competition, to support the public and private colleges and non-profit organizations as they work to develop and test the next breakthrough strategy that will boost higher education attainment and student outcomes Better data for families choose the right college for them: The president will call for a College Scorecard for all degree-granting institutions, designed to provide the essential information about college costs, graduation rates, and potential earnings, all in an easy-to-read format that will help students and families choose a college that is well suited to their needs, priced affordably and consistent with their career and educational goals. Federal support to tackle college costs: The president has already made the biggest investments in student aid since the G.I Bill through increases to the Pell grant, and by shoring up the direct loan and income-based repayment programs. This reform will reward colleges that are succeeding in meeting the following principles: Setting responsible tuition policy, offering relatively lower net tuition prices and/or restraining tuition growth. Providing good value to students and families, offering quality education and training that prepares graduates to obtain employment and repay their loans. 3) Serving low-income students, enrolling and graduating relatively higher numbers of Pell-eligible students.( The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, January 27, 2012) 4 Integration of Chinese and American Higher Education China launched curriculum and teaching reform in the 1990s, resulting in great interest in studies of American university curriculum reforms and instructional systems. When China launched the 211 Project and 985 Project, this served as a great spur to Chinese studies of American research universities. New York and Duke University are building campuses in Shanghai, offering full-time programs to students there, and executive education courses are already a proven success, Harvards Senior Executive Program in Shanghai among them. There have been many joint venture programs with American colleges on the campuses of Chinese higher institutions; however, the trend toward larger-scale initiatives seems clear. In the mean time, America should also learn from China. America has always taken a laissez-faire approach to higher education-in many ways, with excellent results. But it may wish to consider whether new competition justifies a new approach. China may soon outpace the United States not only in the number of university graduates it produces, but also in the world-class universities it creates. From 1995 to 2000, levels of the Chinese government invested about $20-billion in select universities to improve their facilities and curricula. In the following years, 38 of those universities received additional money. For example, two top institutions, Peking University and Tsinghua University, each received $225-million from 1999 to 2003. American college leaders should prepare themselves psychologically for a world in which a key success factor will be partnerships with Asian universities. The good news is that Asian institutions welcome such new partnerships. 5. Conclusion Higher Education is the backbone of a country on the ground of sustaining its development through fostering talents. Without any shadow of doubt, both China and America lay great emphasis on higher education, by different form and method, though. China, as one of the emerging power in the Asian-Pacific region, ought to learn a lot from America, including higher education, in terms of entrance selection system, private universities, the position of higher educational function, evaluation criteria to students and the education to students personal characteristics and morality and campus culture .Both these two countries shoulder great responsibility to higher educational reform in the future to confront the fierce competition.

The Impact of Women in The Iliad Essays -- Role of Women in the Trojan

Women have always been recognized for their strong influence on the actions of men. Because of his love for Delia, Samson told his secret of his power and ended up losing it. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth urged Macbeth to commit murder. More recently, Eleanor Roosevelt strongly influenced the decisions that Franklin D. Roosevelt made. Women of Homer's epic, The Iliad, were considered primary instigators of the Trojan war. The characteristics attributed to women in ancient Greek mythology may have been key to the outbreak of the war. But many ask why Homer would choose to reflect so deeply on the feminine roles of this war fought by men. Although the beginning of the war was not spoken of in The Iliad, the origin of the war is traced back to jealous goddesses. The gods and goddesses were feasting together to celebrate the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. Eris, the goddess of discord, had not been invited. She came, however, and threw among the guests a golden apple, on which was inscribed "For the fairest." Three goddesses claimed the apple. They were Hera, wif...

Importance of Learning English Essay

Introduction: The importance of learning English cannot be overemphasized in an increasingly interconnected and globalized world. English is the most spoken language in the world as billions of people sheer English language as their official language. It is the primary language used in different international activities. Even in nations where English is not the primary spoken language has official status. English is indisputably the primary language of global trade, commerce, and education. So, for career build up there is no alternate to learn English. What is Language? A language is a systematic means of communication by the use of sounds or conventional symbols. It is the code we all use to express ourselves and communicate to others. It is a communication by word of mouth. It is the mental faculty or power of vocal communication. It is a system for communicating ideas and feelings using sounds, gestures, signs or marks. Any means of communicating ideas, specifically, human speech, the expression of ideas by the voice and sounds articulated by the organs of the throat and mouth is a language. This is a system for communication. A language is the written and spoken methods of combining words to create meaning used by a particular group of people. Read more: Importance of English speech essay Language, so far as we know, is something specific to humans, that is to say it is the basic capacity that distinguishes humans from all other living beings. Language therefore remains potentially a communicative medium capable of expressing ideas and concepts as well as moods, feelings and attitudes. Written languages use symbols (characters) to build words. The entire set of words is the language’s vocabulary. The ways in which the words can be meaningfully combined is defined by the language’s syntax and grammar. The actual meaning of words and combinations of words is defined by the language’s semantics. English as an International language: English is part of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It is spoken as a native language by around 377 million and as a second language by around 375 million speakers in the world. Speakers of English as a second language will soon outnumber those who speak it as a first language. Around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language. English has an official or a special status in 75 countries with a total population of over 2 billion. The domination of the English language globally is undeniable. English is the language of diplomacy and international communications, business, tourism, education, science, computer technology, media and Internet. Because English was used to develop communication, technology, programming, software, etc, it dominates the web. 70% of all information stored electronically is in English. The latest and the most advanced discoveries and inventions in science and technology are being made in the universities located in the United States of America where English language is the means of scientific discourse. So, it is undeniably true that English is the main international language in the world. The historical circumstances of Bangladesh to learn English: After two hundred years communal rule by the British Raj English language has been using all over the Indian subcontinent as official language. Now-a-days language medium of maximum higher education in Bangladesh is English. Widespread use of internet also paves the way to establish English as inevitable language to learn. With out being fluent in English it is impossible to get job in any corporate business centre in Bangladesh. Learning English for professional purpose: Now-a-days without English language it is impossible to live in a single day. For professional purpose it is a Must to learn English. No person can be explored his/her professional excellence without proper implementation of English language. From very early part of professional development to the higher stage of profession a person need appropriate use of English. So, importance of learning English is never be overlooked. Necessity of learning English in Different professional purposes: In early part of career development, i.e. during educational stage: English language is that window through which we can see the world easily. We need this language for our higher education. Technical subjects are taught in English. Most of the books in modern technology are found in English. If we have no knowledge of English, we can’t study those books. Many important and great books are written in English. We can enjoy reading various literary books in English. Higher education in first world In universities and colleges in Great Britain, the Unites States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, which attract the most number of international students, the primary language of instruction is English. So, without obtaining higher score in IELTS or TOFEL no student can enter the universities located in these countries. Job Opportunities in home and abroad: Knowing English opens job and employment opportunities in home and abroad. Multilateral institutions and agencies in aboard recruit professionals with multilingual skills but also expect the candidates to have good English-speaking skills. Without having good commend in both writing and speaking English no body will get job in international agencies, import oriented business agencies and even in local high profile agencies or business centers. Former British colonies or dependencies, also offers numerous employment opportunities to those who understand and communicate in English. We can get a good job easily, if we have good command in spoken or written English. Nowadays we require English even to operate computer, which is a compulsory thing in modern society. Digital Age: While progress has been made in language-translation software and allied technologies, the primary language of the ubiquitous and all-influential World Wide Web is English. English is typically the language of latest-version applications and programs and new freeware, shareware, peer-to-peer, social media networks and websites. Software manuals, hardware-installation guides and product fact sheets of popular consumer electronics and entertainment devices usually are available in English first before being made available in other languages. So, to be a good corporate officer in this digital era there is no option without learning English.

Essay Efforts Towards Unifying the United States and Mexico

Efforts Towards Unifying the United States and Mexico For the first time in American history, a President is placing Hispanic voters at the center of politics. George W. Bush has his administration have recently been concerting their efforts towards unifying the United States and Mexico, a task that has been on the priority list of past Presidents, but never as full-pledged as Bush. It makes sense if you think about it: Texas, long ago and far away, was part of Mexico. Now a Texan is trying to reassemble the Old Country, and then some. In a major step towards finding a resolution, President Bush invited Mexicos newly elected President, Vicente Fox, to the White House State Dinner. During Foxs three day visit to the†¦show more content†¦At the state dinner, Fox said he believed his nation and the United States could come up with a solution together. We are going to come up with answers, he said, referring not only to immigration, but international crime. 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