Abortion Persuasive Essay Essay

Despite abortion being a highly controversial and divisive public policy issue, medical abortion is a highly feasible and healthy alternative to other, illicit abortion procedures and the availability of medical abortion should, consequently, be maximized rather than restricted. The reality is that for most women who are seeking ways to end their pregnancy a legal and safe medical abortion is just one of several options that such women are willing to go through. Without a viable and safe option for women seeking ways to end their pregnancy, many more women will engage in risky pregnancy ending behaviors, such as self-induced, non-medical, and illegal abortions. Minimizing the access to abortion services has been a policy goal of conservatives for some time, while the left has sought to increase access to medical abortion services. This debate is framed by several Supreme Court rulings, most notably the Casey v. Carhart case which affirmed women’s right to abortion, limiting th e restrictions that states can put on abortion clinics but leaving ambiguous exactly what restrictions are allowed. While states and local municipalities are not allowed to outlaw abortion clinics, they still enact and enforce severe restrictions on abortion clinics and abortion services. This creates a de facto ban on abortion in many states, particularly red states. The problem addressed in this project is the potential for severe costs of severely limiting the availability of and access to abortion services for mother seeking to end their pregnancies. Relying heavily on recent empirical studies on the health outcomes of mothers after abortions, this project begins by examining the safety, both physical and psychological, of abortions for mothers. Next, this project examines the legal issues that frame the public policy abortion debate, with a particular focus on the Casey v. Carhart case. Finally, this project presents recent findings from various organizations on the prevalence of abortions around the world and, in particular, the United States. The most important finding presented here is that abortion rates tend to remain steady regardless of whether there are several restrictions on abortions, which suggests that women who seek abortions are willing to engage in illegal and unsafe abortion procedures when no legal options are available. Because of this fact and other findings presented below, legal abortion services should be made widely available to populations across the United States. While most public policy debates on abortion focus on the  distinction between persons and non-persons, as well as the point in which a fetus is considered a person, there is considerable debate over the health outcomes of women who go through abortions. Much of the research relevant to the abortion issue focuses on the physical health outcomes of women. Creinin and Danielsson investigate recent evidence on the physical health outcomes in women after they go through abortions. This article discusses many studies concerning medically induced abortion that occur very early in pregnancies. The researchers draw conclusions about trends found in the studies and the empirical data produced by such studies. The researchers here find that medical abortions are becoming safer (121). That is, while at one point medical abortions were potential quite dangerous for women, today, evidence suggests that they are quite safe for the physical health of the women. In fact, the rate of incident is lower than most invasive procedures, the research suggests, which supports the notion that legal medical abortions are substantially safer than other ways that women seek to end their pregnancies. Only studies on legal abortions were featured in this review. While there is no empirical evidence on the safety of illegal abortions performed on women, it would seem that they are unlikely to be nearly as safe as legal medical abortions. The physical health of a woman after receiving an abortion is, of course, a very important factor in determining whether medical abortion practices area safe. However, with much more attention being paid to mental health of individuals and the importance of mental health in living a healthy and meaningful life, it is important to examine research findings on the specific mental health effects of abortion on women. In a systematic review of literature on the long-term mental health outcomes of women Charles et al. analyzes, compares, and discovers tends in the data from more than twenty studies on the long-term mental health outcomes of women who have medical and legal abortions (442). This literature review focuses very heavily on the long-term psychological health of such women and assesses the quality of the findings from each study, on a scale that extends from very poor to excellent in quality. Charles et al. effectively scan the relevant literature from 2000 to 2008 on the menta l health outcomes of women after medical abortions to find the most relevant findings. This literature review finds that most higher quality studies found almost no significant differences in the mental health outcomes of  women who have had abortions performed and those who have not. Additionally, while the studies that were much poorer in quality than the aforementioned studies more than half of the time produced findings that suggested that women who have had an abortion in their life times have significantly worse mental health outcomes. Thus, there may be two sorts of data being presented in public policy debate on abortion: data that suggests that women do not suffer negative long-term mental health consequences of abortion and data that suggests otherwise. The objective Charles et al. literature review, however, strongly supports the latter findings, suggesting that, in fact, there is support against the notion that medical abortions lead to long-term negative mental health outcomes in women. While the systematic literature review of the available data on the psychological health of women after abortions is highly useful in any attempts to determine the risks associated with legal abortions, there is a need for the presentation of much more recent research findings on this issue. Munk-Olsen et al. report the results of a study on the risks of mental disorders and threats to psychological health in women who have gone through induced abortions during their first trimesters. The results of this study are very recent and help to shed light on exactly how safe medical abortions have become. Also, the findings presented in this study have been compared to the results of other studies performed at a similar time to this study, making for more meaningful and significant results. The results of this study indicate that there is no significant difference between the prevalence of mental disorders in women who have had at least one abortion and those who have not (336). Additionally, the results of this study showed that the participants who had gone through abortions were not in significantly different mental health conditions than the participants who had not gone through abortions (336). The findings form this study lend strong support for the notion that access to abortion clinics should be maximized. One notable problem in public policy debates it the availability of data on the frequency of abortions, both legal and illegal, performed in the United States. Jones et al. presents findings about the frequency of abortions in the United States, as well as the availability of abortion services across the United States. The researchers found that in general access to legal abortion services was quite low, despite the Supreme Court ruling that women have a constitutional  right to an abortion (11). However, the authors note that all of the available data for the report did not include any data on unreported abortions, which, presumably, mostly includes illegal abortions. There is a problem emerging in regard to the availability of data on legal abortions and illegal abortions. The problem is that there is a wealth of data available on the prevalence and health outcomes of legal abortions, while there is virtually no meaningful data on illegal abortions. This is, of course, due to the fact of the illegality of such abortions. Nevertheless, it can be difficult to measure the potential harms committed in illegal abortions when not enough data is available. Additionally, comparing legal to illegal abortions and their respective maternal health outcomes is quite challenging given the differences in the availability of data. Even so, there are several assumptions that can help draw sound conclusions based on these research findings. One assumption is that legal abortion procedures tend to be safer than illegal abortion procedures. The rationale behind this assumption is that there is a greater likelihood that legal abortion procedures are performed by trained medical professionals who are qualified for such procedures. For illegal abortion procedures, neither the proper training nor the proper credentials are required. Additionally, illegal abortion procedures include self-initiated abort procedures, which are, of course, not performed by medical professionals. Another sound assumption is that as the availability of and access to legal medical abortion procedures decreases, the number of illegal and unsafe abortion procedures increases. This is because many women choose to have abortions whether legal or illegal. Easy access to a safe and legal abortion clinic is likely more preferable for most women seeking abortions. Thus, when such women do not have access to a safe and legal abortion clinic, many will still choose to have an abortion, but under much less safe conditions. Pazol et al. present a report on the prevalence of abortions in the United States. This report features a number of surveillance summaries on abortions performed. The data used to construct such summaries is provided by the Center for Disease Control. The data is compiled and then analyzed, leading to a number of summative statistics concerning the rates of abortion in the United States. The number of reported abortions is among the leading statistic in this report, as is the abortion rate by age groups and several historical data  trends. This report indicates that the number of performed abortions in the United States increased from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s (Pazol et al. 27). However, more recently, the data suggest that reported abortion numbers have fallen, as have abortion rates in the United States. The report finds that access to abortion in many parts of the country has decreased, which may help to explain why the number of reported abortions has decreased (Pazol et al. 29). The findings from this study do not include findings of unreported or ille gal abortions. Nevertheless, the findings from this study are consistent with previous findings and follow the path that the legal framework for abortion and abortion restriction policies appears to have taken with recent Supreme Court rulings. Once of the most important Supreme Court cases concerning state restrictions on abortion is the Casey v. Carhart case. The law professor Reva Siegel wrote a law review article on the Casey v. Carhart case. The ruling by the Supreme Court in this case is that states are not allowed to severely restrict women’s access to abortion services (Siegel 1724). Doing so is a violation of women’s right to an abortion, according to the Court. This ruling affirms prior rulings that have stated that states may not prohibit abortion and may not make it so difficult for a woman to get an abortion that the states have de facto banned abortion (Siegel 1729). Despite this very important ruling from the Supreme Court, states are, in many ways, still allowed to severely restrict access to abortion clinics to the point where most women seeking abortion in a state will be more likely to choose to either not have an abortion or have an illegal abortion. This is because the Supreme Court ruled that states, themselves, must be challenged on a case-by-case basis before the exact laws that restrict abortion can be deemed unconstitutional (Siegel 1736). In other words, though the Supreme Court struck down state legislation that put severe limitations on legal abortion clinics, states still have so many other limitations that have not been explicitly stricken down and, thus, can still be used by the states to effectively ban abortion. Even though the Court has stricken down several specific forms of limitations for legal abortion clinics, states have still continued to come up with new ways to limit abortion clinic practices that the Court has yet to strike down (Siegel 1732). The current state of the law concerning abortion and state policy abortion restrictions is such that states are allowed to  substantially restrict access to safe and legal abortion procedures. Another legal scholar, Mary Anne Warren, agrees that the current legal status of abortion is such that states are largely free to severely limit access to safe and legal abortion procedures, despite Supreme Court rulings that would seem to suggest otherwise (142). Warren argues that not only is the current legal status of abortion in the United States an uncertain one and one that need further clarification from the Supreme Court, but also that the Court has expressed the strong moral obligation to allow women to have abortions, yet has not done nearly enough to make this assertion hold among the states (145). Warren presents findings from several different studies and literature on the various effects of abortion, the established rates of reported abortion, and the availability of abortion clinics. The findings presented by Warren show that there is a strong contradiction in what the Supreme Court claims is the established rights of women to have an abortion and the actual state of affairs. One of the biggest issues, Warren states, with the current state of affairs for abortion is that the access to abortion differs radically by state. In some states, abortion clinics are easy to find, while in others, they are virtually non-existent due to severe limitations and restrictions imposed by the state (141). Although it is typical for states to differ substantially on many public policy issues, for several Supreme Court decisions to come down and expressly prohibit states from imposing such abortion limitations, it is a clear contradiction by the Court. From many perspectives, then, the current legal situation of abortion and abortion restrictions by the states in the United States in one that allows the states far too much leeway in how far they can restrict access to abortion. Research from 2013 suggests that more than twenty million unsafe abortions happen every year worldwide annually. However, less than two percent of these abortions occur in developed countries. Additionally, far fewer occur in the United States (Sedgh et al. 27). This finding would appear to suggest that the number of unsafe abortions is relatively low in the United States compared to the rest of the world. However, the United States has a low tolerance for abortions, compared to many of the other states included in these research findings. Moreover, the United States has a rate of maternal  fatalities for legal abortions that is less than 1 out of 10,000, with almost all of such fatalities occurring past 16 weeks after conception (World Health Organization 16). Recent research findings have confirmed the assumptions that certain clinical practices and mandates for abortion procedures lead to very safe abortions (World Health Organization 30). This finding provides substantial support in favor of keeping the availability of legal and safe abortion options available to women who are determined to get an abortion. Research findings from 2013 also suggest that â€Å"where legislation allows abortion under broad indications, the incidence of and complications from unsafe abortion are typically lower where abortion is legally more restricted† (World Health Organization 17). Furthermore, the World Health Organization reports that â€Å"where abortion is legally more restricted or available on request, a woman’s likelihood of having an unintended pregnancy and seeking induced abortion is about the same† (17). Additionally, research findings from World Health Organization reports indicate that illegal abortion practices tend to be much less safe than legal abortion practices (23). The World Health Organization findings strongly suggest that women who seek abortion services are likely to engage in some form of abortion services even when such services are unsafe or illegal. These findings are not only applicable to the world, in general, but also apply to the United States specifically. The report by the World Health Organization on the rates of abortion in countries that impose strict abortion laws and those that have not shows that when countries tighten their restrictions on abortion the actual rates of abortion tend not to decrease substantially, meaning that women who seek abortions are still having abortions performed, even when such abortions are illegal and unsafe (22). These findings support the notion that the levels of restrictions on abortions in the United States should be decreased and the availability of and access to abortion services for women should be maximized, not minimized. The evidence presented here strongly suggests that women will be better off if abortion services are made widely available. Current restrictions on abortion services, particularly through state legislative actions, are making it much more difficult for women to find abortion clinics. Many abortion clinics have closed in many states, particularly red states. The political divide on this issue is leading to states polarizing,  with many states having a very high level of abortion clinic availability and many other states having a very low level of abortion clinic availability and access. However, the Supreme Court has already ruled on this issue. It is unconstitutional for any state to outright ban abortion or make it so difficult for a woman to receive an abortion that abortion is de facto banned, meaning that for all intends and purposes abortion is banned by the state. The states that are severely limiting women’s access to safe and legal abortion procedures are not only violating the Constitutional as interpreted by the Supreme Court, but are also harming women. The fact that women will continue to seek abortion procedures, even when no safe and legal abortion procedures are available means that women are willing to cause significant bodily risk to themselves to have an abortion. With this in mind, restricting access to abort ion is creating many more risky situations than was ever intended. It should be realized that further restricting safe and legal abortion procedures in any particular state is simply hurting the women who may be seeking abortions at some point in those states. Evidence presented earlier showed that legal abortion procedures are very safe now, which means that women who seek abortions can have access to safe abortion procedures, but only if the abortion procedures in the given state are low. In states with high abortion restrictions, many women will be denied access to safe abortion procedures, despite such procedures being protected by the Constitution. By not acting to bring down the restrictions on abortions that are harming women by putting them in risky situations and continuing to tighten such restrictions, policy makers are acting irresponsibility. The topic of abortion in public policy debates is typically highly controversial and divisive. Even so, the findings presented here show that because medical abortion is a highly feasible and healthy alternative to illegal and unhealthy abortion procedures. Thus, the availability of and access to legal medical abortion procedures should be increased. As shown above, research suggests that most women who seek means end their pregnancies tend to find ways to have abortions, legal otherwise. After all, a legal and safe medical abortion is just one of several options, many of which are unsafe. Without a viable and safe option for women seeking ways to end their pregnancy, many more women will engage in risky pregnancy ending behaviors, such as self-induced, non-medical, and illegal abortions. Minimizing the access to  abortion services has been a policy goal of the right, while the left seeks to increase access to medical abortion services. The ensuing public policy debate is framed by the Casey v. Carhart case which affirmed women’s right to abortion, limiting the restrictions that states can put on abortion clinics but leaving ambiguous exactly what restrictions are allowed. While states and local municipalities are not allowed to outlaw abortion clinics, they still enact and enforce severe restrictions on abortion clinics and abortion services. This creates a de facto ban on abortion in many states, particularly red states. This project has addressed the problem of the possibility of extreme unsafe risks to women seeking abortion services when access has been severely limited by state and local policies. This project presents recent empirical studies on the health outcomes of mothers after abortions, examining the safety, both physical and psychological, of abortions for mothers. It also presented the legal issues that frame the public policy abortion debate, with a particular focus on the Casey v. Carhart case, before turning to recent findings the prevalence of abortions in the United States. Abortion rates tend to remain steady regardless of whether there are several restrictions on abortions, which suggests that women who seek abortions are willing to engage in illegal and unsafe abortion procedures when no legal options are available. This crucial finding is well supported in by research and strongly supports the concl usion of this project: legal abortion services should be made widely available to populations across the United States. Works Cited Charles, Vignetta E., et al. â€Å"Abortion and long-term mental health outcomes: a systematic review of the evidence.† Contraception 78.6 (2008): 436-450. Creinin, Mitchell D., and Kristina Gemzell Danielsson. â€Å"Medical abortion in early pregnancy.† Management of Unintended and Abnormal Pregnancy: Comprehensive Abortion Care (2009): 111-134. Githens, Marianne, and Dorothy McBride Stetson, eds. Abortion politics: public policy in cross-cultural perspective. Routledge, 2013. Jones, Rachel K., et al. â€Å"Abortion in the United States: incidence and access to services, 2005.† Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 40.1 (2008): 6-16. Munk-Olsen, Trine, et al. â€Å"Induced first-trimester abortion and risk of mental disorder.† New England Journal of Medicine 364.4 (2011): 332-339. Pazol, Karen, et al. â€Å"Abortion surveillance–United States, 2009.† MMWR Surveillance Summit 61.8 (2012): 1-44. Rohlinger, Deana A. Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America. Cambridge University Press, 2014. Sedgh, Gilda, et al. â€Å"Induced abortion: estimated rates and trends worldwide.† The Lancet 37.5 (2007): 1338-1345. Siegel, Reva. â€Å"Dignity and the politics of protection: abortion restrictions under Casey/Carhart.† Yale Law Journal 117 (2008): 1694-1802. Warren, Mary Anne. â€Å"On the moral and legal status of abortion.† (2009). World Health Organization. â€Å"Unsafe abortion: global and regional estimates of incidence of unsafe abortion and associated mortality in 2008.† (2011).

A Narrative Inquiry on the Life History of Betty Siegel

Known for her outstanding achievement in educational policy, Dr. Betty Lentz Siegel was the longest serving female president at Kennesaw State University. In 1981, she assumed the position at Kennesaw State University, which then was a four-year college institution with 4,000 students and 15 baccalaureate degree programs. Under her tutelage, Kennesaw State University achieved its university status with more than 18,000 student enrollees and 55 undergraduate and graduate degree programs (online Golden Key International Honour Society International).It was her vision and leadership that brought the educational institution to its current university status focusing on teamwork through the creation of strong administrative teams and group interaction. With her guidance, the institution implemented several initiatives and high profile activities that created opportunities and recognition of the institution in the local and state communities. In the book Searching for Academic Excellence: T wenty Colleges and Universities on the Move and their Leaders, Dr.Siegel was in a limelight in her accomplishment for Kennesaw State University (online Golden Key International Honour Society International). In her 25 years of service in the institution, Kennesaw State University received numerous recognition and awards for its outstanding achievements (online Golden Key International Honour Society International). Its awards are as follows: †¢ 1987, chosen as one of the top three college colleges and universities in its nationwide competition focusing on â€Å"The President and the Public† by the Council of Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)†¢ 1989 – 1991, Kennesaw State also caught public attention as the US News and World Report acknowledges Kennesaw State’s exemplary programs in minority recruitment and retention, leadership programs for faculty, staff, administrators and students, and international initiatives. US News and World Report di stinguishes Kennesaw State as the country’s â€Å"up and comers† and â€Å"rising stars† in the South’s regional institutions. †¢ 2003, KSU received recognition to become one of twelve founding institution included in the program entitled Foundation of Excellence in the First College Year of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.In addition, this recognition also gave KSU the needed funding to pursue the projects of the RTM Institute for Leadership, Ethics Characters, which Dr. Siegel is the Endowed Chair. †¢ 2006, US News and World Report ranked KSU as number one among the 25 educational institution known for their learning community programs. In addition, the magazine highlights the school’s first year freshman experience program. Academic Background Behind the outstanding accomplishment of KSU is Dr. Siegel’s utmost leadership, dedication, and commitment to education. Dr. Siegel’s academic areas of e xpertise include child psychology and administration.Her outstanding academic achievement also marks her commitment for continuous learning. She received her Ph. D from Florida State University, A Masters in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a B. A. n English and History from Wake Forest University and an Associate of Arts from Cumberland College. She also has received her two-year post-doctoral study in Clinical Child Psychology at Indiana University. She holds honorary doctorates from Cumberland College in Kentucky, Miami University in Ohio, Eastern Kentucky University, Lynchburg College, Morehead State University, and Southern Connecticut State University.Professional accomplishments Dr. Siegel had been an accomplished educational administrator even before coming to Kennesaw State. She started as a faculty member for several universities such as Indiana University and Lenoir-Rhyne College. And in 1967, she taught at the University of Florida. In 1971 , she became the first woman Dean of Academic Affairs for Continuing Education at the University of Florida. She moved to Western Carolina University in the School of Education and Psychology in 1976 and was also the first woman to hold the position of academic dean for the University.In 1981, she came to Kennesaw State where she has started several programs and later became the first female president. Dr. Siegel was also co-founded and co-directed a non-profit organization chartered in North Carolina since 1982. She worked with an esteemed colleague Dr. William Purkey in establishing International Alliance for Invitational Education. The organization currently has more than 12,000 members of different professionals from over twelve countries, who seek to apply the concepts of invitational education to their personal and professional lives (online International Alliance of Invitational Education).In 1999, the Center for Invitational Leadership was created to advance the model of inv itational education by offering opportunities for professional to participate in leadership development programs. Its mission is to â€Å"to enhance lifelong learning, to promote positive change in organizations, to cultivate the personal and professional growth and satisfaction of educators and allied professionals, and to enrich the lives of human beings, personally and professionally. † (online Radford University’s Center for Invitation Leadership). Moreover, with the high-regards to the accomplishments of Dr.Siegel, she has delivered keynote addresses at hundreds of national, regional, and state conferences throughout United States, Puerto Rico and ten other foreign countries and has lectured for over 120 colleges and universities around the world. She is an internationally- and nationally-known lecturer and motivational speaker on leadership, educational issues, and the concerns of women. She has also served as a consultant to a wide range of businesses such as ed ucational institutions, businesses, non-profit organizations, health-care services, government and socio-civic groups (online Golden Key International Honour Society International).Public Service Dr. Siegel has also worked in community improvement programs of the government. In 1997, Governor Zell Miller appointed Dr. Siegel to represent the State of Georgia on the Southern Growth Policies Board’s 1998 Commission on the Future of the South. Prior to that, she also represented Governor Miller at the Presidents’ Summit of America’s Future held at Philadelphia in 1997. Currently, she has been appointed as to serve as member of Governor Perdue’s Commission for a New Georgia.Her work in the commission was largely publicized as she was the driving force behind the establishment of the Cobb Education Consortium. The Cobb Education Consortium was created to form a collaborative organization among the public educational institution â€Å"to combine the resources, energies, and talents of the member institutions to address areas of common concern in moving public education in Cobb Country from its current level of excellence to the exemplary level which will be needed to prepare students to become responsible leaders, capable workers, and well-rounded human beings.† (online Cobb Education Consortium) In addition, she also served as a chair of subcommittee on post-secondary options for the Georgia P-16 initiative. The initiative aims to a comprehensive and collaborative statewide effort aimed at raising expectations and ensuring student success from pre-school through post-secondary education. The initiative is different than other educational reform efforts because it impacts the entire educational spectrum—not just the parts. (online University System of Georgia)Lastly, she initiated the Northwest Crescent Alliance between the three private colleges and three public institutions. The alliance was formed to develop programs of c ollaboration in economic development, enhancement of the arts, the preservation of Southern/Appalachian culture and history, and the development and promotion of community leadership. (online Northwest Crescent Leadership Alliance) Publications Dr. Siegel has recently co-published with Dr. Purkey entitled Becoming an Invitational Leader. The book offers a fresh and innovative model based on a single theoretical framework.It deviates from the traditional control and dominance model of leadership to one that focuses on connectedness, cooperation and communication. This model has been adopted in the International Alliance for Invitational Education and had been applied in numerous fields including administration, business, nursing, dentistry, counseling, and other professions. Purpose of the Study Successful and well-established teacher on leadership, Dr. Siegel’s life history has been a model for many aspiring leaders. She not only teaches about leadership, but she has embodied what she has taught.Her success has led to many researchers to examine what leadership truly is. Indeed, many have published life-stories and lessons on management’s leadership, but many have looked into it in lens following the theoretical framework of industrial management. The purpose of the study is to examine the perceptions of people surrounding the leadership during the tenure of Dr. Siegel at Kennesaw State University. We will looked at what people think within and outside Kennesaw State University’s phenomenal growth in relation to Dr. Siegel’s leadership.By examining the perceptions of Dr. Siegel in her tenure at Kennesaw State University, trends may emerge regarding leadership attitudes and/or leadership style. In undertaking this study using narrative inquiry, we hope to answer the following questions: 1. What are events and influences that formed Dr. Siegel’s mental model and invitational leadership theory? 2. What are the factors attracted and the perceptions students and alumni with Dr. Siegel’s leadership? 3. What is the value and contribution of Dr. Siegel to the understanding of leadership? Review of Related LiteratureIn the book Telling Women’s Lives: Narrative Inquiries in the history of Women’s Education, Weiler and Middleton (1999) explored the broader questions of gender and power through education. They have in discussing the stories of women as teachers come across on topics of education bureaucracies, material condition of women teachers, and the ways concepts of gender and sexuality have shaped experiences of men and women in the educational state. Indeed, women had not been fairly represented in the leadership of educational institution. Dr. Siegel has been an exception and as our purpose is to understand the success of Dr.Siegel’s, we looked at it in a different lens of leadership framework. We undertake this study using narrative inquiry to understand further the leadership model of Dr. Siegel. General Presupposition on Narrative Inquiry Stories have always been a way to pass on tradition and history of a nation. People love to tell and listen to stories. It is way we communicate and more importantly a way we understand people and events. Hardy (1986) has described narrative as a basic mode of thought, and Brunner (1986) described it as a way of organizing knowledge.Cultures are created and traditions are transferred from generation to generation through narratives. It is through narratives that individuals and society expresses their world views and provide models of identity and agency to their members (Brunner 1996). Narrative inquiry differs from more traditional uses of narrative education, that is, from didactic and strategic uses of narrative. Conle et al. (2000) argues that narrative inquiry retains these qualities in two areas: (1) for research, and (2) for professional development. Narrative in ResearchPolkinghorne (1988) defined narrative as the process that humans use to make sense of their experiences. It is through the application of language and personal reflection that people are able to continually construct and reconstruct significant events in their life and gain a deeper insight of their experiences. Atkinson (1998) argues that people arrange their experiences in a manner that make sense of the events and places the seemingly chaotic world in a coherent order. Thus, narratives are the process by which people make meaning of their own experiences. Denzin (1989) describes narratives as simply stories.Polkinghorne (1988) suggests that these stories convey the organizational scheme used to make meaning out of experiences. Very similar to any story, narratives are thematically organized around a central plot. It in the theme, organization, and the play of language of story that meaning and knowledge is drawn out. That is, we learn and gain insights in the temporal relational nature of the author’s reconstruc tion of events (Polkinghorne 1995). Narratives convey an understanding of environmental and interpersonal context, temporal sequence, and affective domain of the story.Polkinghorne (1995) offered the simple example of the sentence: â€Å"The king died; the price cried. † Taken in isolation, each adequately describes an event. Understood as a narrative story, with a temporal relationship and context, these two sentences describe a son’s response to the loss of his father. They convey emotion and evoke empathy. Conle (2000) describes the two purposes of narratives: (1) to convey meaning to others from unrelated events into a thematic story (Polkinghorne 1995), and (2) to convey norms and values to newcomers on a cultural or community level (Mattingly 1991).Narratives, therefore, are both the process of constructing and reconstructing events into organized schemes and the resulting that conveys the scheme (Polkinghorne 1988). Further, Polkinghorne (1988) explains that nar ratives can be used to either describe or explain an event. Descriptive narrative inquiry reports and interprets existing narratives. Descriptive narrative research describes what underlies the values and assumptions of people within a community by examining several narratives for similarities and themes.Explanatory narratives seek to explain why something happened or to explain an event. It, thus, looks narrative accounts for connections between events and actions that led to a particular occurrence. To put it more succinctly, it looks for casual connection between antecedents and events. Narrative research uses linguistic data in attempt to understand empirical reality from the perspective of the teller. It uses the resulting story to understand the organizational scheme the teller used to make sense of his or her world.In narrative research, then, it is not only the content of the story that helps in understanding the experience, but the way the story is constructed that reveals more about the experience. It therefore looks at the study of ways humans experience the world (Connelly and Clandinin 1990). Thus, narrative research begins with the narrator’s story, but moves the research toward interpretation. Denzin (1989) suggests that interpretation allows researchers to look for and connects patterns of meaning and experience in the respondent’s narratives.Bloom (1998) furthers this discussion by asserting that by connecting patterns and meaning and experiences of respondents, the researcher are able to draw from a wide array of theories to set forth his/her interpretation. Furthermore, Atkinson (1998) advises researchers to examine the respondent’s narratives for ordering of events. Context is revealed by understanding the emotions and values conveyed in the narrative. However, Feldman et al. (1990) cautions researchers on the need to scrutinize the respondent’s use of metaphors, irony, and other rhetorical devices as it may resu lt to misinterpretation.It is therefore, important to understand and gain insight into the mental state of the respondent in order to fully interpret the story. More importantly, the end result should be a synthesis of several stories into one thematic narrative. Interest in the use of narrative research has strong precedents in other fields such as in Psychology, Anthropology, and Educational Research. They use narrative as a medium of data representation and as a guide in the development of methodologies, if they did not want to lose the temporal quality and contextual detail of what they were studying (Fenstermacher 1994).They view narratives as a metaphor for human conduct (Sarbin 1986). Narrative, thus, did not stay confined to data representation, but became an entire mode of inquiry where data analysis and final documents did not have to relinquish their narrative quality. Dewey’s work on time, experience, and sociality had been central for narrative inquiry, which con sists of experiential stories that combine the social and the personal (Dewey 1904).It is these experiential stories without abandoning the particular, the contextual, and the complex events that the inquiry attempts to give voice to tacitly held personal knowledge of the respondents (Polanyi 1966; Schwab 1970). This personal knowledge has practical function or serves as an instrument in order for the researcher to evaluate and explain previously determined outcomes on the subject’s deliberations, intuitive decisions, daily action and moral wisdom. Narrative inquiry, therefore works best in getting such ‘practical knowledge’.In fact, MacIntyre (1981) promotes narratives for the study of practices, of lives and of traditions. The methodology allows the researcher to recover the moral qualities of all aspects of the subject’s contemporary lives, qualities that he sees as practically and theoretically lost. Micheal Connelly’s concept of personal, pract ical knowledge (Connelly and Diennes 1982) combined Polanyi’s sense of the personal with Schwab’s notion of the practical and MacIntyre’s moral intent.Connelly later saw the construction of narrative accounts of experiences as the perfect medium for the study of personal practical knowledge (Connelly and Clandinin 1982). Benefits Narrative Inquiry Conle (1997) notes that the most important contribution that narrative inquiry is a language that implicitly forces the issues of open-ended meanings and of the ‘constitutedness’ of identities, both ethnic and narrator’s identities. Narratives are about temporal events and tell us where and when something happens, in which contexts, who said what to whom, with which feelings and in what mood, and under which moral constraints.Such contextualization on the surface seems to convey facts, but it also potentially subjuntivizes these ‘facts’. If generalization do not accompany the specifics, narrative contextualization limits the factual to the ‘once only’ and to the reliability of observation made by a specific observer at one particular time. If the temporal quality of narrative inquiry is heeded, the tentativeness of conclusions and the open-endedness of stories will prevail. These are much-needed qualities in pluralist societies.It is the open-endedness that allows readers the ability to further interpret and understand the contextual framework of such actions (Conle 2000). Nonetheless, Berstein (1992) cautions that it is equally crucial for a narrative inquiry not to contribute to the rampant relativism, especially more moral relativism and should not deviate against reason. Such relativism can reduce the instrumental rationality of the research and can hinder the ability to draw insights especially in intercultural settings.

ART Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

ART - Essay Example It also resembles more of a Southwest United States portrait because of its subject – a woman who is stringing beads. The braid on the woman also resembles a woman who would be living in this area of the United States during this period of time. What is also striking about this woman is that she is sexualized. This painting was painted in 1924, and perhaps the mores during this time in Europe was looser than in other places, especially the United States, but the nipple on this woman is almost dominating in the picture. But this is the only part of the picture that shows her to be a sexualized being, so it is striking that this part of the painting was so prominent. It is almost as if one is not supposed to take their eyes off of the woman's nipple. Beyond this, the colors and the lighting are extraordinary. The shadows and the light on the face show her features, and the same kind of light and shadows are on her hair that play up the dominant part in her hair. Her braids are a lso tinged with the same sort of light and shadows, all the way down. Her skin on her arms show the same. The shadows and the light are used to great effect to delineate and highlight what the painter wants us to see. The painting also does not necessarily reflect the realist movement. It is painted in broad brushstrokes that are not visible, and the features of the woman are almost in caricature. Her nose is pointed, more pointed than probably the actual woman had. This is not a picture of a woman as she really looks, but, rather, it is a picture of the woman as the painter wanted to portray her. It is a bit cubist, as noted above, but mostly reflects the southwest art movement that was prominent during this period of time. The geometric forms of this painting are not just in the way that the woman is portrayed, although these geometric forms are subtle, more subtle than a typical cubist painter, but also in other parts of the picture. This includes the stairs, which show sharp geo metric patterns, and the wall behind her, that shows the same sorts of geometric patterns. There also is a certain sense of solidity in the form. This is not necessarily a fluid form, but one that is almost sculptural in the way that the form is portrayed. She is engaged in work, in that she is working with her beads, yet, this is not necessarily portrayed in this painting. It is as if she was captured perfectly still. This was a hallmark of this particular painter, especially during this period of time, as he was working with poses that were more stylized and solid, as opposed to fluid. Adrian Piper – Vote/Emote This next piece of art is an interesting mix between a Marcel Duchamp sort of Readymade and photography. Duchamp, with his Readymade art used everyday objects and displayed them as art. For instance, he might bring in a bicycle wheel and call it art, or a toilet. In this case, the Readymades would be the window boxes. These are everyday objects that would be found in a home, and they are presented as works of art. The light boxes are silk-screened, which gives the photographs behind them more of the feel of a painting. Yet, beyond the windows themselves, are clearly other works of art that resemble paintings and photographs. Behind one of the windows is clearly the black protest marches of the 1960s civil rights movement. It shows the African Americans marching on Washington, with a sign that says â€Å"

Environmental chemical threat Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environmental chemical threat - Essay Example Environmental chemical threat Methylmercury can be highly toxic to both human and animals. It is concerned hazardous since it can irritate or damage organs if ingested in amounts that can be considered to be dangerous for the human body. The main source of mercury is air emissions from power generation and other industrial and waste disposal activities, during its movement among the atmosphere , land, and water mercury undergoes a serious of complex chemical transformations. Thus methylmercury is an organic form that is derived from this transformation. As a result sea animals are readily in an environment conducive to ingesting or being exposed to methylmercury. It poses a grave environmental threat since it is not considered to be particularly harmful if ingested in low amounts, however several cases have begged to differ with this notion. Regardless of the ingestion amount found in food consumed that has toxic levels of methylmercury, it cannot be sufficiently be ruled out as a threat that without the needed a ttention could cause undue harm. Methylmercury builds up in the tissues of fish, larger and older fish tend to have the highest levels of mercury. One can gain exposure by eating fish or shellfish that has levels of methylmercury. This is important to note since as of the year 2005, the seafood consumption in America was 16.2 lbs. Some natural and synthetic chemicals in the environment can harm the human nervous system such as the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. (Miller 243). Methylmercury is known to have caused adverse effects that later on proved to be permanent and this is within proven actual cases. To protect the population against a threat that can be so silent for a long period of time, yet so deadly is the duty of each and every environmentalist. Mercury emissions continue to rise in the environment and this can only mean that it is a growing real threat that should be dealt with accordingly. Women and children are the most vulnerable to methylmercury effects. A recent study by the National Academy of Science concluded that the population at highest risk is the children of women who consume large amounts of fish and seafood during pregnancy, and that the risk to that population is likely to be sufficient to result in an increase in the number of children who have struggle to keep up in school and who might require remedial classes or special education (EPA).Mackerel, sharks, swordfish, and tilefish have high levels of methylmercury. Thus this is a fact that every pregnant woman should be made aware of by their attending obstetrician. Developmental effects caused due to intake of methylmercury can cause cognitive development problems that would result in inadequate development of a child's brain. Methylmercury and metallic mercury vapors are more harmful than other forms, because mercury in these forms reaches the brain (ATSDR). This undoubtedly puts pregnant women at a higher risk of harming their children, and it is possible that seafood is the reason for the increasing number of children born with cognitive development problems. Exposure to high levels of metallic, inorganic or organic mercury can permanently damage the brain, kidneys and developing fetus (ATSDR). Thus the goal is not only to avoid these adverse effects , but to inform pregnant women of the potential risks involved if they ingest seafood. It is highly unlikely

Political science final exam and 3 quizes Case Study

Political science final exam and 3 quizes - Case Study Example Woodrow Wilson was associated with teaching profession for earlier part of his career, and till the early days of his 30s, he had not achieved anything substantial and for this matter he at one time said that even at age of 31, I have achieved nothing, however he had the insight and vision to become one of the best in the field of public administration and he devoted his efforts and energies towards this field and profession that would become corner stone of public administration principles all over the world. 3.Based on the Woodrow Wilson case on pages 26-27, what similarity exists between former President Woodrow Wilson and current President Barack Obama as it relates to both men’s early writings and their stature in the field of academia? Were their writings prominently received? Both the leaders, the present President Barack Obama and the then president Woodrow Wilson were associated with the academic profession, made their way through continuous struggle and hard work rose up to the rank of being the guiders of the nation in longer run. Both had a similarity amongst them in the context of aiming to bring about change, while Woodrow Wilson resolved to bring about change via public administration and governance model, President Barack Obama followed the same pursuit without clearly naming the domain of public administration. Their affiliation to the field of academia enabled them advocating a point towards improvement in the present setup of governmental activities. Both the leaders found their writing as a foundation towards what would be the stepping stone in longer run. Through their writings, they convinced the people, proved their skills and potential, although at first , both were limited to smaller domain, yet with time both found good ground based on their earlier writings and affiliation to the field of academic science and research. Hence it was

Nursing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 14

Nursing - Assignment Example According to this institution,  this is the only way to acquire quality education especially in pursuit of a health care related profession (Finkelman and Kenner, 2013). The process of evaluating the excellence levels in the nursing profession may seem to be difficult; however, the Academy of nursing feels that the accreditation bodies have been established to ensure that health care professionals are acquainted with adequate knowledge towards quality health care delivery. Notably, American academy of nursing has a strong view that the nursing accreditation schools are creating gateways and programs that make qualified health care athletics to pursue advanced, professional studies (Finkelman and Kenner, 2013). Moreover, the American academy of nursing feels that these accreditations are profound avenues that will help institutions and professionals to develop, promote, and maintain appropriate education standards. According to the American academy of nursing, only accredited institution is capable of providing quality education to the athletics (â€Å"Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative †¦ â€Å"2011). For instance, the systems of accretion, accreditation standards, and criteria have ensured that health care become patient centered thereby promoting communication and health provision to the patients (Finkelman and Kenner, 2013). Health care provision through shared management and decision-making will adversely advocate fo r disease and injury prevention measures thereby promoting healthy lifestyle among the public and health care professionals. Conclusively, the American academy of nursing is quite supportive of the accretion, accreditation standards, and criteria since they belief that it is the way to provide quality health care to the nation. Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine., & Institute of

Law of Trade Marks and Brand Names Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law of Trade Marks and Brand Names - Essay Example ng (1) it is justifiable based on the premise of customer welfare and informed decision of consumers (2) it is not justifiable since it creates unfair competition. Before 1994, a number of English laws have been restricting but never prohibiting comparative advertising. For instances, under section 4(1) (b) of the Trade Marks Act 1938, it is considered an infringement of trademark if a third party uses the trademark of another in its advertising regardless of the nature of such advertisement. However, this all changed when Trade Marks Act (TMA) 1994 was enacted, English law then took a firm stand on comparative advertising. Following the provisions of s 10(6) of the TMA, comparative advertising is now permitted. Section 10(6) of the TMA has been interpreted as to allow comparative advertising â€Å"as long as the use of the competitor’s mark is â€Å"honest†.2 In the words of Laddie J is the case of Barclays Bank v RBS Advanta (1996) 3, â€Å"there is nothing wrong with telling the public of the relative merits of competition goods and services and using registered trademarks to identify them.† In most cases brought before the Courts, the question has been on the issue of justifiability of unfavourable comparisons employed by competitors. Would unfavourable comparisons be a kind of breach to the benchmarks of honesty as indicated in Section 10(6) will result to infringement of trademarks? â€Å"If the use is considered honest by members of a reasonable audience, it will not infringe†.4 In the Court’s decision in the case of British Airways Plc V Ryaniar Limited, Jacob J said that people are already very much exposed to advertising and already know better that believe everything that is being said in advertisements. â€Å"They expect hyperbole and puff.5† The fact that â€Å"the advertising pokes fun†6 at the competitor’s goods and services with great emphasis on the benefits offered by the advertiser is not enough to warrant infringement as this considered normal