Compulsory English Note

READING MAKES WRITING PERFECT!
Created by Saroj Tamang


INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION


Taking Notes While You Read

As you read the selection, underline or highlight the passages that

values. Then, in the margin next to a marked passage, indicate how prominent the value is in your culture by writing "very strong," "strong," "not very strong," or "weak."

American Values and Assumptions

Ø Gary Althen

Gary Althen was a foreign student adviser at the University of Iowa for many years. He has written several books based on his experiences living in Peru and Malaysia and on his extensive work with students, immigrants, and other visitors to the United States. This reading is taken from a chapter in American Ways: A Guide for Foreigners in the United States, second edition (2003).


People who grow up in a particular culture share certain values and assumptions.

That does not mean they all share exactly the same values to the same extent. It does mean that most of them, most of the time, agree with each other's ideas about what is right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, and so on. They also agree, mostly, with each other's assumptions about human nature, social relationships, and so on. Notice that the values and assumptions discussed below overlaps with and support to each other. In general, they agree with each other. They fit together. A culture can be viewed as a collection of values and assumptions that go together to shape the way a group of people perceives and relates to the world around them.


INDIVIDUALISM

The most important thing to understand about Americans is probably their devotion to individualism. They are trained from very early in their lives to consider themselves as separate individuals who are responsible for their own situations in life and their own destinies. They are not trained to see themselves as members of a close-knit interdependent family, religious group, tribe, nation, or any other collectively. You can see it in the way Americans treat their children. One day I was at a local shopping mall, waiting in line to buy an Orange Julius. (An Orange Julius is a cool drink made in a blender with orange juice, ice, and some other ingredients.) Behind me in the line was a woman with two children, a boy who was about three years old and a girl who was about five. The boy had his hand in the pocket of his blue jeans, and I could hear that he had some coins in there. The boy asked his mother, "Can I get an Orange Julius?" "No," she said to him. "You don't have enough money left for an Orange Julius. Remember you bought that cookie a while ago. You do have enough money for a hot dog. Therefore, you could get a hot dog now if you want to. Or, you could save your money, and sometime later when you have enough money, we could come back here and you could get an Orange Julius."



CORE READING 1 American Values and Assumptions

When I tell this story to people from other countries, they usually react with disbelief. The idea that a child so young would even have his own money to spend, let alone be expected to decide how to spend it, seems beyond their comprehension. Here is a young child whose own mother is forcing him to make a decision that affects not just his situation at the moment - whether or not to get a hot dog – but that will affect him at some unspecified time in the future, when he will have more money. But when Americans hear the story, they usually understand it perfectly well. This mother is helping her son learn to make his own decisions and to be accountable for his own money. Some American parents might not expect a three-year-old to make a decision about how to spend money, but they certainly understand what the mother is doing. She is getting her son ready for a world in which he will be responsible for his choices and their consequences. Even his own mother won't be helping him later in life, and he needs to be ready for that. This particular mother may or may not have owned a copy of Dr. Benjamin Spock’s famous book, Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care, to which millions of American parents have long turned for information and advice on raising their children. The most recent version of the book makes this observation: In the United States . . . very few children are raised to believe that their personal destiny is to serve their family, their country, their God [as is the practice in some other countries]. Generally children [in the United States] are given the feeling that they can set their own aims and occupation

in life, according to their inclinations. We're raising them to be rugged individualists. . . . (1998; p. 7)

While it has become more acceptable in light of changing economic circumstances (especially higher housing costs) for young adults to live in their parents' house, the ideal of independence after high school graduation remains. If it is economically feasible for them to do so, young adult Americans are expected to live apart from their parents, either on their own or in college, or risk being viewed as immature,” tied to their mother's apron strings," or otherwise unable to lead a normal, independent life. . . .Americans are trained to conceive of themselves as separate individuals, and they assume everyone else in the world is too. When they encounter a person from abroad who seems to them excessively concerned with the opinions of parents, with following traditions, or with fulfilling obligations to others, they assume that the person feels trapped or is weak, indecisive, or "overly dependent." They assume all people must resent being in situations where they are not "free to make up their own minds." They assume, furthermore, that after living for a time in the United States, people will come to feel "liberated" from constraints arising outside themselves and will be grateful for the opportunity to "do their own thing" and "have it their own way." As indeed, many are. . . . The individual that Americans idealize prefers an atmosphere of freedom, where neither the government nor any other external force or agency dictates what the individual does. For Americans, the idea of individual freedom has strong, positive connotations.



CHAPTER ONE Intercultural Communication

By contrast, people from many other cultures regard some of the behaviour Americans legitimize by the label "individual freedom" to be self-cantered and lacking in consideration for others. . . . Foreign visitors who understand the degree to which Americans are imbued with the notion that the free, self-reliant individual is the ideal kind of human being will be able to understand many aspects of American behaviour and thinking that otherwise might not make sense. A very few of the many possible examples: Americans see as heroes those individuals who "stand out from the crowd" by doing something first, longest, most often, or otherwise "best." Examples are aviators Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart,2 golfer Tiger Woods, and basketball player Michael Jordan. Perhaps the best example from the world of fiction is the American cowboy as portrayed by such motion picture actors as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Americans admire people who have overcome adverse circumstances (for example, poverty or a physical handicap) and "succeeded" in life. Black educator Booker T washington3 is one example; the blind and deaf author and lecturer Helen ~ e l l eirs ~an other. Many Americans do not display the degree of respect for their parents that people in more traditional or family-oriented societies commonly do. From their point of view, being born to particular parents was a sort of historical or biological accident. The parents fulfilled their responsibilities to the children while the children were young, and now that the children have reached "the age of independence," the close child-parent tie is loosened, occasionally even broken. It is not unusual for Americans who are beyond the age of about twenty-two (and sometimes younger) and who are still living with their parents to pay their parents for room and board. Elderly parents living with their grown children may do likewise. Paying for room and board is a way of showing independence, self-reliance, and responsibility for oneself. Certain phrases one commonly hears among Americans capture their devotion to individualism: "You'll have to decide that for yourself." "If you don't look out for yourself, no one else will." "Look out for number one." "Be your own best friend."



COMPETITION

Individualistic Americans naturally see themselves as being in competition with others. Competitiveness pervades the society. It is obvious in the attention given to athletic events and star athletes, who are praised for being "real competitors." Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974): American pilot who, in 1927, made the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight. Amelia Earhart (1897-1937): First woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (in 1928) and to fly across it alone (in 1932). Booker T Washrngton (1856-1915): Son of a slave who went from working in coal mines to founding a university for African-American students and becoming one of the leading educators of his day. Helen Keller (1880-1968): Graduate of Radcliffe College who went on to write and lecture extensively about social causes.



CORE RFADING American Values and Assumptions

It is also obvious in schools and extracurricular activities for children, where games and contests are assumed to be desirable and beneficial. Competitiveness is less obvious when it is in the minds of people who are consistently comparing themselves with others: who is faster, smarter, richer, better looking; whose children are the most successful; whose husband is the best provider or the best cook or the best lover; which salesperson sold the most during the past quarter; who earned his first million dollars at the earliest age; and so on. People who are competing with others are essentially alone, trying to maintain their superiority and, implicitly, their separateness from others.



PRIVACY

Also closely associated with the value they place on individualism is the importance Americans assign to privacy. Americans assume that people "need some time to them" or "some time alone" to think about things or recover their spent psychological energy. Americans have great difficulty understanding people who always want to be with another person, who dislike being alone. Americans tend to regard such people as weak or dependent. . . . Americans' attitudes about privacy can be difficult for foreigners to understand. Americans' houses, yards, and even their offices can seem open and inviting, yet, in the Americans' minds, there are boundaries that other people are simply not supposed to cross. When the boundaries are crossed, the Americans' bodies will visibly stiffen and their manner will become cool and aloof.



EQUALITY

Americans are also distinctive in the degree to which they believe in the ideal, as stated in their Declaration of Independence,5 that "all men are created equal." Although they sometimes violate the ideal in their daily lives, particularly in matters of interracial relationships and sometimes relationships among people from different social classes, Americans have a deep faith that in some fundamental way all people (at least all American people) are of equal value, that no one is born superior to anyone else. "One person, one vote," they say, conveying the idea that any person's opinion is as valid and worthy of attention as any other person's opinion. Americans are generally quite uncomfortable when someone treats them with obvious deference. They dislike being the subjects of open displays of respect - being

bowed to, being deferred to, being treated as though they could do no wrong or make no unreasonable requests. . . . Foreigners who are accustomed to more obvious displays of respect (such as 20 bowing, averting eyes from the face of the higher status person, or using honorific titles) often overlook the ways in which Americans show respect for people of higher status. They think, incorrectly, that Americans are generally unaware of status differences and disrespectful of other people. What is distinctive about the American outlook on the matter of equality are the underlying assumptions that (1) no matter what a person's initial station in life, he or she has the opportunity to Declaration of Independence: Document announcing the creation of the United States and its separation from Great Britain (1776). Honorific titles: Titles of honour or respect.



CHAPTER ONE Intercultural Communication achieve high standing and (2) everyone, no matter how unfortunate, deserves some basic level of respectful treatment.



INFORMALITY

Their notions of equality lead Americans to be quite informal in their general behavior and in their relationships with other people. Store clerks and table servers, for example, may introduce themselves by their first (given) names and treat customers in a casual, friendly manner. American clerks, like other Americans, have been trained to believe that they are as valuable as any other people, even if they happen to be engaged at a given time in an occupation that others might consider lowly. This informal behavior can outrage foreign visitors who hold high stations in countries where it is not assumed that "all men are created equal." . . . People from societies where general behavior is more formal than it is in America are struck by the informality of American speech, dress, and body language.Idiomatic speech and slang are liberally used on most occasions, with formal speech reserved for public events and fairly formal situations. People of almost any station in life can be seen in public wearing jeans, sandals, or other informal attire. People slouch down in chairs or lean on walls or furniture when they talk, rather than maintaining an erect bearing. A brochure advertising a highly-regarded liberal-arts college contains a photograph showing the college's president, dressed in shorts and an old T-shirt, jogging past one of the classroom buildings on his campus. Americans are likely to find the photograph appealing: "Here is a college president who's just like anyone else. He doesn't think he's too good for us." Likewise, U.S. President George W. Bush frequently allowed himself to be photographed in his jogging attire while out for one of his frequent runs. The superficial friendliness for which Americans are so well known is related to their informal, egalitarian approach to other people. "Hi!" they will say to just about anyone, or "Howya doin'?" (That is, "How are you doing?" or "How are you?"). This behavior reflects not so much a special interest in the person addressed as a concern (not conscious) for showing that one is a "regular guy," part of a group of normal, pleasant people - like the jogging college president and the jogging president of his superpower country. . . .



THE FUTURE, CHANGE, AND PROGRESS

Americans are generally less concerned about history and traditions than are people from older societies. "History doesn't matter," many of them will say. "It's the future that counts." They look ahead. They have the idea that what happens in the future is within their control, or at least subject to their influence. The mature, sensible person, they think, sets goals for the future and works systematically toward them. Americans believe that people, as individuals or working cooperatively together, can change most aspects of the physical and social environment if they decide to do so, then make appropriate plans and get to work. Changes will presumably produce improvements. New things are better than old things. Closely associated with their assumption that they can bring about desirable changes in the future is the Americans' assumption that their physical and social environments are subject to human domination or control. Early Americans cleared forests, drained swamps, and altered the course of rivers in order to "build the country. Contemporary Americans have gone to the moon in part just to prove they could do so! "If you want to be an American," says cross-cultural trainer L. Robert

Kohls, "you have to believe you can fix it." . . . This fundamental American belief in progress and a better future contrasts sharply with the fatalistic (Americans are likely to use that term with a negative or critical connotation) attitude that characterizes people from many other cultures, notably Latin American, Asian, and Arab, where there is a pronounced reverence for the past. In those cultures, the future is often considered to be in the hands of fate, God, or at least the few powerful people or families that dominate the society. The idea that they could somehow shape their own futures seems naive, arrogant, or even sacrilegious. Americans are generally impatient with people they see as passively accepting conditions that are less than desirable. "Why don't they do something about it?" Americans will ask. Americans don't realize that a large portion of the world's population sees the world around them not as something they can change, but rather as something to which they must submit, or at least something with which they must seek to live in harmony. . . .



TIME

For Americans, time is a resource that, like water or coal, can be used well or poorly. "Time is money," they say. "You only get so much time in this life; you'd best use it wisely." As Americans are trained to see things, the future will not be better than the past or the present unless people use their time for constructive, future-oriented activities. Thus, Americans admire a "well-organized" person, one who has a written list of things to do and a schedule for doing them. The ideal person is punctual (that is, arrives at the scheduled time for a meeting or event) and is considerate of other people's time (that is, does not "waste people's time" with conversation or other activity that has no visible, beneficial outcome). . . .



The American attitude toward time is not necessarily shared by others, especially non-Europeans. They are more likely to conceive of time as something that is simply there, around them, not something they can "use." One of the more difficult things many foreign businessmen and students must adjust to in the United States is the notion that time must be saved whenever possible and used wisely every day. In their efforts to use their time wisely, Americans are sometimes seen by foreign visitors as automatons, inhumane creatures that are so tied to their clocks, their schedules, and their daily planners that they cannot participate in or enjoy the human interactions that are the truly important things in life. "They are like little machines running around," one foreign visitor said. The premium Americans place on efficiency is closely related to their concepts of the future, change, and time. To do something efficiently is to do it in the way that is quickest and requires the smallest expenditure of resources. This may be why e-mail has become such a popular means of communication in American society. Students commonly correspond with their professors by e-mail rather than waiting to talk with them during their office hours. Likewise, businesspeople frequently check their e-mail before and after work, on the weekend, and even while on vacation.



CHA PTER ONE Intercultural Communication

American businesses sometimes hire "efficiency experts" to review their operations and to suggest ways in which they could accomplish more with the resources they are investing. Popular magazines offer suggestions for more efficient ways to shop, cook, clean house, do errands, raise children, tend the yard, and on and on. The Internet provides immediate access to all kinds of information and products.

Americans have come to expect instant responses to phone calls, e-mails, faxes, and other forms of communication. Many quickly become impatient if the responses aren't immediately forthcoming, even when there is no apparent urgency. . . .



ACHIEVEMENT, ACTION, WORK, AND MATERIALISM

"He's a hard worker," one American might say in praise of another. Or, "She gets the job done." These expressions convey the typical American's admiration for a person who approaches a task conscientiously and persistently, seeing it through to a successful conclusion. More than that, these expressions convey an admiration for achievers, people whose lives are centered on efforts to accomplish some physical, measurable task. . . .Visitors from abroad commonly remark, "Americans work harder than I expected them to." (Perhaps these visitors have been excessively influenced by American movies and television programs, which are less likely to show people working than to show them driving around in fast cars or pursuing members of the opposite sex.) While the so-called "Protestant work ethics may have lost some of its hold on Americans, there is still a strong belief that the ideal person is a "hard worker." A hard worker is one who "gets right to work" on a task, works efficiently, and completes the task in a way that meets reasonably high standards of quality. . . . More generally, Americans like action. They do indeed believe it is important to devote significant energy to their jobs or to other daily responsibilities. Beyond that, they tend to believe they should be doing something most of the time. They are usually not content, as people from many countries are, to sit for hours and talk with other people. They get restless and impatient. They believe they should be doing something, or at least making plans and arrangements for doing something later. People without the Americans' action orientation often see Americans as frenzied, always "on the go," never satisfied, compulsively active, and often impatient. They may, beyond that, evaluate Americans negatively for being unable to relax and enjoy life's pleasures. Even recreation, for Americans, is often a matter

of acquiring lavish equipment, making elaborate plans, then going somewhere to do something. . . . Americans tend to define and evaluate people by the jobs they have. ("Who is she?" "She's the vice president in charge of personal loans at the bank.") Family backgrounds, educational attainments, and other characteristics are considered less important in identifying people than the jobs they have. . . . Americans tend to spend money rather freely on material goods. Items that were once considered luxuries, such as personal computers, telephone answering machines, microwave ovens, and electric garage-door openers are now considered "necessities" by many Americans. Credit cards, which are widely available even to teenagers, encourage spending, and of course the scale and scope of the advertising Protestant work ethic: Belief that with hard work and self-discipline, a person will eventually succeed.











CORE: READING American Values and Assumptions

Industry is well known. Americans are often criticized for being so "materialistic," so concerned with acquiring possessions. For Americans, though, this materialism is natural and proper. They have been taught that it is a good thing to achieve, to work hard, acquire more material badges of their success, and in the process assure a better future for themselves and their immediate families. And, like people

elsewhere, they do what they are taught.



DIRECTNESS AND ASSERTIVENESS

Americans, as we've said before, generally consider themselves to be frank, open, 40 and direct in their dealings with other people. "Let's lay our cards on the table,"' they say. Or, "Let's stop playing games and get to the point." These and many other common expressions convey the Americans' idea that people should explicitly state what they think and what they want from other people. Americans usually assume that conflicts or disagreements are best settled by means of forthright discussions among the people involved. If I dislike something you are doing, I should tell you about it directly so you will know, clearly and from me personally, how I feel about it. Bringing in other people to mediate a dispute is considered somewhat cowardly, the act of a person without enough courage to speak directly to someone else. Mediation is, however, slowly gaining in popularity in recent years. The word assertive is the adjective Americans commonly use to describe the person who plainly and directly expresses feelings and requests. People who are inadequately assertive can take "assertiveness-training classes." What Americans consider assertive is, however, often judged as aggressive by some non-Americans and sometimes by Americans - if the person referred to is a woman. . . . Americans are not taught, as people in many Asian countries are, that they should mask their emotional responses. Their words, the tone of their voices, or their facial expressions will usually reveal when they are feeling angry, unhappy, confused, or happy and content. They do not think it improper to display these feelings, at least within limits. Many Asians feel embarrassed around Americans who are exhibiting a strong emotional response to something. On the other hand, Latin Americans and Arabs are generally inclined to display their emotions more openly than Americans do, and to view Americans as unemotional and "cold."

Americans, however, are often less direct and open than they realize. There are, in fact, many restrictions on their willingness to discuss things openly. It is difficult to categorize those restrictions, and the restrictions are often not "logical" in the sense of being consistent with each other. Generally, though, Americans are reluctant to speak openly when: the topic is in an area they consider excessively personal, such as unpleasant body or mouth odours, sexual functioning, or personal inadequacies; they want to say "no" to a request that has been made of them but do not want to offend or I hurt the feelings of" the person who made the request; they are not well enough acquainted with the other person to be confident to lay one's cards on the table: To state one's opinion honestly.



CHAPTER ONE Intercultural Communication that direct discussion will be accepted in the constructive way that is intended; and, paradoxically, they know the other person very well (it might be a spouse or close friend) and they do not wish to risk giving offence and creating negative feelings by talking about some delicate problem. . . . All of this is to say that Americans, even though they see themselves as properly assertive and even though they often behave in open and direct ways, have limits on their openness. It is not unusual for them to try to avoid direct confrontations with other people when they are not confident that the interaction can be carried out in a constructive way that will result in an acceptable compromise. . . . Despite these limitations, Americans are generally more direct and open than people from almost all other countries with the exception of Israel and Australia. They will not try to mask their emotions, as Scandinavians or Japanese tend to do. They are much less concerned with LaFalce ("t hat is, avoiding embarrassment to themselves or others) than most Asians are. To them, being honest is usually more important than preserving harmony in interpersonal relationships. Americans use the words pushy or aggressive to describe a person who is excessively assertive in expressing opinions or making requests. The line between acceptable assertiveness and unacceptable aggressiveness is difficult to draw. Iranians and people from other countries where forceful arguing and negotiating are common forms of interaction risk being seen as aggressive or pushy when they treat Americans in the way they treat people at home.



Reading Journal

In your journal, write about one of the following topics.

1) Explain what a visitor to your country should know in order to avoid intercultural misunderstandings.

2) Describe an experience you had in a foreign country or culture that helped you understand it better.

3) Choose a topic of your own related to the reading. One of the most important skills you can develop as a good reader is the ability to recognize the main idea in a piece of writing. Although writers often include many ideas, there is usually a central point, or message, they wish to convey.

When you read something, you should ask yourself the following questions? What main idea is the writer trying to communicate? * How does the main idea relate to other ideas in the reading? How does the writer develop his or her main point? What does the writer want me to remember about this subject?











Where Do We Stand?

Ø Lisa Davis

Lisa Davis in this article focuses on cross-cultural difference in the use of personal space and on conflicts and misunderstanding that often arises from these differences. She maintains that with enough training and preaching. People can learn non-verbal habitat of other culture and minimize intercultural problems.



She says the main cause of non-verbal conflict is the tendency for people to interrelate the non-verbal pattern of other culture in terms of the pattern within their own culture. These ethnocentric viewings of reality often result in misinterpretation negative value judgment and feeling of discomfort.



1) American use more direct eye contact than do Japanese (Para 6)

2) South American converse at a closet distant and establish more direct eye contact than do another European. (Para 7)

3) Men tend to converse at a greater distance than do women. (Para 8&9)

4) Women established more eyes contact than do men. (Para 9)

5) Russians are a higher contact, a people whereas establishes are a non-contact group. (para10)

6) Caucasians should view a student avoidance of eye contact as sign of deception whereas Asian teachers see such avoidance as sign of foreign. (Para 11)

7) An American who is used to standing on the corner of elevator and avoiding eyes contact with other people will feel that something is wearing if someone stand by a few inches away.(Para 17)

8) South Arabian men often hold hand while walking but American men don’t.



Time Talk’s with an Accent

Ø Robert Levine



Robert Levine, in the narrative essay describes cultural differences in concepts of time and in the intercultural and misunderstanding that often analyze from this temporal variations. In order to enhance inter cultural experience Levine stresses the importance of learning in a new culture.



Levin this essay means that rules of punctuality are strongly shaped by a cultural values and beliefs. He also clarifies the concepts of social time and says that social time is a cultural temporal orientation reflecting unconsciousness values, belief and rules. The component of social time is the concept of punctuality, pace of life and orientation to past, present and future. Adjusting to a foreign concept of time is difficult because it reflects values , beliefs and rules that are often varies different from those of the visitor’s culture and that are unwritten and hidden.



In this piece of writing, the writer maintains that there is cultural difference concept of time reflecting diverse values and beliefs, which often leads to intercultural conflicts and misunderstanding. By learning about a new cultural pace of life, rules of punctuality and orientation to past, present, and future a visitor can minimize problem and facitify culture adjustment.



As a child, he thought that a clock measured time but later in his maturity, he knew that it was measured by the culture. As a visiting Prof. He knew that Brazilians kept everything for tomorrow. Amanha was highly valued in their culture. He also noticed that the exactness of time was not possible in Brazil. The people had their own time and they moved accordingly. The Brazilians did not have the concept of early and late.



They seem almost indifferent to the value of time. Not only were the students, the Prof. also indifferent to the value of time. They were fond of making appointments that never turn up on time. The writer also noticed that rich people display their value by not being punctual. He waited for his property owner for more than two hours but the property owner did not wait for him even for ten minutes. In the conclusion, he realized that Brazilian concept of time was talking. They wasted their time just in talking.









Polite but Thirsty

Ø Yaping Tang



In this essay, Polite but thirsty, the writer has explained some of the cultural difference in between Chinese and American society. Especially, she has tired to make the Chinese students aware about the American culture so that they could be adopted very easily in American culture. Usually a new comer feels like baby or an idiot in a new culture because of cultural misunderstanding. There is a severe language problem but in addition to this, the cultural differences make the problem even worse. Thus, it is necessary to learn the cultural differences. The writer as a student found some fundamental differences between the Chinese and American cultures:

In Chinese classrooms, the students are in proper discipline. There are certain norms and values of the classroom that they are not allowed to eat anything but in American classroom, the student eat like in a canteen. As an Eastern student, it was really a strange experience and a great adventure to be adopted in the American classroom. The second fundamental difference that the writer noticed was the directness of the American people. They respondent just in two ways: YES or NO. They never show the so-called politeness which is highly esteemed in Eastern culture. The American people believe in informality.



They break the hierarchies and treat every individual equally. They address even their professors by their first name without adding the title SIR/ Madam. The American never hides their feelings. When someone praises the food, the house, the cloth etc. They never reject it but rather they accept it happily, which is very much rare in Eastern culture. The American open the gift in front of the guest when the gift is given to the host, he opens it and praises by heart. However, it is taken as uncivilized manner in the East. In Eastern culture, gifts are given usually at the end of the parties and they are opened often the departures of the guest.



In American society, tipping system is highly popular as well as, it is taken as necessary work in a restaurants. Nevertheless, in Eastern society especially in China leaving a tip is rarely found. The Chinese students are ashamed when they do not leave the tip to the workers. In this way, Yapping Tang has tired to ease the problems of Chinese students in America. Her main intension is to reduce the cultural misunderstandings and to enable the Chinese students to learn the American cultural before they come to America.







Friends and strangers

Ø Margaret K. Nydell



This essay studies the intercultural differences in the relation with the concept of ‘friends and strangers’ in American culture and in Arabian culture, there is a distinct gap between friends and strangers. There are certain rights and duties in a friendship where as a stranger is allowed for using neither rights nor is he offered any duties. In Arabian culture, refusing a friend is taken as breaking the friendship. Even if the word is impossible to perform, a friend never refuses it directly. His response is,”I will try my best”. This response from a friend keeps the friendship alive forever.



In Arabian culture, personal benefit is taken from the friendship we often here, ‘do it for my shake’ but in American culture no benefit is expected from friendship even if a person is helped by the others. He is not morally obliged to help him. The personal choice is so much valued that even the children are not obliged to take care of their parents.



In Arabian culture, personal details are much more important than a person himself is. The readily disclose their social and economic background. IN contrast to Arabian culture the American are unwilling to disclose their personal details and individual is much more important than his background.



In Arabian culture visiting the friend frequent without information, they visit their friends and stay there as long as they please. They do either not feel that they are informing their personal life being along is taken as being dissatisfied or being sad. However, in American culture privacy is highly valued. A person likes to have a movement of privacy so that they could feel one with themselves. Besides the American enjoy being with the friend but they never let them cross the boundary of personal life.



These are some of the differences between the Arabian and American concept of friendship. The Arabian has distinctly divided the line between friend and strangers but the American has blurred the line.



























A Coward

Ø Prem Chand



In the story, A Coward, Prem Chand shows how cultural difference within a country creates problems among the people who live in the same society. The Hindu caste system has created problem among the people in case of marriage. Moreover, the gap between a traditional mind and the modern mind divides the people clearly into opposite poles. Most of the people still stick to their conservative beliefs due to which the gap has always remained unfulfilled.

In the story, Keshav, a Brahmin boy falls in love with Prema, a girl from Banya caste. In the beginning, Keshav seems to be very strong because he is ready to undergo any hardships that might come on his way. He convinces Prema to be bold and fight against the conservative mind. Prema, who is loyal to her parents, does not dare to go against them. However, she does not dream to live without Keshav.

As Prema goes home, she thinks about Keshav and collects her strength to tell her relationship with Keshav to her parents. In the beginning, her parents reject strongly but they argued when she put her life at stake. Prema’s father went to talk with Keshav’s father, who reacted very rudely to him. However, he tolerated being the father of a girl. Then, Prema wrote a letter to Keshav informing him that she was ready to undergo to any sorts of difficulties if he was ready to undergo to any sorts of difficulties if he was ready to accept her as his life partner. She also wrote that her parents were eager to meet him and he was called for dinner.

Prema waits for Keshav impatiently but neither he nor his letter comes. Only the next morning Prema gets the letter (itself) of Keshav in which she finds him unexpectedly coward and disloyal. Her parents asked her about his response but she tells them nothing. She hides her pain the whole day, the next morning she commits suicide. In this way, this story shows the cultural problem of the same society due to the conservative feelings of the people. The lover’s life Prema and Keshav are very much frequent in our society too and they are killing themselves due to the fear of social bars, which are almost impossible for them to cross.









EDUCATION





School Is Bad for Children

Ø John Holt



In this essay, the writer seems to be against the idea of formal education but he is not in favour of abolishing school education, however, he stands for the reformation of traditional teaching system.

According to him, schools are killing the curiosities of the students by imposing the final truth in their mind. When a child comes at school, he comes with many expectations but tragically return home with the feeling of pessimism. Besides, the writer argues that the schools change the student’s natural intelligence, curiosity, confidence, resourcefulness, independence, indifference, boredom and low self-esteem. Actually, the child has immense confidence about his potentialities but the teachers always discourage him. In addition to this, the child finds the classroom to be cold and ugly. Obviously there are other children but they are unable to communicate with each other.

Most of the schools separate the learning from the living. When they create the gap between life and learning, the children are confused. The classroom environment is artificial and the teachers act almost like robots.

Usually the students are taken, as a blank sheet of paper and the teacher are free to write as their mind. The teachers never trust the students and they never appreciate their natural knowledge. AS a result, the child feels that he is not worth of listening 100%.

The teachers neglect the needs for the respect if individual differences. Every individual has different perspective but the teachers always try to establish the final perspective.

The teachers teach the students that to be confused or to make a mistake is to commit a crime and as a result, the students start cheating the teachers.

The writer claims that the schools are teaching him to be indifferent. The class environment is just opposite to how a child lives his life in a natural form. There is no doubt that, there are other children in the classroom but all of them are in silence. They all seem as if they have nothing to do with each other. As a result, the child takes his teacher to be inhuman.















How the Web Destroys the Quality of Students’ Research Papers

Ø David Rothenberg



David Rothenberg is a Professor of philosophy at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is the editor of the scholarly journal Terra Nova: Nature and Culture and has written a number of books on philosophy and ecology. The following essay, which deals with the educational hazards of the www, first appeared in 1997 in The Chronicle of Higher Education- a publication for college and University teachers and administrators. Following David Rothenberg’s essay is a letter to the editor disagreeing with aspects of his argument.

In this essay, Professor David Rothenberg has displayed the harmful effect of the use of internet especially for he students. The writer has claimed that plagiarism has lost the sense of originality. In fact, his experience with the last semester’s students clarified that the students were eager to download the materials without mentioning their sources. Likewise, all the references were taken from the internet and the students even do not know where they exactly occurred.

For the ever-growing use of the web, the students themselves are not fully responsible because the Universities themselves teach the students, “Don’t read, and just connect”. Instead of searching the materials in the libraries, it is easy for the students to copy and paste. The University teachers must be friendly with the students and they must encourage the students to read books from the libraries and consult the related journals. When the teachers give pressures to the students, they are likely to download the materials from the web that helps them to secure a good grade and avoid the pressure of the teachers.

It is also necessary that libraries must be made up to-date. It is better to invest on buying books than spending do much money for computers.

According to the writer, the final year’s students give him hundreds of research papers. He would like to read all of them and evaluate them but he knows that these papers are not the original creations of the students for they were downloaded from the web. (Ref. Para 1)

It was obvious that the downloaded materials lost their originality due to which the writing of the students lost coherence. (Ref. Para 2)

While looking at the papers, the writer noticed that all the works cited from the web and they were written during two months (Sept & Dec 1995). It clarify that the students were missing the general trend of the past and they failed to make their papers specific. Neither they were able to take any authentic writer for their citation nor were they able to give credit to the ownership to the materials. (Ref. Para 3)

In the research paper, the beautiful pictures had been quoted but the pictures where the result of copy cut and paste. Besides random quotations were found but the sources were not mentioned. (Ref. Para 4)

Prof. Rothenberg denies that he is a neoludditec (against the new things) but he is against the idea of misusing the technology. In other words, he believes that the student’s quality should not be damaged by so-called in the industrialization. (Ref. Para 6-7)

After finding out the errors with students, the writer talks about the causing factors for their plight. First, the universities themselves are responsible because they are trying to show themselves modernize and spend a huge amount for the computers. The slogan does not read “Just Connect” encourages the students to download the materials rather create their own ideas. Similarly, the teachers are unable to provide adequate information to the students of second language download the materials to secure a good grade in their exams.

Therefore, the students must be made aware about the harmful effects of downloading the materials and they must be encouraged using libraries frequently.





An Opposing View

Ø Richard Cummins



(David Rothenberg’s article provoked the following letter to the editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education.)



When the article of Rothenberg was published, many responses appeared in the newspapers. Among them, Richard Cummins also could not help publishing his ideas. He opposed the idea of Rothenberg and tries to establish the web as an inevitable part of modern students.

Richard Cummins appreciates the logics given by Rothenberg but he criticizes the narrow concept of Rothenberg. R. Cummins argues that the available materials should be provided to the students so that they can make their writing and thinking even better. Similarly, he rejects the idea of originality and clarifies that there is no much things as original. Besides, he is in favour of modern techniques that enable the students to increase their quality.

R. Cummins uses the metaphor of a spider and a fly. It helps up to the students whether to become a spider or a fly. In other word, good and evil come together- whether we take the good aspects of the bad ones depends on ourselves. Therefore, the web is so responsible for the destruction of student’s quality for and they are responsible for their plight.

Therefore, the teachers should not advocate for bringing the modern techniques but they should teach the students how to get benefit out of them.





Multiple Intelligences and Emotional Intelligence

Ø David Miller Sadker & Myra Pollack Sadker





In this essay, the writer has tried to show that intelligence test is not mental for it is cultural. The word intelligence does not have universal meaning. In one culture doing something is taken as intelligence task where as the same thing turns out to be valueless for the other. Therefore, instead of single intelligence there are multiple intelligences.

Traditionally, IQ test were taken as the measurement of person’s achievement. The higher the score, the greater the person was. Those people who could not score a good marks in IQ test, they considered as disqualified in the field of education.

However, those people failing in IQ’s could make a better future in resting their life in other fields. Thus, the concept of success connected with IQ test was contested (Challenges). Moreover, the people who scores good marks in IQs were found useless in other fields. As a result, what was the intelligence? Was upon questioned.

Addressing the difficult situation Howard Gardner propounded eight types of intelligence and named them as multiple intelligences. According to Gardner, “The capacity to solve valued in one or more cultural settings,” is known as multiple intelligences. According to him:

1. Logical- mathematical. It enables a person to make his career as a scientist or mathematicians.

2. Linguistic. It enables to be a poet, journalist or a writer.

3. Bodily-kinesthetic. It enables the person to be a dancer or a surgeon.

4. Musical. This enables to be a musician or a composer.

5. Spatial. Leading a person to be a painter or a engineer.

6. Interpersonal. This takes a person to be psychologist or teacher.

7. Intrapersonal. Leading a person to be self-aware and ability to use this knowledge to guide behaviour.

8. Naturalist. Securing a position to be a botanist or an environmentalist.

Following the theory of Gardener Daniel Goleman propounded the theory of emotional intelligence. Goleman also gives the example of marshmallow (a sweet meat) analogy supported that emotional intelligence could predict how a person was likely to shape his future.

According to his study the child was ready to eat marshmallow without waiting for the second, was found in his adulthood to be unsuccessful where as the child who showed patients was found to be more confident, successful and better adjusted in the society. Similarly, the child who showed patients scored higher marks in SAT. In fact, emotional test enhanced the people to predict about how a person could behave in his future and consequently reshape his life.

Goleman himself believes that emotional intelligence is a universal measurement of a person’s characters. Similarly, Kelly and Moon write,” emotional intelligence is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s emotion, to discriminate among them and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and action.

In this way, the writers have supported the concept of multiple intelligence and emotional intelligences. The writers are in the opinion that traditional method and pencil and paper test should be left out and new methods which are applicable I every culture should be followed the acceptable examples of intelligence test are multiple intelligence and emotional intelligence.



































The Teacher Who Changed My Life

Ø Nicholas Gage

In this essay, the writer is trying to depict his struggle as a refugee in America and he shows how his teacher Marjorie Hund inspired him. In fact, it was she who had opened the doors of potentiality in him. He had never thought that he would become a famous writer and a journalist in an alien world.

He was born in 1939 in Greece and he migrated to America at the age of nine with his two sisters. Until he was nine, he had not seen even the motors. No doubt, he had been to schools but they did not provide English education. Due to the Communist Guerrillas interference, they had to go to the refugee camp in order to liberate themselves. Unfortunately, his mother was shocked to death when she met the escape of her children.

In the beginning, the writer had hostile relationship with his father because he thought that his father had neglected his family. However, slowly he realizes that his father was helpless in that circumstance. As an immigrant, the American culture and the school environment was very strange for him. Initially, he was sent to a school that was meant for the mentally retarded children. After two years only, he was sent in the American school where he met Miss Hurd. Obviously, he was unwillingly to talk with his mates, perhaps because of his language problem or because of the trauma, he was keeping in the mind.

Miss Hurd enabled him to replay the trauma by acting it out in the paper. His first hand experience about the violence of the Communist Guerrillas the struggle ogfhis mother and her courage to fight against the difficulties where written by him. After writing his experiences, he did not only get sympathy from his friends and teachers but also made himself known to him. Besides Miss Hurd gave his essay or his story to be published in the school magazine.He was inspired by this incident and he was determined to write even more.

Till his maturity and popularity Miss Hurd constantly supported him. During her forty-one years of teaching, she tired her best to give the voice to the voiceless. She never told her students to read the heroic tales but she always made them right what they experienced. As a result, most of her students became creative and successful in their lives.

This essay is opposite to Rothenberg and Sadkar’s essay. Unlike them, he favours the school education and the role of a good teacher upon a student. He strongly advocated that a good teacher have power to change the life of a student. He himself would have become insignificant if he did not have the teacher like Miss Hurd. Therefore, the role of a teacher cannot be underestimated even in the present context. However, the teachers have many challenges in dealing with the students who come from various cultural backgrounds.





Let’s Tell the Story of All America’s Cultures

Ø Ji-Yeon Mary Yuhfill



In this essay, the writer is trying to deconstruct the American history whish was written from White’s perspective. She strongly advocates that all cultural groups have equal contributions for the development of American Civilization or American society. Therefore, the minority groups like Negros and Asians should not be ignored.

As a student of a history, she was taught that America and its success were connected with the Whites and the Whites were the best people of the world. Similarly, she was taught that the European Whites came to barbaric land and started the civilization. Obviously, the contributions of Negros as well as Asian immigrants were ignored. Only in her maturity, the writer knew that America was developed not by the single group or race but rather it was developed by the contribution of all cultural groups.

The White Americans took a tragedy the other people as “outsider”. Though the writer came to America at the age of five and she got her education there, she often asked when she was going back to Korea. Similarly, despite being an American, she was mocked as “chink”. However, later the writer realized that America should change the entire system of education as well as culture. There must be the “Declaration of Multicultural Independence.” Moreover, the American education system must be inclusive rather than exclusive. Perhaps it was because of the same argument the concept of “melting pot” has been change into “a salad bowl”.

In this way, the writer as a non- Native American focuses on multicultural perspective in American education system. Although, the American White have dominated over the others, the contribution of the other minority groups can never be underestimated.

















Coyote and the Crying Song

Ø Harold Courlander



In this parable, the narrator is trying to focus on wrong process of teaching- learning system. Coyote represents the teachers and he alone obviously stands for the students. Without knowing the psychology of the students, the teachers always force them to believe, what they think even the crying sound of dove is forcefully turn into a song. The dove repeatedly rejected that he was singing. Coyote was forcing him that it was a song. Thus, incident mocks at the stupidity of the teacher.

This parable can also be interpreted in terms of moral lesson looking at Coyote’s behaviour we can say that over confidence is a great obstacle in a learning process. Similarly reciting something without knowing its roots is a great mistake. Moreover, Coyote is impatient, ill tempered and easily frustrated which the great enemies in learning process are. Besides, this parable also clarifies that practical knowledge is superior to the bookish knowledge. When Coyote himself was hurt, he knew that Hu-hu-huu! Hu- hu- huu! Was not a song but a moaning sound.

IN this way, this parable gives us some better tips in learning process. We must recited that teaching and learning must be in a natural environment and if possible, in a practical way.



First Grade- Standing in the Hall

Ø Cheryl Savageau

This poem depicts a real picture of a classroom in which the teacher punishes a poor student. By showing the ill- practice of punishment, the poet strongly speaks for the reformation of the education system. In fact, punishment has negative effect on the learner and teaching learning system is incomplete with punishment.

According to the poem, the boy could not read and the teacher threw him outside of the class. He stood there and remembered his grandmother who told him the stories. Now she was at hospital. He wondered when she would be back at home. The boy knew that the latter told the stories but unfortunately, he could not read them. Besides everyone pointed out him as stupid as a hopeless, and the principal punished. He always waited for the bell to ring or the teacher calling him back in the class. Despite the punishment, he still saw the signpost of hope looking at the spider weaving its net and the sun making the life possible. He felt a kind of communication with them and felt himself distinct from his teacher.

The poet may be trying to tell us that punishment never makes a student eager to learn. Besides a students still should not be measured in the narrow concept. A child can shape his future through obviously many skills. It does not necessarily mean that the child who cannot read is really hopeless and stupid. Even if he is poor in his studies, he can do the best in other fields. Therefore, the child must be left to learn in the natural environment and according to his will.





Mass Media and Technology





Computers and the Pursuit of Happiness

Ø David Gelernter



Bottom Lines..

a) Are Computers and the Internet responsible for the revolution of information technology?

b) Whether the computer and the internet have really helped the human beings over 50 years?

c) Will the computers and the internet play significant change in the result over 50 years?



In this essay, the writer is criticizing the public opinion that the computers have brought revolution in IT. According to the writer, it is not only the computer and the internet that has played a significant role in making the age as information is but the other means like radio and television are equally responsible.

The writer clearly says that neither we are nor in information age nor computers and the internet have brought revolutionary development in human history. The people claim that what counts in the 21st century is the materials that were important in the 20th century are equally important even in the present time. The writer say: “Virtual foods make you feel full but it does not prevent from starving…” It clarifies that the artificial world or the abstract ideas can never help the human beings to live a natural life.

It is generally claimed that we have sufficient machines to create store and deliver the information. However, this claim is not able to prove that the present generations are much happier than the previous ones. No doubt, the children of the present time enjoy themselves in playing with the computers but it does not necessarily mean that the past generations were not happy.











An Opposing View

Ø Winn.F. Martin



Bottom lines..

# Information technology has brought substantial changes in the western civilization.

# Printing press has helped to throw off the monarchial system.

# Internet has challenged the policy of China.

# The view of Gelenter are ‘luddite’ (anti-industrial)

# Internet has made possible for the direct voting system.

# Even a Camel driver in the desert is not excluded from the world as he listen to the radio.



In this, essay the writer, Winn. F. Martin challenges the views of Galenter and he strongly points out that the information technology has brought revolutionaries changes in the present time. The writer do not disagree the fact that the basic human needs are the same but he strongly argues that the way we get them is different. Especially in the western civilization, IT has played a significant role.

The printing press has helped to over throw the monarchial systems. Similarly, the internet has challenged the secret policy of China due to which it is becoming democratic. Likewise the writer calls the ideas of ‘ Galenter’ as being ‘luddite’ because he seems to be against the idea of industrialization. The writer gives an example of a camel driver in order to prove how information technology binds human beings irrespective of geography.

The most significant rule of internet is in education system. In the present time a person can have foreign degrees by staying in his own home. The education system has been globalizes due to the internet. In fact, the internet has become a public space for everyone to meet and share their opinions.

Therefore, computers and internet have become inevitable part of modern human lifestyle. It is conservative feelings to underestimate the value of the computer and the internet. If properly used it can be a boon but if it is misused, it can be a curse.





We’ve Got Mail- Always

Ø Andrew Leonard

Bottom lines…

# This essay talks about the pros and cons of the internet.

# Internet is a means to connect the people blurring the physical distance.

# Useless chats, pornography and the other useless mails are the insignificant part of the internet.

# Computers enable the people to write more but what is written is significant.

# The process of globalization has become possible because of the computer and especially due to the internet.



This essay talks about the advantages and the advantages of email. The writer is trying to tell in detail how a person is benefited out of email and how he finds it a curse for his life.

The writer got 1218 mails within a month and out of them only 7 mails were useful. Although he had to spend almost a week deleting, the useless messages however 7 messages were really rocking for him because they either connected him with his long detached friends or they offer him the job. Obviously, this reflected the pros and cons of the email.

There are many disadvantages of the email. So many mails are sent only to give trouble to others. Similarly, most of the teens spend their valuable time only one in pornography. Likewise, a person has lost his freedom because of the email. For example: when a person is in a holiday, even then he has to be in touch with his boss.

However, despite these disadvantages, there are many advantages of the email. First, it gets victory over the physical distance. Likewise, it is the fastest and easiest means of communication. If we use mail, we can keep in touch with the people who are far away from us and who are unfamiliar to us.

Moreover, mails enable the people who are disabled to communicate. The writer his own example that his mother’s brother was unable to communicate either to speaking or through writing however he could communicate through typing. In fact, the writer’s mother gave him a computer in order to communicate or keep in touch with that sick person.

In this way, the writer tells us that email has advantages as well as disadvantages. Undoubtedly, good and evil come together; it is up to us which one to take. If properly used email, can be a boom, but if it is misused, it can be curse.









Propaganda Techniques in Today’s Advertising

Ø Ann McClintock



A) Name Calling:

It is a technique to create negative attitude towards the opposite sides. By creating the negative names, they try to arouse the feelings of mistrust, fear and hate in the mind of the audience. Especially the politician uses this technique in order to evoke public hatred to his opposite sides. The politician addresses the other as ‘looser’, ‘French sitter’ and ‘war’ etc. As a result, the people develop negative attitude towards the other sides.



B) Glittering Generalities:

This is the opposite technique of name-calling. The advertisers connect with their products with an attractive but slippery worst and phrases. For example, they create the slogan like “He cares about people”, “ vote for the future,” The audiences don’t exactly know the meaning but they are attracting by such slogan easily. Consequently, the advertisers are highly benefited out of it.



C) Transfer:

In this technique, the advertiser connects his products either with national flag or with some historical contexts of nationalism. As a result, the people are eager to connect to connect themselves with that product. So that they could support either their national products or to brighten up that historical context.



D) Testimonial:

This is the most used and the most significant method of brainwashing the audiences. The advertisers hired some popular people in order to advertise their products and people easily believe that even their favorites are using them. The actor appears in the television looking as if they really liked the products. As the result, common people buy the products without questioning its significant.



E) Plain Folks:

This technique identifies between the product and the users. “We are all in the same boat.” is the popular slogan. They create in order to sell them products.



F) Stacking:

This is the method creating confusion to the audience by giving them information. The advertisers create such vague situation that the audiences are in dilemma. For example, the slogan come a live with Pepsi creates a lot of confusion to the audiences because they questioned whether the Pepsi brings the dead people back from grave or it simply makes them fresh.



G) Bandwagon:

In this method, the advertisers create the slogan, “everyone is doing it, why don’t you?” When advertisers obviously claim that these are creating the mainstream product and it is useful for the people of every class and race. Similarly, the people feel that if they do not use the product, they are really missing something. As a result, they buy the product.

These are some of the propaganda techniques in today’s advertising. Due to the development of information technologies, mass media is playing a vital role in brainwashing the people. Whether the product is the producers advertise it heavily on media and create a desire on the consumer.







Students Shall Not Download. Yeah, Sure.

Ø Kate Zernike









Don’t Touch That Dial

Ø Madeline Drexler



This essay denies the fact that TV hinders the cognitive power of the students. Basing on the research of the Daniel Anderson, the writer proves that TV enables the kids to understand the life and the society in a new way.



The positive and negative pros and cons of watching TV- less television more vision, social effect of TV.



This essay is based on the research made by Daniel Anderson who tried to prove that TV is not a hindrance for the learning process of the kids. Generally, the parents’ fear the TV because they feel that it rusts their thinking power, kills their imagination, makes them dull and blind; can not think but only see, etc. However, the writer tries to prove that TV does not hamper the learning process however; it has some social effects on the soft mind of the kids.



The conservative people claim that TV makes the child so dull that he cannot interpret the word around him. However, Daniel Anderson presents it and argues that TV never teaches the creative power of the people. While watching TV, the child asks curiously about the new things and as a result, his perception of the world is obviously widened.



Similarly, the conservatives blame that TV has replaced the fun of reading books. They argue that the children of the past used to entertain themselves by reading books whereas the children of the present time are eager to watch TV a lot. Besides the children seem less interested in reading books but Daniel Anderson denies this accusation and clarifies that TV is not responsible for the apathy of the children for reading books. He argues that the parents must start reading the books in order to lure their children for reading books. How much a child reads a book depends upon how many the parents read the books?



Likewise, the conservative blame that due to the TV IQ scores and the school performance of a child has been hindered but Daniel Anderson challenges the conservatives to prove this through the specific research. His argument that the child’s performance depends not on TV but on himself. If the child is smart, he keeps gives less priority to TV and focuses on reading books. Moreover, the conservatives blame that TV makes a child inactive. Nevertheless, Daniel Anderson clarifies that a child does not remain idle but he rather does many extra things like talking, dancing, singing, and even doing homework. As a result, the child’s creativity sharpens.



By rejecting the idea that TV is a hindrance in learning process for the small kids, the writer gives some recommendation for the parents. He points out that the parents should start reading themselves before blaming their child. Similarly, if the child watches TV a lot, they have to give other alternatives of TV. Similarly, the parents must realize that although TV does not have cognitive effect but it certainly has social effects and therefore the parents should not watched the channels, which might create pseudo culture. Besides the parents must not fear with the TV because there are some programmes which are beneficial for the small kids.











Conceptual Fruit

Ø Thaisa Frank

In this story, the writer shows the shallowness or the raucousness of the virtual reality. A handicapped daughter makes her father realize about it. This story also clarifies that some people who would like to escape from the real world. They are happy in the imaginative world of the websites or the virtual reality of the computer.



In this way, the writer is ironically telling us that websites are useful for these who want to escape from the reality. Moreover, the writer also tells us that if we are unable to fulfill our desire in reality, we might satisfy it in creating our own imaginative world of words.

According to the story, the father came home and informs his family that the person has developed such software that they even could make their own street, homes, and the gardens of their choices. His 11 yrs old son knew it already and showed no interest in it. Similarly, his wife, who was tired of playing in computer, showed no interest in him for she could like to do gardening. However, his 16 yrs old daughter Greta, who was handicapped, showed keen interest in him. She was eager to see how her father would make the houses, gardens, and fruits for her.

After a while, her father made the street, houses, gardens and fruits in her name but they were nothing more than words. The daughter was surprised and asked her father that why the people wasted their time in virtual reality. Undoubtedly, the father was speechless however; he replied that it was just to escape from the reality or to satisfy one. He knew that he was making the houses and the gardens for his daughter because he was sure that she would never be able to make one for her. However, he hoped that she would be living in beautiful houses with the children like herself.

In this way, this story tells us how the people satisfy their desire in virtual reality although they know it is shallowly.





All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

Ø Richard Brautigan

The poet has created the concept of an ideal or platonic world where the nature, the human beings and the technology live harmony. At the end of the poem, the tone of the poet is elegiac for the laments on the loss of pre-industrial pristine wilderness in the poem. The poet talks about the harmony among the human beings, the nature and the technology, especially the computer. However, at the end of the poem, the poet shows his own lamentation on the loss of pre-industrial life. His appeal for returning to the nature clarifies that he is not happy with the so-called development of the technology.



In the first stanza, the poet presents ideal view of the cybernetic world in which the nature, the human beings and the technology are in perfect harmony. The poet imagines a world in which the true wilderness is not disturbed by the impact of technology. The line “pure water touching clear sky” clarifies that the nature is not pulled by the touch of technology. In fact, they believe that the growth of technology does not hamper the ecological system.

In the second stanza, the poet supports his main claim that technology does not hamper the ecosystem but it rather helps to keep balance in ecosystem. His cybernetic forest is filled with flower and animals that live independently to each other. The deer past the computers but they are not frightened because they take the computer as beautiful flowers where they can be happy.

In the final stanza, the poet however pines for pre-industrial ecosystem in which the human beings lived in the lap of nature. Indirectly the poet appeals for going back to nature. We obviously realize that the poet even laments for the loss of true wilderness. Although he imagines for cybernetic world which given the picture of an ideal world, the ecosystem (appeal) for returning back to nature creates the irony gap between what he says what he desires. The people see an ideal view in the technology world but true happiness lies in going back to the nature.

In this way, the poet appeals every human being to conserve the nature which supports our life and preserve our happiness.



















Humour











GENDER ROLES





Sex Roles



Ø Hamilton McCubbin & Barbara Blum Dahl

Think about it…

· Are the female the second sex?

· Does our society put equal value on both the sexes?

· Are the sex roles determined biologically culturally? By nature or Nurture?



MEN (♀): - Field, sword, head (reason), commands, strong, ambitious, self controlled, independent.

WOMEN (♂): - Health, needle, heart, obeys (rules), weak, passive, controlled, dependent.



a) Sex role and under identity: According to the scripts written by the writer and similarly every human being is a social actor who is as according to the script writing by the society. There are some social norms in every society and an individual act is determined by the same social norms. Traditionally, it believes that the men should be brave, strong, independent, rigid, ambitious, and aggressive and self controlled etc where as women should be passive, coward, soft, dependent, emotional etc. When any man shows the feature of woman, he is criticizing where as a female is laughed at her, she shows the features of the man. The writer of this essay tries to prove that the behaviour differences between the sexes are not only determined by biological factor but it is influenced by the culture norms and values as well. If it was biological why does the sex role differ from place to place and if it only cultural? Why do the people share same unique features? Thus it is self evidence that sex roles are determined by both.



b) The cause of sex roles: biological or culture... It is interesting to know that most of nurses are women and most of the trucks drivers are men. In general the men are more intelligent than the woman but the question is why it is so? Obviously, there are two factors: biological and cultural or nature or the nurture.



c) Genetics, the biological evidence:

Male ♀ Androgen, visual skill, xy chromosomes

Female ♂ Estrogens, verbal skills, xx chromosomes.

No one contracts the fact there are biological differences between male and female. But there is a question put to the researchers whether biological differences determine the behaviour of male or female or not. By structure male and female are made up of different chromosomes: xy chromosomes make the male where as xx chromosomes make the female. Due to the differences in chromosomes, the average male is fatter, heavier and more muscular than the average female. Similarly, it is found out that the behaviour differences are due to the female hormones. Both male and female hormones that are produced named androgen and estrogens make the difference with male and female. Likewise estrogens make female fertility, breast, butt, and other changes in the body.

Undoubtedly, the physical structure of the male and female is determined by the hormones but the question is what if has to do with emotional aspects? The answer is obvious that makes hormones empower them with verbal skills. Consequently, they act differently however; it should be noted that the sex roles are biological. Even it’s a girl has boyish features; she can not act like a boy until her society permits to do her so.



d) Culture: The anthropological evidence: The study of three tribes..

i) Arapesh: both the sexes acted the role of a female cooperate, nurturing etc.

ii) Mundugumor: Masculine roles were played by both the sexes; aggressive and competitive.

iii) Tehanbuli: Just the reverse roles; women played like masculine roles and the men played feminine roles.

According to Anthropologists, the sex roles are determined by the culture from the early civilization, the males achieved power and prestige because of their strength and courage because they went for hunting where as the female stayed at home nurturing their children. Obviously, both of them symbolized the source of food, make earned more power because they distributed the food and make the female dependent on them. Consequently, the sex roles were determined the males were more powerful and confident that the female. In a sense they were like rulers and ruled.

According to the study of the Anthropologist, the sex roles differ from one society to the other. In some of the societies, both the sexes play the feminine roles and in some others they play the masculine roles. It is also surprised that some others they play the masculine roles. It is also surprised that some societies make the female more powerful that the males. Basically, the female are powerful only when they make themselves independent. In the societies where the female grew crops and sold them enhanced them powerful. Therefore, it is self-evident that sex roles are the products of income resources allowed by the society to the both the sexes.



d) Society: Learning evidence: It is already stated that sex roles are determined by the biological as well as cultural factors. If culture determines the sex roles, how does it begin? Obviously the culture starts from process of socialization. Most differences between male and female are learned through family interaction school teaching and the mass media. The grown ups desire the boy as bouncing and sturdy where as the girl are determine as sweet and soft. As a result the feminine features are developed in the girls and masculine features are developed in boys. Moreover, if any boy likes playing with dolls, the parents do not allow him to do so. They try to teach him that he is a boy and must play the rough games. As a result, the socialization begins.



e) Feminist critique: Sex roles and social control: After the minute study of the sex roles, the feminist critiques have reached the conclusion that there is a strong social control, the males have achieved prestige and power, where as the female are still lagging behind the males. If equal opportunities are provided to the females, they would never be different from the males even though there are fundamental differences in their biological structure.



Conclusion: IN this chapter entitled “SEX ROLES” the writers have justified that sex roles have biological as well as cultural roots. In this process of development of culture, societies play a key roles and the child learns the distinction of the sex roles from his elders. However, the feminists are with the hope that if the opportunities are provided to the female equally, the gap between the sex roles will be bridged.







Boys Will Be Boys



Ø Barbara Kantrowitz & Claudia Kalb



· In this essay, the writers have tried to focus on the fact that boys should not be ignored and criticized for their fruits. Their aggression and violence is increased by indifference of the parents. Thus special is needed to the boys.



Point wise summary:

1. Due to the feminist movement, the physical traits of the boys are often criticized. Whatever the boys did or do, it often becomes a matter of criticism for the feminist. It is the reality that boys and girls do have different physical traits and it is a great mistake and a severe injustice for the boys to look from the same perspective.

2. It is not surprising to know that the crisis point (period of changes) in the boys and girls occur at different ages in comparison with the girls and the boys face the crisis point earlier as a result the boys show the discipline problem, attention deficit, disorder and other problems relating with morality. They even commit violent crime due to the same problem.

3. The boys and girls do have different nature from their infancy. The boys are expressive but the girls are reflective i.e. when a male baby is hungry, he starts weeping but when a female baby is hungry, she sucks her thumbs. Besides, as the male are unable to commit suicide, become alcoholic and also show the symptoms of ADD.

4. According to the researchers, as the male child faces the crisis point earlier, he develops to self together. In other words, the child pines for love and affection from his parents but on the other hand he would like to show himself as independent. The example of 5 years old boy getting angry with his mother when she kissed him publicly. The mother knew that her son liked to be loved but he despised when his mother treated him childishly.

5. The writers are in the opinion that the paradoxical relationship between the boys and the parents must be bridge by the clear dealing of the parents especially the mother. the writer have also given the example how the gap between the child and the parents create the problems. For example: 17 years old boy committed suicide when his girlfriend deceived him. In fact boy never understood the female traits because his mother also kept distance with him.

6. It is a tragedy that divorce causes are frequent in the western society and most of the child is reared by a single parent. As a result, the child develops the factors like anger, aggressiveness, frustration and ultimately violence. Instead of blaming the boys for their rude behaviour, we have to see his social and emotional background responsible for his plight.

7. The social and gender spare of girl has been widened due to the feminist movement. The so-called radical feminist criticised the behaviour of the men even though they are the essential male qualities. Besides, it is so-called male chauvinism that has hindered the male’s to be delicate and emotional. However, it is a great injustice for the male to value them from female perspective. As it is often remarked that male and female are foreign lands. There are fundamental differences between the male and female traits and behaviour. Therefore, we should not measure the male and female with the same scale.

In this way, this essay has been returned against the idea of radical feminist who are eager to criticize the male behaviour even though they are quite natural. as the boys are always boys, their aggression and violence should be taken naturally. However, we should try to find out the root causes for these traits.



Sex, Sighs, and Conservation



Ø Deborah Tannen



* This essay is concerned with the use of language and the gender roles. The females use language to negotiate intimacy that enables them to keep harmonious relationship on the other hand males use the language to preserve their independences, authority and their states. The females are eager to speak at home but the males speak publicly.



In this essay, their primarily concerns with the lack if communication between male and female. In order to make her readers well known about the lack of communication, the writer begins with the differences in the use of language between male and female. The females use language to negotiate intimacy which helps the women share feelings, make connections and it also enables them to create a sense closeness and harmony. But, on the other hand, the males use language to preserve their independence and negotiate their status. Besides, the male are eager to remain in the central of attraction through the use of the language. Moreover, the language helps them to challenge and compete with the others and to demonstrate knowledge and verbal skills. Though the males and females live in the same world, their behaviour and the use of language shows as if they have been brought from different worlds.

The writer begins her essay from the example of a husband and wife who are searching for something but without asking someone else. Though the wife suggests her husband to ask with someone out there but the husband is a reluctant. This example clarifies that the females use language to negotiate intimacy and achieve harmony whereas the male use language to preserve their authority and status.

For the females talking makes them feel that they are not lonely. They shared their feeling with someone else so that they could feel light. But on the other hand, the males rarely share share their feelings with their wives. As soon as a wife comes back from her office, she is eager to tell everything to her husband but despite her inquisition the husband is not really to envois himself. Similarly, the wife is startled when her husband reveals in front of his friends about the happening of his office affairs. It is a really a shocking matter for the wife that her husband does not trust her.

According to the writer, both husband and wife have misunderstanding about each other. This misunderstanding is due to the lack of conversation resulting from the differences in sex roles. Instead of accusing each other, it is better to understand the difference in the use of language in relation with sex roles. The males should understand that the females are eager to unvssom themselves readily where as the male’s nature not to disclose readily. In order to clarifies about her in the poem. The writer gives the example of her own parents who are married for 57 years but they still have problems in understanding each other. Basically, the female seeks for harmonious relationship where as the male always brings out contradiction. The female support each other where as males are always ready with alternatives. Consequently the conflict is never resolved.

Conclusion:

In this way, the writer shows how the lack of conversation or communication between male and female creates problem in society as well as home. It is self evident that males and females are different biologically and culturally with each other. So obviously use of language also deferrers radically, or fundamentally. The cause behind the lack of communication is nothing more than the sex role. Therefore it is necessary to minimize the gap between the gender roles in order to minimize that lack of communication.





Women Have What It Takes



Ø Carol Barkalow

* In this essay, the writer strongly advocate for the involvement of women in combat unit of the army. The writer argues that emotional or mental strength is more powerful that the physical one. The wars experiences have evidenced that female are more determined than the male combatants.

The writer herself was an army officer who had the first hand experiences of the Gulf war. According to her experiences, it was notices that the female soldiers were sometimes more determined that the male soldiers. Besides, it is self- evident that strength lies not in physical structure but it lies in mentality. There were so many evidences that male soldiers ran away from that battle field whereas the female soldiers encountered their enemies. IN case of discipline, the female kept several steps ahead of the males.

Therefore the writer believes that the female should be given same opportunities like that of the male. Undoubtedly, pregnancy creates a problem for the female, however, we can say the female can serve the nation and fight for it in the same manner as the males do.





An Opposing View

Ø Bill Norton



Why women should not be sent on the front line?

Because they:

i) Destroy cohesion (harmony)

ii) Have got different sex roles

iii) Have got physical inferiority



In this article, Bill Norton criticizes the idea of sending the female in the battle field. He strongly denies that the female are fit for fighting. His main argument is that male and female do have different sex roles and consequently they can not be fit an every field.

According to him, there are three reasons due to which the woman should not be sent in the battle field.

a) The standard of the army and its cohesion will be destroyed.

b) Love, interest will be increased due to which a lot problem could arise;

c) The physical inferiority of the female.

In fact, when the females are sent in the battle field, the attraction to opposite sex will obviously increase and as a result the mission of the army will be diverted. Moreover, the males do have got fitted physical strength whereas the female are comparatively weak. Undoubtedly, they might have mental strength but it does very less in the battle field.

Therefore, its self-evident that the male and female are made for different functions. Male for the external world whereas the female has to look after a home and family.







The Androgynous Male



Ø Noel Perrin



-having no specific gender role.



Masculine

rigid, strong

necessarily be good

husband no choice left

Feminine

soft, emotional

can act freely

choices are open



In this essay, Noel Perrin shows some striking advantages of being an androgynous male. When a person pretends to have (he-man) qualities, have must sacrifice a lot of choices. For example, he must be rigid even if he is emotional. But the androgynous males are quite free and they can act according to the situation.

Due to the feminist movement, gender roles are distinctly divided: males should be rigid and female should be emotional. Due to this distinction, both male and female are in problem and especially the male have lost their happiness. In order to show the masculine power, the male should show their cocksureness in every field. And it has let them to infinite unhappiness, so the writer suggests the male to be androgynous so that they could enjoy the masculine power as well as realize the feminine bliss.

Usually, power and machine is connected with male qualities and nature and nurturing is connected with feminine qualities. The androgynous male are enable to feel the both. In case of the writer, he has fought against his enemies in the battle field which is purely a masculine quality and he has also looked after his children and it is the feminine qualities. Shedding the tears in emotional scenes, kissing the cat and feeling the motherly affection towards his children are the freedom provided by androgynous qualities.

Therefore, the main argument of the writer is that all males are not completely masculine. Along with their masculine qualities, they do have feminine qualities as well. So it is not a good idea to divide the world or the society into he and she distinction. The real life comes in between him and her.







The Princess and the Admiral



Ø Charlotte Pomerantz



* This fable clarifies that even the women can be a better ruler than males. The princes easily get victory over the powerful Admiral and his troops. She also justified that the women are more humane than the men. She bestowed the Admiral his life due to which he felt indebted to her through out his life.



This story is based on the 13th century invasion of Vietnam over the other countries and the skilful defence of the minor countries. The tiny kingdom ruled by the Princess, Mat Mat was safe until the Admiral hold vulture eye on it. However, the princess was able to get victory over the power Admiral and she was also able to continue the peace celebration.



According to the story, there was a dry village known as a tiny kingdom. The village was without wars for years because the village did not have the minerals to attract the invaders. The people were excited to celebrate 100 years of peace however, the news of the invading armies in the command of the Admiral did not only shock the villagers but it also startled the princess, Mat Mat. The three advisors of the princess inform that the Admiral had been coming in 20 large boats with sufficient weapons to capture the village. Immediately, the Princess call for the Astrologer and consulted about the relationship between the sun and the moon. The Astrologer informed that the attraction was greater in the full moon night and the following night was the same. The princess was glad and she quickly ordered the people to cut the trees, make them pointed edge and take the trees in the sea bank. As ordered by the Princess, the tree stood like the fence in the sea port and it was obviously a trap for their enemies.



The fisher folk brought 253 poles in order to fort their village. Besides, as planned by the Princess, the fisher boats were sent to tease the war boats of their enemies. According to their desire, the fisher folk were able to bring the war boats in their traps. On the other hand, the Admiral felt happy being unknown to the fact that he was already at the trap. He mocked at the Princess and her people because they fought with fruits, vegetables and eels. He was almost sure that when the tribe would be low, he would capture the village including the Princess.



Unexpectedly, the war boats of the Admiral were destroyed by the poles of the fisher folk because they made holes at the bottom of the boats. The troops of the Admiral were nearly capsized. The Admiral realized that he was defeated by the simple fisher folk and the Princess. Ultimately, he surrendered to the Princess. Though he expected of being beheaded, the Princess bestowed him his life and he felt indebted to her throughout his life. Moreover, his perception to the women was changed and realized that women were much more intelligent, determined and powerful than the males.



In this way, this tale clarifies that women are equally capable, strong and determined like males. It is completely a bias view to take the female as weak, powerless and coward.







The Greater God

Ø Rakesh Ratti



* In this poem, the poet presents the positive as well as negative aspects connected with the image of a woman. The woman is the images of love, care, divinity, creation, self-sacrifice, gentleness, tolerance, kindness, etc. Similarly, they are criticized for their unreliability, slavery, powerlessness, credulousness, etc. However, the poet bows in front of her and regards her as the greater god.



* Image of women: a greater god, a shadow of greater powerless, fearful, subservience, a slave, bitter tongue, tongue tied, words are left unsaid, insanely yielding, and timid.



The greater god is a poem talking about positive and negative aspects of women. Despite some negative aspects and weakness, the poet regards the women as the greater god. According to him, she is nothing but everything for him. In other words, the role of the female is insignificant in a home or in a society but she is the one who gives continuity to the life process.

The female are considered as lesser god, the shadow of the so-called powerful or the greater god, i.e. male. Similarly a female is powerless, coward, a slave of the male, temptress etc. however, a female is extremely kind, gentle, affectionate, tolerant, self-sacrificing, nourishing, divine, etc. She is the one who takes all the pain and sorrows. She is ready to go under any hardships for the sake of her family. So for the poet, she is everything.

In fact, the poet is talking about his own impression of his mother. As a child, he had seen the female in the form of a slave or a doll who had been passed from hands of the father to the hands of the husband. Neither the female is consulted nor she is given chance to express her feelings. As a result the words are left unsaid.

In this poem, Rakesh Ratti has shows the significance of a female in the society. A female is not only a daughter, a wife but she is also a mother who makes the possibility of the continuity of the life process. In other words, female is the symbol of creation and without her life does not exist. Socially and culturally, the role of the female has been minimized. However, the poet realizes the significance of the mother. The person who makes the life possible can never be the lesser god. Despite being considered, as a slave or a shadow of the male, a female is greater than the male. It is the biasness of the society that gives less privilege to women and consequently they have to lag behind the males. The authority is given to the male whereas the female are always taken as coward and weak. Positive aspects like love, care, sensitiveness, tolerance, inspiring etc are always ignored. As a result, the society always looks at the female nearly a shadow of the male. Unlike other people, the poet glorifies the role of the female and establishes her as the greater god.







Humour



WORK



The New American Dreamers

Ø Ruth Sidel



· What is American Dream? - Freedom or material prosperity.



In this essay the writer explained how in American society had been changing especially- the role of female. The unwed mothers do not face the social stigma and the female can uplift their status irrespective of their previous class or race.

The title of this essay has been taken from the concept of the American Dream which means hope for better future through material prosperity. Similarly, it is also connected with the success and achievement. The word “NEW “refers to the American women who are fighting for their better future through their hard work. These women believe that their destiny can be controlled by their hard work.

Unlike the traditional women, the female of the present time believe that they can change their future. They work with optimism in order to secure their better future. Besides, they strongly advocate for the freedom of choices. Similarly, they also believe that they are the captain of their ship and they are responsible for its successful voyage as well as its wreck. Consequently, they always struggle against obstacles untiring.

American Dream promise for equality, justice and freedom. When the people are given equal opportunity to shape their career, they feel responsible with themselves. Especially, the women, who were considered as the second sex or the shadow of male, are encouraged for the material prosperity. Irrespective of ethical background or social status, these female always pine for a complete life: a loving husband, a house, a car, gentle children, a promising profession etc. Though some of them are unwilling to marry they are eager to go to dating and become unwed mother. Moreover, these female expect for a perfect life style not only for themselves but also for their kids.

It does not necessarily mean that the dream of this female would be fulfilled very easily. Especially for the poor and lower middle class, it is very difficult to uplift their social status. However, it is not impossible for these female to achieve their dream if they are determined and devoted to their profession. The dream of the ‘god life’ has been made possible by the promise of the American Dream.











Someone Is stealing Your Life

Ø Michael Ventura



· In this essay, the writer describes the exploitation and the lack of authority that the most workers of US experience. The writer strongly advocates for the situation in which the writer are free to express their ideas, contribute in the decision making and get the friendly atmosphere.

In this essay , the writer strongly advocates for the rights of working class people specially of the U.S The writer does not mean that the workers should get equal profit and authority, however he believed that the employers do not have the rights to exploit or rob the life of their worker. At least there must be the value of the workers contribution and his voice should be heard and included in decision making process.

Out of 52 weeks, a worker gets only 2 weeks paid holiday. In that sense, out of his 26 years of service, a worker gets only a year of his own. Similarly it is the worker who stands for the company. In other words, workers are life line of any company. But tragically, the workers do not have any decision making power. In sense, they are just the puppet of their employers. They are almost treated as slaves.

According to the writer the owners have taken the greatest risk of investing their money in the business. So obviously they must get a greater amount of profit. But, the fact is that they must not exclude the workers from the authority. Truly speaking, the workers have every right to know about their company, their product and the decision which are being taken. Moreover, it is the workers who are victimised mostly when the company is bankrupt by the wrong decision.

The writer of this essay seems to be making a radical statement that the workers should get some share in the company in which he works. His ideas are not beyond criticism. However, his main argument is that the workers should get the friendly atmosphere for their work and their contributions or the price sweat most be paid duly. Besides he also encourages the workers to speak against the injustice and work for their betterment. he also challenges the employers that if they expected their works to be passive and dance according to their tune, it would be their greatest errors.





Our Scheduled, Our Selves

Ø Jay Wall jasper

In this essay, the writer shows his angst against the hectic lifestyle of the modern people. He suggested the people to cross the boundary of the schedule and realized the bliss of unestimated or unplanned time. He accused the three factors of making the life style of people: the rapid globalization, modern technology and the human desire. He also recommends working less and making the life worth of living.

In this essay, Jay Wall Jasper advocates for free use of time. He loathes the idea of scheduled life and recommends for the magical spontaneous moments that provide the real bliss of life. As soon as a person breaks off his scheduled he gets freedom and he is able to achieve the unimaginable happiness.

Due to so-called modernization the life of the people has been burden with hectic factors like work and routine. As a result modern man has become the slave of time. Obviously, the time is limited but the person has to do unlimited works. From morning to evening, the person is busy in following his schedule and tired of his work. It is very rare that a person gets his own time. As a result, a person is deprived of the real pleasure that his life offers to him.

“We are bigger than our schedules”., said Paulo Frieire and he was absolutely right. IN fact, we are not born for being the slave of time. In the name of following the pace of time, we are trying to flow it and consequently, we have been enslaved. Besides, the concept of part time jobs, single parents, two workers at home, the increase in the so-called standard of life etc. are responsible for making us the slave of our schedule.

The writer suggests the people not to work over time as well as not to have over desire. The so- called options always drags a person to slavery. Therefore a person should put sometime for the unprepared schedules so that he could feel the real bliss of life.

The writer does not mean that we should not do our routine work but his anger is always towards the over hectic life due to the so-called material prosperity. Moreover, he intends to make the people aware that unplanned schedules empower a person or revitalized him immediately so it is necessary to break up the schedules time and again.







The Rage to Know

Ø Horance Freeland Judson



In this essay, the writer explains the various reasons for which the scientists are involved in their professions, including challenges, exhilaration, discoveries and pleasures. They believe that they can put themselves apart through their scientific endeavour.

In this essay, the writer tries to dig- out the causes behind the involvement of the scientist in their profession. In fact, it is the,” moment of truth that motivates them to remain in their profession.” The scientific discovery is not only clear but it is also beautiful. As a result, the scientists are eager to remain in their profession and give the society something new. Besides, the scientists also know that there is a unity in diversity. They always try to find out a binding element among the diverse thing.

Obviously, there are a number of hurdles, difficulties, dissatisfaction as well as frustration, however the pride in kill, keeping himself apart from the peers as well as the sense of competition always motivate the scientist for their hard work. Moreover, curiosity and passion for work are inevitable part of the scientist. Once they start their work, they do not leave it until they get a satisfactory conclusion.

Along with other motivations, there is an impulse of the rage to know. Every scientist has strong thirst for knowledge which is not quenched until he gets something for which he can feel pride for. Similarly, there is a pleasure motive in the discovery of the scientist. Whenever they see a new thing, an unending curiosity gets born in them and consequently, they get pleasure out of it.

Though this essay is concerned with the scientist and their devotion and determination to work, on the whole, this essay tries to inspire the people that despite the frustration and difficulties, one has to do his work feeling tremendous pleasure out of it. Only through the devoted work or labour one can draw a good result.





Los Pobres

Ø Richard Rodriguez

In this autobiographical story the writer express his own experience as a construction worker. In order to experience the pain and pleasure of the ‘real work’, he joins the summer work but he realizes that being an educated person, he is unable to feel the real experience of ‘Los Probres’ i.e. poor and powerless. Only after seeing the pathetic condition of the Mexican migrant workers, he realizes the real conditions as well as exploitation of Los Porbres. Although this story is related with the writer himself, there is a great empathy with the working class people for the writer himself tried to fell the real experience of the hardwork. Besides, the writer, in the beginning thought that the workers were different from what his mother told him about but later he realized that the real workers were truly poor and powerless.

During his graduation, the writer was in search of the summer job and one of his friends suggested him that he should get a job as a worker. In fact, the writer would like to experience the suffering of ‘the real work’ because he would like to show his father that he even had experience of it. During his interview with the contractor, the writer said that he had experience of physical labour though he had never worked physically in his life. Undoubtedly, the people had told him that the physical labour was beyond his capacity but he enjoyed the work very much. Moreover, unlike his expectations, he found the workers not being Los Porbres but being middle class as well as educated like himself. He was even surprised that the workers were not of similar interest and skills. Even though they were daily wage labours, they had the diverse interest and skills. For example: some of them were abstract painless whereas some others were poet and the writers.

The writer, in the beginning, felt that he had got experience of ,’ The Real Work’ but later he realizes that an educated person could never feel the real experience of working class people. The plight of the Mexican migrant workers made him realized that they lack public identity, remain completely alien and they were the person’s falling apart. Due to the lack of proper communication or the language problem, they were acting like the puppet in the command of their contractor. Moreover, they were unaware of the minimum human right and consequently, they were victimized rudely. The quietness was the indication of helpless; they were in the foreign land. Their sweating face and the hard harsh body really invited the sympathy from the writer. He obviously got the answer which he was searching from his childhood. He clearly knows that he could never be ‘Los Porbres’.

This story depicted the life of the poor and the powerless but also in advocating for their rights. Indirectly, the writer speaks for the poor and the powerless people and against their exploitation by the employers. Despite being autobiographical story, the story is able to generate the common experience of the working class people. Similarly the story changes the prospective of the people towards the working class people in sead of hatred and mockery, the desire for love and respect.























Action Will Be Taken

Ø Heinrich Boll

Heinrich Boll - Action will be Taken (An Action-Packed Story)



Probably one of the strangest interludes in my life was the time I spent as an employee in Alfred Wunsiedel's factory. By nature I am inclined more to pensiveness and inactivity than to work, but now and again prolonged financial difficulties compel me –for pensiveness is no more profitable than inactivity- to take on a so-called job. Finding myself once again at a low ebb of this kind, I put myself in the hands of the employment office and was sent with seven other fellow-sufferers to Wunsiedel's factory, where we were to undergo an aptitude test.

The exterior of the factory was enough to arouse my suspicions: the factory was built entirely of glass brick and my aversion to well-lit buildings and well-lit rooms is as strong as my aversion to work. I became even more suspicious when we were immediately served breakfast in the well-lit, cheerful coffee shop: pretty waitresses brought us eggs, coffee and toast, orange juice was served in tastefully designed jugs, goldfish pressed their bored faces against the sides of pale-green aquariums. The waitresses were so cheerful that they appeared to be bursting with good cheer. Only a strong effort of will –so it seemed to me- restrained them from singing away all day long. They were as crammed with unsung songs as chickens with unlaid eggs.

Right away I realized something my fellow-sufferers evidently failed to realize: that this breakfast was already part of the test; so I chewed away reverently, with the full appreciation of a person who knows he is supplying his body with valuable elements. I did something which normally no power on earth can make me do: I drank orange juice on an empty stomach, left the coffee and egg untouched, as well as most of the toast, got up, and paced up and down in the coffee shop, pregnant with action.

As a result I was the first to be ushered into the room where the questionnaires were spread out on attractive tables. The walls were done in a shade of green that would have summoned the word "delightful" to the lips of interior decoration enthusiasts. The room appeared to be empty, and yet I was so sure of being observed that I behaved as someone pregnant with action behaves when he believes himself unobserved: I ripped my pen impatiently from my pocket, unscrewed the top, sat down at the nearest table and pulled the questionnaire toward me, the was irritable customers snatch at the bill in a restaurant.

Question No. 1: Do you consider it right for a human being to possess only two arms, two legs, eyes and ears?

Here for the first time I reaped the harvest of my pensive nature and wrote without hesitation: "Even four arms, legs and ears would not be adequate for my driving energy. Human beings are very poorly equiped."

Question No. 2: How many telephones can you handle at one time?

Here again the answer was as easy as simple arithmetic: "When there are only seven telephones," I wrote, "I get impatient; there have to be nine before I feel I am working to capacity."

Question No. 3: How do you spend your free time?

My answer: "I no longer acknowledge the term free time -on my fifteenth birthday I eliminated it from my vocabulary, for in the beginning was the act."

I got the job. Even with nine telephones I really didn't feel I was working to capacity. I shouted into the mouthpieces: "Take immediate action!" or: "Do something!-We must have some action -Action will be taken -Action has been taken -Action should be taken." But as a rule -for I felt this was in keeping with the tone of the place- I used the imperative.

Of considerable interest were the noon-hour breaks, when we consumed nutritious foods in an atmosphere of silent good cheer. Wunsiedel's factory was swarming with people who were obsessed with telling you the story of their lives, as indeed vigorous personalities are fond of doing. The story of their lives is more important than their lives, you have only to press a button, and immediately it is covered with spweded-out exploits.

Wunsiedel had a right arm man called Broschek, who had in turn made a name for himself by supporting seven children and a paralyzed wife by working night-shifts in his student days, and successfully carrying on four business agencies, besides which he had passed two examinations with honors in two years. When asked by reporters: "When do you sleep, Mr. Broschek?" he had replied: "It is a crime to sleep!"

Wunsiedel's secretary had supported a paralyzed husband and four children by knitting, at the same time graduating in psychology and German history as well as breeding dogs, and she had become famous as a night-club singer when she was known as Vamp Number Seven.

Wunsiedel himself was one of those people who every morning, as they open their eyes, make up their minds to act. "I must act," they think as they briskly tie their bathrobe belts around them. "I must act," they think as they shave, triumphantly watching their beard hairs being washed away with lather: these hirsute vestiges are the first daily sacrifices to their driving energy. The more intimate functions also give these people a sense of satisfaction: water swishes, paper is used. Action had been taken. Bread gets eaten, eggs are decapitated.

With Wunsiedel, the most trivial activity looked like action: the way he put on his hat, the way -quivering with energy- he buttoned up his overcoat, the kiss he gave his wife, everything was action.

When he arrived at his office he greeted his secretary with a cry of "Let's have some action!" And in ringing tones she woudl call back "Action will be taken!" Wunsiedel then went from department to department, calling out his cheerful: "Let's have some action!" Everyone would answer: "Action will be taken!" And I would call back to him too, with a radiant smile, when he looked into my office: "Action will be taken!"

Within a week I had increased the number of telephones on my desk to eleven, within two weeks to thirteen, and every morning on the street car I enjoyed thinking up new imperitives, or chasing the words take action throught various tenses and modulation: for two whole days I kept saying the same sentence over and over again because I thought it sounded so marvelous: "Such action ought not to have been taken."

So I was really beginning to feel I was working to capacity when there actually was some action. One Tuesday morning -I had hardly settled down at my desk- Wunsiedel rushed into my office crying his "Let's have some action!" But an inexplicable something in his face made me hesitate to reply, in a cheerful gay voice as the rules dictated: "Action will be taken!" I must have paused too long, for Wunsiedel, who seldom raised his voice, shouted at me: "Answer! Answer, you know the rules!" And I answered, under my breath, reluctantly, like a child who is forced to say: I am a naughty child. It was only by a great effort that I managed to bring out the sentence: "Action will be taken." and hardly had I uttered it when there really was some action: Wunsiedel dropped to the floor. As he fell he rolled over onto his side and lay right across the open doorway. I knew at once, and confirmed it when I went slowely around my desk and approached the body on the floor: he was dead.

Shaking my head I stepped over Wunsiedel, walking slowly along the corridor to Broschek's office, and entered without knocking. Broschek was sitting at his desk, a telephone receiver in each hand, between his teeth a ballpoint pen with which he was making notes on a writing pad, while with his bare feet he was operating a knitting machine under the desk. In this way he helps to clothes his family. "We've had some action," I said in a low voice.

Broschek spat out the ballpoint pen, put down the two receivers, reluctantly detached his toes from the knitting machine.

"What action?" he asked.

"Wunsiedel is dead," I said.

"No," said Borschek.

"Yes," I said, "come and have a look!"

"No," said Borschek, "that's impossible," but he put on his slippers and followed me along the corridor.

"No," he said, when we stood beside Wunsiedel's corpse, "no, no!" I did not contradict him. I carefully turned Wunsiedel over onto his back, closed his eyes, and looked at him pensively.

I felt something like tenderness for him, and realized for the first time that I had never hated him. On his face was that expression which one sees on children who obstinately refuse to give up their faith in Santa Claus, even though the arguments of their playmates sound so convincing.

"No," said Broschek, "no."

"We must take action," I said quietly to Broschek.

"Yes," said Borschek, "we must take action."

Action was taken: Wunsiedel was buried, and I was delegated to carry a wreath of artificial roses behind his coffin, for I am equiped with not only a penchant for pensiveness and inactivity but also a face and figure that go extremely well with dark suits. Apparently as I walked along behind Wunsiedel's coffin carrying the wreath of artificial roses I looked superb. I received an offer from a fashionable firm of funeral directors to join their staff as a professional mourner. "You are a born mourner," said the manager, "your outfit would be provided by the firm. Your face -simply superb!"

I handed in my notice to Broschek, explaining that I had never really felt I was working to capacity there; that, in spite of the thirteen telephones, some of my talents were going to waste. As soon as my first professional appearance as a mourner was over I knew: This is where I belong, this is what I am cut out for.

Pensively I stand behing the coffin in the funeral chapel, holding a simple bouquet, while the organ plays Handel's Largo, a oiece that does not receive nearly the respect it deserves. The cemetery cafe is my regular haunt; there I spend the intervals between my professional engagements, although sometimes I walk behind coffins which I have not been payed to follow, I pay for the flowers out of my own pocket and join the welfare worker who walks behind the coffin of some homeless person. From time to time I also visit Wunsiedel's grave, for after all I owe it to him that I discovered my true vocation, a vocation in which pensiveness is essential and inactivity my duty.

It was not till much later that I realized I had never bothered to find out what was being produced in Wunsiedel's factory. I expect it was soap















Ø Marge Piercy



To be of use
by Marge Piercy

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who stand in the line and haul in their places,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

















Humour

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