ACT Strategies

Extracurricular Strong Students College Admissions and SAT / ACT Strategies SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Do you have great extracurriculars? Maybe you’re captain of the football team or president of a top debate team. Your approach to college admissions will be quite different than a typical student’s, and your SAT / ACT prep process should be uniquely tailored to you. In this article, we talk about what unique opportunities you have in test prep and what traps you should avoid. In this guide, first we'll discuss the different academic and extracurricular strengths students can have and which categories you fit into. We'll also go over why extracurriculars are important to colleges and why certain schools care about them more than others. In the next sections, we'll discuss specific strategies you can follow based on the strength of your extracurriculars and academics. Our final section is for students who are being recruited or otherwise meet special admissions requirements. How Good Do You Have to Be? The best way to approach admissions and test prep depends on two factors: extracurriculars and academics. First, are you relatively good at extracurriculars (think captain of the chess team), or are you truly stellar (think second-best high school football player inthe entire US)? Second, are you already doing well academically (90 percentile or higher on SAT/ACT) or are you more towards the middle? We'll define each of these terms below and give you advice that best fits your situation. Extracurriculars For this article, Relatively Good extracurriculars means that your percentile in an extracurricular is at least three times as good as your academics. For example, if you are an 85th percentile academic (perhaps a GPA of 3.8 unweighted), then you are Relatively Good in extracurriculars if you are at least a 95th percentile in extracurriculars. Likewise, if you are 97th percentile academically (perhaps a GPA of 3.95 unweighted), then you’re relatively strong in extracurriculars if you’re in the 99th percentile. Having Relatively Good extracurriculars is a challenge, and it does make you stand out. Conversely, for Stellar extracurriculars, I’m not talking about being the president of a chess team that you started with five people. I’m not talking about winning second place in a county track meet. You need to be ranked in the top 500 in the country in a popular area (e.g. football, math, debate), or you need to be ranked top 50 in a less popular area (e.g. javelin throwing, Model UN). When calculating these rankings, do it honestly. Don’t kid yourself by making artificial categories. Top 500 in touch football doesn’t count, nor does being top 500 in the uncommon Mandelbrot math competition. If you have to ask whether you’re within the top500, I would play it safe and count yourself out for now (but you can always improve!). Those who are clearly ranked in the top 500 of a popular extracurricular will know without having to mull over the question for hours. Academics Finally, different advice applies to students with strong academic baselines versus those who are more moderate academically. For the purpose of this article, we define a strong academic baseline as someone performing at the 90th percentile forboth their GPA and SAT / ACT score. That is, you’ve looked up your SAT percentile or ACT percentile, and it’s above 90. You’ve also asked your guidance counselor for your class rank, or informally polled your classmates, and you’ve found that that you’re performing at least 90th percentile there too. Those who are performing much less than this have a standard or moderate academic baseline. Of course, there is some flexibility here. Some may say 80th percentile is a strong baseline, and if you’re targeting an institution outside of the US News top 20, this is true. A GPA or class rank that’s 70th percentile or lower is probably no longer strong enough for the definition of this article. Why Do Colleges Care About Extracurriculars? Which Colleges Care More? To begin understanding why students with great extracurriculars are viewed differently by colleges, it’s useful to review the ideas behind why colleges even look for extracurriculars in the first place. Extracurriculars, in general, allow great colleges to have a student body that is more than just students who did well in school.Colleges have their own values, often shaped by the social landscape to which they belong. They may care about social impact, richness of student character, diversity of student body, and so on. Extracurriculars are the method by which colleges select students in furtherance of these values that they hold. However, colleges, at their core, are academic institutions. They believe the most important things are academic: learning subjects, doing well in classes, furthering knowledge through research, etc. Colleges generally value academics more than other areas. This is demonstrated by their emphasis of SAT/ACT scores and GPAs over other applicant qualities like extracurriculars. Think of academics and extracurriculars as being in a â€Å"pyramid of college needs." The academic layer is the lower half, and extracurriculars are the higher half. Colleges want to fill the lower half before filling the upper half.Only colleges that have already had their fill of strong academics will start caring more about extracurriculars.Analogously, in humans, we say that eating is a more fundamental need than watching a movie. If we don’t have a movie and we’re starving, we look for food first. Only if we have enough food do we start caring about the movie. Figure: The hierarchy of college needs. Academics come before extracurriculars. With this model, it’s easy to see why the top colleges care disproportionately more about extracurriculars.The top colleges (generally defined as US News top 50), can already get their full fill of strong academics. There are hundreds of thousands of students every year with GPAs above 3.8 unweighted or with ACT scores above 30 (SAT scores above 1300). These strong academics are more than enough to fill the academic needs of top colleges. Therefore, these top colleges will start using extracurriculars more to differentiate students. If you’re already strong academically, then you’ll likely be targeting higher ranked schools, and your extracurriculars will matter more. Conversely, colleges ranked below 50 in US News (which can still be great colleges for a number of reasons) will care a lot more about academics. If you’re performing only mediocre academically, extracurriculars won’t carry you (unless you are specially recruited, as we’ll discuss below). The next part of this guide will give you specific strategies depending on your current academic status. If your grades and test scores are about average, read the next section for Moderate Academics. If your grades and test scores put you in at least the 90th percentile, skip two sections down to the section for Strong Academics. The final section is for students who are being recruited or who otherwise have special admissions requirements. Moderate Academic Baseline? Shore Up Your ACT / SAT First! As we saw above, your extracurriculars will only really matter if you're great academically as well. Academics and extracurriculars complement each other. After all, the top-ranked schools care about extracurriculars the most, and only then in students who already have a good academic baseline. If you're not currently in the 90th percentile academically, the advice in this section applies to you, regardless of whether your extracurriculars are Relatively Good or Stellar. As we mentioned previously, our rough cutoff to be academically moderate is being below the 90th percentile on the SAT / ACT. If you’re less than that cutoff academically, the most important thing you can do for college admissions is improve your SAT / ACT score and GPA while maintaining your extracurriculars. The further you are from that 90th percentile transition point, the more important academics become. In the extreme, if you’re scoring average or below average academically (ACT 20 out of 36, SAT 1000 out of 1600), your admissions will depend nearly entirely on your academics. Now, how do you solve this? Of course, don’t lose your extracurricular it will be important to admissions later. Also, if you’re so good at this activity, you probably do it because you enjoy it too. However, recognize that, if you’re mediocre academically, you should mainly focus on improving those scores. How will shoring up your academics be different from normal students trying to raise their grades? For one, since you have a great extracurricular going on, that presumably takes up a lot of time. Therefore, you want to increase your academics in the most efficient way possible. This often means that SAT / ACT prep is probably the best way to improve. Just a few hours of study will increase your points substantially and move you up a few percentiles. It’s not uncommon to see a gain of 20 percentiles on the SAT or ACT in return for just 40 hours of study. Contrast that with improving your GPA. Suppose you put in 40 extra hours on your academics. Over the course of your high school career, between classwork and homework, you’re already putting in over 4000 hours of work into academics. An extra 40 hours moves your GPA less than 1 percent! Maybe your GPA will go up from a 3.50 to a 3.53 barely moving the needle. When it comes to time efficiency for college admissions, classes andGPAs are often a wasteland. Thus, the conclusion is that, if you’re not doing superb academically, definitely work to improve that first. Regardless of whether your extracurriculars are Stellar or Relatively Good, if your academics aren't great, the best way to improve your college chances is to work on improving your academics. And, as we explained above, the easiest and fastest way to significantly improve your academics is through ACT / SAT prep. Strong Academically? Here’s What You Should Do Now, suppose you are already performing at the 90th percentile on both your GPA and the SAT / ACT. That’s great news because you have a goodshot at the top 50 US News ranked schools. This is when your extracurricular will start to shine! First, your extracurricular will be the differentiator at this point, so make sure whatever strategy you do, you don’t ruin your main selling point, your main extracurricular strength. If you are in tennis, I would avoid doing activities that injure your arm. If you’re trying to improve academics, then realize that 90th percentile is already good, and be careful not to take any actions that will endanger your special strength. For example, suppose you are a US ranked tennis player. Your GPA is above the 90th percentile, but your ability to write essays about world literature is merely average. You are considering missing some tennis practice sessions to take an essay-writing improvement course. My strong advice: Don’t do it. Your ability to write a bit better about Shakespeare won’t make an impact on college admissions, whereas your tennis ability will. You should understand at this point that colleges will care more about quality than quantity of extracurriculars.Being state-ranked (top 100) in debate and also state-ranked in math is far worse than being nationally-ranked in just one of the categories. Choose one or two things that you are especially good at. Once you go into the â€Å"three somewhat good extracurriculars† area, you seem like a dilettante to colleges, a negative. If you’re good at three or more activities, focus on the one that you’re strongest in, you’re making the most progress in, or that is most recognized by colleges. Thus, my number one advice to you is to focus on that one great extracurricular. At this point, if you’re Relatively Good at an extracurricular, you want to turn that into a Stellar. If you are already Stellar, you want to improve your rank even more. There are two cases when you should still pay attention to academics. First, you should always pick the low hanging fruit. If an easy project or essay comes your way that will boost your score by a lot for very little work, you should definitely still do it. You should also still invest in some SAT / ACT prep, whether by yourself or some other way.Studies show that the first few hours of prep improve your score by the most. While some students study hundreds of hours, 40 hours of prep often is very low-hanging fruit for you to pick to improve your application by a lot. Also, if you are very Stellar already (but not recruited I’ll talk about recruited below), it is worth re-examining your academics. If you are in the Stellar category, you’re probably in the top 0.1 percentile in terms of extracurriculars. If you are just â€Å"merely† top 90th percentile in academics, then your academics are still trailing behind. In that case, it’s worthwhile to push your academics harder still getting up to 98th or 99th percentile. This doesn’t mean a perfect score: you just need to get around a 1500 out of 1600 on the SAT or a 33 out of 36 on the ACT. Again, ACT / SAT Prep is your friend for the above goal. Being Stellar, you likely won’t have much time to invest. Because ACT / SAT prep is a relatively fast way to boost your percentile, it’s a great fit for you. Extra Advice for Students Stellar at Extracurriculars: Recruitment and Special Slots All students who are strong in extracurriculars have an advantage. Usually this advantage is implicit, a wink or a nod from an admissions officer approving of your math team trophy or debate win. However, for some students who are truly stellar, the implicit becomes explicit. A nudge turns into a likely letter. Waffling about flexibility in ACT scores turns into explicit ACT cutoffs. Therefore, if you are really Stellar in an extracurricular, you should look to see if you have explicit special admissions requirements. Special admissions requirements are more advantageous, so you should definitely find out about this if you can. If you’re a Stellar athlete, I would talk to your coach, your local association, your trainer, or even the school you’re interested in attending. Athletes in popular sports like football, baseball, basketball, and so forth especially are recruited. If you are a top athlete looking to continue playing for a college team, this section applies to you! Special admissions requirements also apply for Stellar students of non-athletic fields. For example, if you are a stellar scorer on the USA Math Olympiad (USAMO), both MIT and Caltech have relaxed admissions requirements. Caltech, in fact, explicitly asks for USAMO type scores. Students admitted to the prestigious RSI science community are even given guaranteed admissions to MIT and Caltech. There is no single rule when it comes to explicit special admissions for stellar students. Explicit special requirements depend on each school and each activity. The special SAT / ACT requirement for a USAMO winner at MIT will look very different from that of a Division 1 recruited football player. The best way to find out more information is by researching your particular field. If you’re stellar in a field, chances are you have much deeper and unique resources than a blog can give you. I should also mention that explicit spots depend very much on school, activity, and year, and the specific interaction of all three parts. If Harvard is looking for a flutist in 2004, being good at the flute will give you a much stronger advantage at Harvard than it would at a similar school (like Yale) not recruiting flutists that year. Similarly, if Harvard has a much greater need for a flutist in 2004 than they do in 2006, a flutist who applies in 2004 will have a much better chance of getting in than a flutist who applies in 2006, even if their applications are identical. If one school offers you explicit admissions requirements one year, don't think all schools will give you the same advantage all years. Luck and timing become are important parts of the process. Once you find out about explicit special requirements, you should follow the specific advice you get from your recruiter or mentor about SAT / ACT guidelines. However, it is very common for recruited students, especially in sports, to need to hit a hard SAT / ACT score quota (which is also called a target, goal, or baseline). Recruited Students: Need to Hit an SAT / ACT Quota? In sports and athletics, it’s very common for the best athletes to have explicit SAT or ACT score cutoffs. This means that a recruiter will call you and literally say that, if you get a 30 on the ACT, you will be admitted. Even if it’s not a guarantee, your chances of admissions jump from 10% to 90% at this hard cutoff. This was the case for one of my tutoring students who was a tennis star, and it’s a very common situation for exceptional athletes to find themselves in. In these cases, you should understand that the reason colleges use the SAT / ACT is because these scores tend to be more objective thanteachers or school districts. Colleges are afraid that an easy high school or an easy teacher will give a popular athletestrong grades despite her performance being poor. The internal politics of the college also revolve around ensuring that the stellar extracurricular student can pass everything. If you’re a basketball star, you don’t need to be getting an A in Organic Chemistry. If you’re a math genius, you don’t need to be writing research papers on Voltaire. However, if you start failing out of classes, that will embarrass your future coach. Having an ACT / SAT cutoff is supposed to reduce admitting students like this. When aiming for the SAT / ACT quotas, you should take the test in ways that are different from usual. Suppose you’re reasonably sure that you’ll hit the quota. Then you’re in a good position, and the name of the game is to play it safe and don’t waste time. Unless you are really above the cutoff by a ton, it’s useful to do some ACT / SAT prep. The prep will take just a few hours (no more than 40 hours, or the same amount of time as 1-2 weeks of rigorous sports practice), and it will very effectively improve your score. You don’t want a program that interrupts your sports training; classes that make you miss practice are a bad idea. Now, suppose you’re getting much lower scores than your quota. For example, you usually score a 28, but the quota is a 30. First, it would an extremely good idea to prep in this case because this one number literally will make or break everything.Most students don’t have the good fortune to be told an ACT score can (virtually) guarantee them admissions. You do have that opportunity, so the gains test prep can give you matter more than ever. Second, you will want to take the ACT / SAT as many times as you need so you can maximize your chance of getting above that score. Each time you take the exam, you will want to have higher variance. Try out different strategies read the passage before the questions during one test and vice versa during another. Any strategy that increases the volatility of your score will increase your maximum score attained, and thus your overall chances of getting over the quota. You should invest every bit of time you need in SAT / ACT prep to hit the quota because if you miss it, at least for admissions to that college, all your talent and hard work in that sport or activity will have amounted to nothing. While having so much depend on the ACT / SAT hardly seems fair, it’s actually an advantageous position to be in because the quota is likely a lot less than what you’d need to get if you were applying normally to that university! Conclusion For students who are strong at extracurriculars, here's a handy chart to guide you through the test prep and college admission process: Advice Strength at Extracurriculars Moderate Academically (90%tile) Strong Academically (90%tile) Relatively Good: Percentile-wise, extracurriculars at least 3x stronger than academics. Academics is your first priority. Focus on SAT / ACT prep while maintaining extracurriculars. Your single best extracurricular is the priority. Get low hanging academic fruit like SAT / ACT prep. Stellar: Top 500 in the US (in a popular activity) See if your stellar extracurriculars qualify you for special admissions. Otherwise, focus equally on improving extracurriculars and academics. Your single best extracurricular is the priority. However, make sure your academics don’t fall too far below extracurriculars. Recruited: Your mentor in your field tells you about special circumstances Follow recruiter guidelines. SAT / ACT quota likely. Take the SAT / ACT multiple times. Follow recruiter guidelines. SAT / ACT quota likely. Take the SAT / ACT safely. Most students who are strong in extracurriculars are in the Relatively Good category, as opposed to the absolutely Stellar category (and that’s not a problem, be proud of your strength!). In the Relatively Good category, those who fall below the 90th percentile are urged to focus mainly on academics. At your target colleges, academics are still the bread and butter, and extracurriculars are merely a garnish. Push academics as hard as you can, and often that will mean SAT / ACT prep. If you are already academically strong, though, you are better off continuing to improve your extracurricular. For students with Stellar extracurriculars, it’s always worthwhile to see if you can berecruited or get special admission requirements. At this point, you should be very careful to keep your extracurricular top-notch.If your academics are moderate, though, they will hold you back improve to at least 90 percentile. Once you’re at 90%, extracurriculars become more important, unless you become so good at extracurriculars that it makes sense to notch up academics just a bit more. Finally, recruited students and special admissions students you have the best deal of the bunch. Follow the advice that your recruiters and mentors give you, and remember that, as a general rule, put your extracurricular first. For students of all types, SAT / ACT prep is a relatively low hanging fruit a fast and efficient way to improve your academic standing. What's Next? Want more information on athletic recruiting?Check out our guide which goes throughthe entire process, from beginning to end. Looking for ways to strengthenyour extracurriculars?Check out four examples of amazing extracurricular activities that are sure to impress colleges. Want more tips for test prep?We have lots of guides for SAT prep and ACT prep!

Formal analysis of one photograph chosen by student making use of two Essay

Formal analysis of one photograph chosen by student making use of two different methodologies taught in the module - Essay Example Semiotics is the use or capturing of visual meaning within an image. It can be described as a language within itself, without the need for words. Indeed, it is clear that ‘The Power of One’ is extremely emotive, its language powerful and vast and immediate. What is the visual meaning of this image? As has been already mentioned, this image has the potential to evoke contradictory visual meaning, depending on what one sees and on whether one solely sees rather than reads into the image. The implicational qualities of images alone create an array of possibilities as to how an image will be read and just what the observer will see both at the beginning and during the observation of an image. That is to say that what one may see or feel or notice, and how one will accept an image when first viewed may not necessarily be, and is usually not the same as that after observing and examining an image for some time. Images are different from texts of actual language, and this cause s one to approach an image with uncertainty; ‘The Power of One’ does not tell one how to feel or what exactly it is – there is no actual language. And so, one must decipher the unwritten yet strongly visible language portrayed. This is where the previously mentioned conflicts become apparent. Indeed, it is quite simply an image of a woman, but is she defying the soldiers or protecting her land? The expression on her face is pained, perhaps she is trying to simply protect her land†¦or it could be determination and anger, perhaps she is defying the soldiers, fighting them. But let us look at the image as a whole, for there is a great deal more language contained in other elements which will allow one to understand perhaps on a deeper level the woman and the purpose of her presence. We can see the language of the soldiers – the clothes they wear are black; a menacing colour of death; they are all male. The woman wears household clothes; she is a woman

William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily - Essay Example Although the story begins with Emily's death, enough information is given to track the course of her life. As a young teenager, she lived with a very strict father, who chased away all her boyfriends. When he died, Emily was already past 30 and still single, meaning he was all she had. She didn't want to release his body for burial, but the town forced her to and she went into depression for a long time. What brought her out of the depression was meeting and dating a Northerner, Homer Barron, who was a manager of a work crew installing sidewalks. The town didn't approve of the match, because he was far below Miss Emily's social status, and they tried to break up the couple. Emily bought a large amount of arsenic this time and would not explain what she needed it for, but the town decided to believe it was for rats. Since they couldn't break up the couple, the town wrote to Miss Emily's cousins who came for a visit, effectively chasing Homer away. When the cousins left, Homer returned at least once, but the town thought he and Emily must have had a fight because they never saw Homer again. She refused to pay her property taxes and she ignored the town's complaints about a bad odor that was coming from the house for a while, but apart from town girls whom she taught china painting, no one was ever invited in. After Miss Emily died, the town discovered Homer's body in an upstairs bedroom, lying on a bed with one of Miss Emily's grey hairs on the pillow beside it. Part 2: Setting, Atmosphere, Pattern/Structure, Point of View The setting of the story is an old crumbling mansion in the South, making the story officially a Southern gothic. Miss Emily's house was once a very fine house in a very respectable part of town, but the neighborhood and the house have deteriorated over the years and the town around it has continued to grow and change. Because of the change between the vibrant town and the crumbling mansion, the atmosphere of the story becomes eerie. There is a strong sense of strangeness as the younger generation attempts to understand the factors that influenced Miss Emily's life and her passionate adherence to the past. This atmosphere is created through constant references to the strange, old, and deteriorating elements, and the puzzled reactions of townspeople as they attempt to deal with Miss Emily. Although there is a clear story told that traces Miss Emily's life, it is not told in chronological order or even reverse chronological order. Instead, the story jumps back and forth in time, starting with Emily's death, then scrolling back to a time about 10 years earlier when Miss Emily refused to pay her taxes. This leads to recollections among the town members of another time when Miss Emily confounded the town elders to do something about the terrible smell coming from her house, but the town pitied her because she had just been jilted by the only man she had ever dated. This causes reflection to move even further back to the reason why Emily is still single and further puzzlement as to why Emily wouldn't allow the town to take away his body after her father died. Another memory is triggered, jumping forward again, to a time when Miss Emily bought a large amount of arsenic, and then moves back to talk about Miss Emily's dating Homer Barron and his disappearance with the arrival of Miss Emily's cousins (after the townspeople wrote to them about the unsuitable match). Finally, it jumps back to Miss Emily's death and the discoveries that took place after her funeral. This structure is meaningful to the work, because it contributes to the sense of strangeness and it reflects the town's shock as they slowly begin to piece the evidence together of what must have happened. The narrator of the story is

Hurt people Essay Example for Free

Hurt people Essay In this paper, the work of Dr. Sandra Wilson (2001) will be looked at from the perspective of obtaining a comprehensive personal theory of counseling. Wilson draws on many years of counseling experience and has developed a simple yet profound concept that hurt people, hurt people. In this theory, Wilson describes how a person is wounded early on in life and how those hurts translates into a continual wounded adult life if not properly addressed. The paper will give a brief summary of the Wilson’s theory, point out some strengths that this theory presents along with weaknesses. Lastly, this paper will draw on personal experience from the author that connects with the content of Wilson’s theory and makes appropriate applications for further counseling practice. ? WILSON CRITIQUE ! 3 Introduction Dr. Sandra Wilson (2001) presents a very helpful and unique theory for the Christian counselor in her book, Hurt People Hurt People. This theory critique paper will introduce, unlike other theories that have been discussed, the crucial role that temporal systems play in the development of a person’s health, illness, and personality (Slide Presentation, COUN 507 B08 LUO, Week 1, Slide 2). Wilson (2001) argues that hurts and wounds that originate in childhood are the primary driving force for why a person hurts other people later on in adulthood. Summary Wilson (2001) begins her theory on why hurt people hurt people by conveying that a person’s childhood, no matter how good or loving it was, experiences some type or level of hurt (Wilson, 2001). This exploration into the childhood stage of a person’s life shows that the messages a child receives during that stage can determine the trends of one’s actions in adulthood (Wilson 2001). In essence the sum of an adult’s hurtful actions can be explained by the choices that the child made in response to the hurtful environment in which they lived (Wilson, 2001, pg. 86). This cornerstone concept stems out of Wilson’s (2001) theory of why hurt people hurt people. Wilson (2001) describes three questions that children must not only answer but by which their answers lead to the choices they make in life. First a child is asking, â€Å"Can I be safe in the environment I am in and the predominate relationships around me? † Children will make choices in their daily lives to manage how to obtain a sense of stability and meet basic needs (Wilson, 2001, pg. 74). Next, children ask the question, â€Å"Can I convey and show my true self to WILSON CRITIQUE ! 4 those around me? † (Wilson, 2001, pg. 75). This boils down to the child’s identity and desire to know if their needs and emotions are able to be met through the expression of their true nature. Lastly, children ask, â€Å"Can I be accepted in a relationally by those around me? † In this question, children learn to accept themselves or not by the quality of the how their parents accept or don’t accept them for who they are. Wilson (2001) concludes that what is uniquely powerful in this dynamic is that children believe they are freely making their choices when in fact they have very little option in the process (Wilson, 2001, pg. 82). Wilson (2001) finds that where a child questions has dramatic and adult-changing effect due to a perception we have about God. Wilson states that children from a general sense think of God as an exaggerated parent? This perception of God as an exaggerated parent explains how the choices that children make based on the above stated questions that children ask have an effect in adult life. So for example, if a child is raised in a stable home and feels loved, accepted and able to be themselves, they will generally view God as someone who has the same inclination. Weaknesses and Strengths Wilson (2001) presents many strengths in her theory of hurt people, hurt people. One of the strengths is her ability to communicate the motivation for why individuals behave in hurtful ways to one another. She relates that the messages that children receive from their parents in good and bad instances are then acted upon to protect and defend safety, stability, and their sense of image. These choices which continue on into adulthood come out in an unhealthy way of WILSON CRITIQUE ! 5 relating to one other (Wilson, 2001). Wilson’s approach is centered on the past of the individual where a majority of these choices have their beginning. Another strength of Wilson is her ability to define the role of temporal systems in the development of personality. She makes a case that what we live through and how we change as result of the environment ultimately determines what we become, which can have positive or negative consequences (Wilson, 2001, pg. 86). Wilson creates a helpful map for understanding from a general perspective how someone might change from the temporal systems in which they live. By describing this particular map, Wilson helps the counselor and/or counselee trace their steps back to understand the origins of the choices made. At the end of the map, Wilson purposes that the family system, the schools system, or other cultural systems are potential reasons for what motivates hurtful behavior. One weakness to point out from Wilson’s theory is the fact she focus predominately on the past. Wilson does not look into other explanations for motivation other than centering her theory around the parent’s effect on the child. Though she does talk on a few points about the Lord’s role in how a person goes about changing in to a healthy adult  , the majority of Wilson’s synthesis for why someone may hurt others or take a defensive stance toward another person centers less on biblical principles and more on her year of experience in the counseling field. Though this can’t be considered a true hard and fast weakness, I would have expected her to undergird this prominent part of process with scriptural references. WILSON CRITIQUE ! 6 Personal Reflection I agree with Wilson’s theory of why hurt people hurt people, mainly because I personally relate. When I read her theory, and think of my own personal childhood, I can very much see where some of my own behaviors have come out of thoughts and choices I made to protect my own feelings and acceptance. As I look back at my own past relations with my dad and how that has dramatically effected me in some negative areas, I recall the main challenge that Wilson describes we have to face and overcome is our distorted view of God (Wilson, 2001, pg. 188). As I have thought through what my dad has communicated to me about who God is, I realize more and more how much more of a journey I have in knowing God truly. It would seem that one of the greatest tasks that we as counselors have is the stewardship of the truth of revealing who God is. If what Wilson has described is on point, and I think it is, then how we as counselors accurately and efficaciously communicate the truth of the person of God to hurting people is paramount to the transformation. One method that Wilson described in her book for helping counselees is how introducing new choices and consistently enacting those choices can produce change? Through the counseling process, I would want to identify what was the pathway or map for the distorted view of God and how that distorted view has shaped the actions of the person. I would then introduce the simple truth of what the counselee doesn’t know into the the realm of the known. Wilson makes a great point that the counselee wont know they can change until they know what they have chosen (Wilson, 2001, pg. 88). I think this can be a powerful tool in the tool belt of counseling because it is the power truth that will ultimately set the person free to heal from the wounds that they are experiencing.

Racism Essay -- essays research papers

What is Racism?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Racism is one of those unusual things which seem to escape the understanding of clear and to the point definition. Racism is a system of racial discrimination and prejudice. The concept of race as classifying people can be seen as misleading people and prejudicial as far as it’s involved in the quality of human life. The term race has been quite confusing because of its four principle connotations. 1. Physical anthropologists have called races the various subspecies of the human race characterized by certain phonotypical and genotypic traits. 2. Laymen have profusely used the word race to describe a human group that shares certain cultural characteristics such as language or religion. 3. Race has been loosely used as a synonym for species. 4. Many social scientists describe race as a human group that defines itself and/or is defined by other groups as different from other groups by moral excellence of having an essential characteristics and unchangeable characteristics.(Van den Berghe, Race and Racism pg. 42) The last key term to define racism is any set of beliefs that organic, genetically transmitted differences between human groups are associated with the presence or the absence of certain socially relevant abilities or characteristics, hence that such differences are a legitimate basis of invidious distinctions between groups socially defined as races. Racism in America There is no nation in the world that sees â€Å"racis...

Domestic Tourism Essay

Whether it is to rest, discover new things, meet others or to have a unique experience, everyone has a right to tourism; in short, there are not, there should not be, and there cannot be two categories of human beings, those who can be tourists and those who can only receive them. These two activities are, in fact, but two sides of the same human activity; both of them are noble and respectable and everyone is entitled to them. Domestic tourism (DT), historically speaking, is in fact the first form of tourism that was practised and today it continues to account for the most part of this activity by far: it is estimated that out of the 4.8 billion tourist arrivals per year (2008 figure), 4 billion, or 83%, correspond to domestic tourism. Likewise, the UNWTO’s economists estimate that at the global level domestic tourism represents: * 73% of total overnights * 74% of arrivals and 69% of overnights at hotels * 89% of arrivals and 75% of overnights in other (non-hotel) accommodations In light of these impressive figures, one is prompted to ask three questions: 1. What are the characteristics of domestic tourism? 1. AS FOR ITS CHARACTERISTICS, especially when compared to international tourism, it is possible to start with three fundamental observations: * 11. In contrast to international tourists, domestic tourists know the destination, its language, its customs, its laws, its climate, its cultural context. This has at least two consequences: * 111. As a general rule, domestic tourists are more demanding, especially when it comes to the quality of products, and also with regard to their consumer-protection rights * 112. Out of the four main motivations of tourists (discovery, encountering others, experiencing something unique, resting) the last two are certainly more prominent among domestic tourists * 1121. They seek a very wide diversity of types of destinations and tourism activities, in other words, the range of product offerings should be as broad as possible. * 1122. At the same time, domestic tourism is practiced more in a sedentary (staying in the same place) than a nomadic manner, the latter being more suited for more distant destinations. * 12. Second characteristic: domestic destinations are nearer * 121. Visits are more frequent and there are more repeat stays, notably with family and especially in the rural region of provenance of many urban residents * 122. Land transport is predominantly used: 88% compared to 51% for international tourism * 13. Third characteristic: as the destination is nearer and land transport is used more, the cost of trips is lower: * 131.Given that the barrier represented by trip cost is brought down, domestic travellers seek the best price-quality ratio, or often the lowest possible price, in all segments of the tourism value chain: accommodation, food services, tourism activities, shopping, etc†¦ * 132. they therefore seek alternative, non-hotel accommodations because, among other things, they are going to return several times to the destination and, while there, they prepare subsequent stays by informing themselves about the local accommodation offerings * 133. last, but not least importantly, they stay for longer periods * 14. The combination of these three basic characteristics (knowledge and proximity of the destination, lower cost of transport) brings about an entire series of other consequences; five of them can be mentioned: * 141. The social composition is broader, and domestic tourism involves all social strata, from the richest to persons with modest (but stable) incomes * 142. Certain social categories are much more highly represented in domestic tourism than in international tourism: * families * children and teenagers * seniors * disabled persons * households with modest but stable incomes * 143. This social diversity gives rise to a large diversity in the demand, in terms of accommodation and tourism products as well as activities and destinations. * 144. DT is less geographically concentrated and is relatively better distributed throughout the national territory, with a strong presence in the region of provenance of families. * 145. Unit expenditure is markedly lower than in international tourism, especially interregional tourism, but the overall volume of expenditure is markedly higher. 2. What is its impact on the social life of a country or a region? Five types of main impacts can be mentioned: * 21. DT is much less sensitive to crises, whether economic (e.g., 2009: substitution effect), natural, health or political (e.g., 2005 civil unrest in France). It is therefore an excellent crisis shock-absorber, especially in the case of economic crises. * 22. Due to its income redistribution effect (from tourists to local populations) and its various multiplier effects all throughout the value chain, it is an excellent tool for territorial development, for example for: * zones under redevelopment: e.g., northern China, southern Poland, eastern Germany, northern France, Wales * zones of rural exodus * mountain regions (in France, extremely poor regions in the Alps at the start of the 20th century) * 23. It is an excellent instrument for easing social tensions: * by allowing social categories of modest income to gain access to holidays and rest * by preventing situations where the same people (from the same countries) are always the tourists and with the same people receiving them * 24. It can serve to launch a destination (e.g., some of the oldest resorts of European tourism; the very new resort of Mazagan, Morocco, launched in October 2009 for the domestic market) * 25. From the macroeconomic point of view, it makes it possible to amortize national spending on international tourism: * physical investments: transport, accommodation, development and protection of public spaces (examples of Languedoc, Costa del Sol, Chinese seashore resorts) * intangible investments, mainly training and quality 3. How can we develop strong domestic tourism? One caveat: There is no magic formula and much depends on the national and regional context. A second caveat: The development of domestic tourism should not be regarded as antagonistic or alternative to international tourism; these two forms of tourism are different to be sure, but they complement each other closely and one should not be neglected in favour of the other. It is nevertheless possible to identify some broad guidelines: 31. Diversifying and developing * 311. transport: * low-cost air transport: the comparative advantage of low-cost airlines vis-à  -vis â€Å"traditional† airlines has to do with reductions in ground costs: (headquarters, booking, stops) and turnaround rate: consequently, the shorter the flight, the more competitive low-cost airlines are; it is thus a means of transport that is particularly well-suited to domestic tourism * railway network and especially high-speed rail * road and highway network (e.g., French and Austrian Alps, US) * 312. accommodation * hotels: developing family-run hotels and voluntary chains of independent hotels (pooled marketing, promotion, sales and quality standards) * residences (self-catering by families) * seasonal rentals: notably by developing quality standards and encouraging the establishment of voluntary chains for sales and promotion * camping sites, by moving upmarket (e.g., Morocco) * rural inns: notably through incentives (tax or subsidy) for the renovation of old buildings (a lot of examples worldwide) * bed & breakfasts, by providing them with a legal framework that clearly distinguishes them from hotels (taxation, definition of products, quality standards) * youth hostels * categories for nature, sea and snow (avoiding the serious errors of France on the subject of safety and security regulations) * 32. Adapting accommodations to local demand: the matter of family composition, e.g., China, Europe, Arab countries. As a general rule, accommodations adapted to families are: * larger * lower: one or two storeys * allow greater autonomy: kitchens, washing machines†¦ * allow long stays (sedentary tourism) * 33. It needs consequently to address the matters of: * land costs and development; * very long-term public and semi-public financing; * tax policy * 34. Expanding the demand: this is the role of tourism for all, namely policies that consist in: * 341. Making the demand more solvent, that is, â€Å"boosting† the purchasing power of families with modest incomes through: * holiday vouchers (Italy, France, China) * specific subsidies to low-income families (France, Russia), to young people and to seniors (Spain) * preferential rates on rail transport for families, young people, seniors * 342. Subsidizing accommodations meant for social purposes: works councils, associations, local groups or governments (e.g., in Belgium, Mexico, Brazil) * 343. Developing accessibility for disabled persons. * 35. Developing structures for activity organization and promotion at the regional/provincial level and at the local level (tourism offices) This document is an adaptation of a lecture delivered during the  « Rencontre internationale sur le dà ©veloppement du tourisme domestique  » Algiers, 9 Dec. 2010

Menes Was the First Pharaoh of Egypt

The political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt occurred about 3150 B.C., thousands of years before historians began to write such things down. Egypt was an ancient civilization even to the Greeks and Romans, who were as far removed in time from this early period of Egypt as we are from them today. Who was the first pharaoh to unite Upper and Lower Egypt? According to the Egyptian historian Manetho, who lived in the late fourth century B.C. (the Ptolemaic period), the founder of the unified Egyptian state which combined Upper and Lower Egypt under a single monarchy was Menes. But the exact identity of this ruler remains a mystery. Was Narmer or Aha the First Pharaoh? There is almost no mention of Menes in the archeological record. Instead, archaeologists are unsure whether â€Å"Menes† should be identified as either Narmer or Aha, the first and second kings of the First Dynasty. Both rulers are credited at different times and by different sources with the unification of Egypt. Archaeological evidence exists for both possibilities: the Narmer Palette excavated at Hierakonpolis shows on one side King Narmer wearing the crown of Upper Egypt—the conical white Hedjet—and on the reverse side wearing the crown of Lower Egypt—the red, bowl-shaped Deshret. Meanwhile, an ivory plaque excavated at Naqada bears both the names â€Å"Aha† and â€Å"Men† (Menes). A seal impression discovered at Umm el-Qaab lists the first six rulers of the First Dynasty as Narmer, Aha, Djer, Djet, Den and [Queen] Merneith, which suggests that Narmer and Aha may have been father and son. Menes is never seen on such early records. He Who Endures By 500 B.C., Menes is mentioned as receiving the throne of Egypt directly from the god Horus. As such, he comes to occupy the role of founding figure much as Remus and Romulus did from ancient Romans. Archaeologists agree that it is likely that the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt occurred over the reigns of several First Dynasty kings, and that the legend of Menes was, perhaps, created at a much later date to represent those involved. The name â€Å"Menes† means â€Å"He Who Endures,† and it may have come to connote all of the proto-dynastic kings who made unification a reality. Other Sources The Greek historian Herodotus, in the fifth century B.C., refers to the first king of a unified Egypt as Min  and claims that he was responsible for the draining of the plain of Memphis and founding the Egyptian capital there. It’s easy to see Min and Menes as the same figure. In addition, Menes was credited with introducing the worship of gods and the practice of sacrifice to Egypt, two hallmarks of its civilization. The Roman writer Pliny credited Menes with the introduction of writing to Egypt as well. His achievements brought an era of royal luxury to Egyptian society, and he was taken to task for this during the reigns of reformers such as Teknakht, in the eighth century B.C.