The Worldview Issues that Influence Curriculum Decisions in Public Education

As Josh McDowell said in preface to book by David Noebel and Chuck Edwards (2002), â€Å"We are now living in not just a post-Christian culture, but an anti-Christian culture† (p. 2). This statement can be applied to the curriculum decisions in modern public school as well. â€Å"The educational system in the West has progressively replaced the biblical foundation with belief in evolution as ‘truth’. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Worldview Issues that Influence Curriculum Decisions in Public Education specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This system trains the leaders—teachers, judges, media operators, politicians, etc. These leaders then set the social agenda, which gradually becomes written into law† (Manthei, 1998, p. 26). Every person has its own worldview. It is formed through education, certain set of beliefs and attitudes to life. The purpose of Biblical worldview is t o live in harmony with the world and society. The prime goal of education is to guide future adults and prepare them for life (Van Brumelen, 2002, p. 41). The application of Biblical worldview in education can help greatly in achieving this goal and create friendly and positive learning environment. Curriculum based on the Biblical worldview takes the seven virtues that should guide everyone’s life as its basics. Such a worldview not only creates a â€Å"comprehensive framework of basic convictions about life† (Van Brumelen, 2002, p. 58), it also helps building a â€Å"people-centered† curriculum. The aim of such curriculum is to explain students the purpose of human beings, how to fight against evil and work for restoration. It also aims at motivating students to support each other and not to lose hope in future, restore friendship, love and justice. It regulates the flow of curriculum in a way to promote cooperation and mutual aid among students, develop stu dent’s responsibility, courage, patience, self-control and other values. Thus, a Biblical worldview influences on curriculum in a way to assist the achievement of school’s primary tasks: maximize human potential, develop necessary skills and nurture respect for others. One of the most important roles in developing curriculum belongs to teacher, â€Å"Teacher is one who controls curriculum in class† (Van Brumelen, 2002, p. 56). Many responsibilities lie on his/her shoulders. However, before planning a curriculum, teacher should evaluate himself/herself. Does he/she have necessary traits of character? What is he/she going to teach? How he/she is going to teach? Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More According to Van Brumelen (2002), the teacher who is going to make a Biblically oriented curriculum should remember that everything has purpose and effect; one should practice sanctity of human life and not give preferences to any student and, at the same time, take every student as an individual because as Shelby Steel said, â€Å"whenever you give someone a preference, you discriminate against someone else†. To teach values and create friendly and supportive environment during the lesson is also one of the most important tasks of every teacher. A Biblical worldview has one more important impact on curriculum. It requires from teacher a definite approach to the choice of literature and course books. As curriculum material cannot be neutral, teacher should understand a philosophical position of a certain source of information. Some textbooks can contain errors and wrong facts, some books use irrelevant photographs, experiments and incorrect scientific facts. Many books give an incorrect insight into the material. All these things should be considered and corrected by a teacher. There is a number of worldview issues that influence on curriculum d ecisions in public schools. These issues are related to Biblical worldview that presupposes building a curriculum based on virtues that promotes positive environment in class and help students live in harmony with society. Reference List Manthei, D. (1998). Two worldviews in conflict: Evolution is absolutely opposed to the Bible. Creation. 20 (4), 26–27 Noebel, D., Edwards, C., (2002). Thinking like a Christian: understanding and living a biblical worldview. Nashville: BH Publishing Company.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Worldview Issues that Influence Curriculum Decisions in Public Education specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Van Brummelen, H. (2002). Steppingstones to curriculum: a biblical path (second edition). Colorado: Colorado Springs. This essay on The Worldview Issues that Influence Curriculum Decisions in Public Education was written and submitted by user Remy Larsen to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

buy custom Humes Critique of Descartes and Plato essay

buy custom Humes Critique of Descartes and Plato essay David Hume is a controversial Scottish philosopher in the eighteenth century, renowned for skeptical examination of ethics, history, and religion. Such features are seen in his first philosophical works referred to as "treatise of human nature." On the other hand, Plato is an ancient Greek philosopher who examined ideas of politics, metaphysics, morality, and epistemology. Descartes is recognized as the father of western philosophy. He shaped the knowledge of the seventeenth century philosophy. The paper analyzes the way how Humes would critique the views of Plato and Descartes. Plato and Descartes are usually classified as ancient philosophers, but Humes is among the most recent philosophers who signified a break from ancient philosophical concepts and ideals. Undoubtedly, Humes critique would encompass the issue of ideas. Plato believes that the soul is a completely unified and immortal entity that remains the same throughout the life of an individual. However, he is keen to note that there are various challenges related to this view. He compares his thoughts with those of Diotima who argues that a man cannot remain the same as the gods since each day involves new dispositions, thoughts, and desires thereby leading to changes in a person. On the other hand, Descartes ideas are subdivided into three categories such as adventitious, innate, and imaginative. Therefore, he does not completely agree with the view that all actions are innate. Moreover, he insists that for one to achieve clearly reasoned conclusions, he/she has to engage in systematic and wholesale doubting. The process would enable him or her to develop ideas that are solely his or hers and not of others. Therefore, ideas arise from external objects invading on person's senses. Humes critique would be an assertion that ideas come from impressions and personal perceptions. He argues that weak perceptions originate from impressions and one cannot think of something he or she has never seen. Therefore, reasoning has its causeand effect and one cannot infer presence of one object from another unless they are connected to each other. Humes would, therefore, oppose the idea of innate ideas completely. Rather, he would insist on the idea of impression that is guided by cause and effect relationship. However, he can agree with Descartes that ideas are external to an individual. He would use the statement to reinforce his assertion that impressions and perceptions are crucial in the development of ideas. The other philosophical issue that would be subjected to critique is religion. Plato believes that the soul exists separately from the body and continues to survive after the death. Similarly, Descartes argues that ideas about God are innate, just as those involving oneself. He says that since he exists as a true representation of a perfect being such as God, then God exists. Descartes reinforces the dualism view of reality advocated by Plato. Plato believes that there is a realm of a human being that is spiritual and immortal, as well as encompasses conscious thinking. The other realm is material, finite and encompasses physical universe and human bodies. This dual realism worked best for Descartes as he was both a scientist and a loyal catholic. The borrowing of these ideas led him to a conclusion that the soul existed separately from the body. On the other hand, Humes had a completely different perception of the soul. His arguments are based on three different perceptions. First, he argues that there is no single evidence that showed that the soul existed separately from the body. He adds that if it is true that the soul exists, it cannot be generable and could exist before the body. He says that the miracles that people claim to be God accomplishments cannot be seen or be repeated in his presence, so that he can believe in them. The second argument relates to justice of deity where it would be questioned due to the nature of rewards, as well as punishments imposed on finite acts. The last argument is that there is no evidence of surviival and, therefore, such evidence is based on decay alterations. Thus, Humes asserted that he cannot believe in a higher power called God because His actions are unfathomable and beyond reason. He was exposed to the existence of the soul by reinforcing absence of evidence in proving the existence. Therefore, the major critique would presume a fact that their arguments about the soul are not supported by any substantial claims. The other matter of critique would be related to the relationship between the mind and the body. Descartes holds the view about such relationships while claiming that he is a thinking man. Therefore, the mind is supposed to reason and make choices, thereby, causing motion in the body. Plato and his theory of forms also focus on such relationships. He advocates that human beings should detach themselves from their bodies and the material world and concentrate on forms so as to perceive the world, which is open to change. Plato and Descartes, therefore, allude that the bodies in one way or another influence the way people think and see things. On the other hand, Humes believed that human reasoning derived from person's senses. He, therefore, insists that the mind conceive an effect that derives from a particular cause. He adds that the mind can only conceive what can be seen. Therefore, he emphasizes on ideas, impressions, and proof as the main concepts in thinking. The critique of Des cartes would be that the body is not connected with the reasoning process. However, there are various concepts that Descartes and Humes seem to agree. The first one is the idea of skepticism. Descartes assumes that most of the beliefs that a person holds are false and, therefore, asserts that for one to acquire the correct knowledge, he/she has to doubt almost everything. Humes builds his knowledge on this fact and argues that he cannot completely believe in a higher power as there is not enough proof of God's existence. Therefore, both philosophers are skeptics. Buy custom Humes Critique of Descartes and Plato essay

GDP of Russia (full topic follows) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

GDP of Russia (full topic follows) - Essay Example The paper will examine the various causes of the change in the GDP during this period. The effect of each cause on the Russian GDP will be examined both individually and collectively. The feasibility of developing a mechanism to test whether the identified factors are indeed critical will be examined in detail. The economic policy of the Russian government with special relevance to property rights, taxation, regulations regarding the entry of private players in various sectors including sectors like energy (which is a crucial aspect of the Russian national infrastructure) is also a crucial to the study of the Russian GDP level over the past decade. The establishment of a macroeconomic structure, the reform agenda of the government and its implementation by the Duma, the oil prices in the international market, the value of the Russian rouble during the period of the study is the other aspects which will have a bearing on the study (Korhonen 1998). We will cover the various sectors contributing to the Russian GDP in the next section, in this section; we will analyze the various types of expenditures which contribute to the GDP. The domestic consumption or the private consumption includes the expenditure incurred by a family on a recurring basis like food, rent, medicinal expenses etc. This is difficult to quantify (McKinsey Global Institute 1999). Next component is Capital investment, the hallmark of capital investment is that money is exchanged for either goods or services; another important hallmark is that after the exchange, there is no liability on the provider of the goods or services for repayment at a later stage (McKinsey Global Institute 1999). After having quantified the domestic and the private sector, it is essential to quantify the expenditure incurred by the government. As a rule it includes the salaries paid to the government servants and the expenses incurred by the government towards the infrastructure establ ishment. An important aspect to be borne in mind while estimating the GDP is that all expenditure which does not translate either into physical goods or services provided is not included into the GDP. This includes savings in banks, mutual funds, investments in stock markets etc (McKinsey Global Institute 1999). The final type of expenditure is the net exports. This is the net difference between the exports and imports of the country (World Bank 2002). The above model attempts to estimate GDP based on the expenditures, we can attempt to quantify the GDP based on the income generated by the economy. In this model, the various parameters of importance are the Gross Operating Surplus (GOS) calculated from the gross profits of the incorporated businesses, the Gross Mixed Income (GMI) which measures the gross profits of the various unincorporated businesses and finally the Compensation of Employees (COE) which measures the total compensation paid to all the workers in both the public and the private sectors. This sector also includes the contributions of the employers to the various social security schemes on behalf of their employees. The total of all these factors is an approximation of the total GDP quantified on the basis of the income model (World Bank 2002). Estimation of various Parameters of the Russian GDP It is important to establish the various param

Conversation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Conversation - Essay Example I had never thought that my grandmother had such a good memory. She would narrate of events that happened decades ago as if thy happened just yesterday. Her name is Cecelia Goddu. She is 90 years old, which is quite surprising since she still, looks and sounds very young. She started by telling me that she was born in South Dartmouth Massachusetts. I was surprised to learn that she had a twin sister called Hilda Rodrigues. This was something I had never known before. Their parents were Antonio and Dimantina Reis, both of whom were born in Azores, Portugal. This was another interesting piece of information I had never thought I had relatives outside United States. She continued to tell m how my ancestors ended up in United States. Antonio moved to United States where he became a prominent farmer after which he invited my great-grandmother whom she married. On Jun 23 1922, 90 years ago, my great-grandparents got twins whom they called Cecelia and Titia Hilda. They both had many children and the family grew large. My father is one of the grandchildren of Titia Hilda. It was interesting to have this wonderful discovery of my

Company Report (on KPMG) Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Company Report (on KPMG) - Coursework Example After the merge, there were disagreements on the name of the firm but in 1990 it was agreed to name the firm as KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock. This name was changed later in 1991 to KPMG Peat Marwick and remained so up to 1999 when the name was reduced to KPMG. The company has presence in various countries in the world. Every national KPMG firm is a separate independent legal entity and is a member of KPMG international cooperative (KPMG PEAT MARWICK, 1980). KPMG offers its services to various markets and industries. Its markets are classified into financial services; where advisory services are offered. It majors in capital management, credit crisis and balance sheet management. Second are Consumer and Industrial Markets; the company works in helping industries to solve challenges associated with changing business and industrial environment. Information, communications and entertainment marker is another great sector. The rapid changes in these sectors require rapid response. As a result, KPMG offer adequate advisory services on ways to cope with these changes. Governments provide the other market (KPMG, 1998). Every government in the globe works toward spurring economic growth. The company provides financial advice, performance improvement and programme management services to governments. KPMG is an international company with its international headquarters in Amstelveen, Netherlands. It has branches in various countries with more than 156 countries around the globe. The company’s global employee’s number total to more than 152000 exceptional professionals. The company’s chairman is in Hong Kong. KPMG offers various products to its clients. First, is auditing services; it offers auditing services to various companies over the globe. They provide audited financial reports and other attestations reports. Second are taxation services; in the current economic world companies outsource taxation services.

Teaching And Learning Problem Solving

Teaching And Learning Problem Solving Education nowadays has been criticized by different area and educators try to reform the ways of teaching and learning (Kirkley, 2003). Problem Solving defines as step to reaching the goal or desire state from where we are now ( Medin, Ross Markman, 2004). Kirkly (2003) stated that learner nowadays are short of basic literacy skill and higher order thinking. Basic literary skill is important to learn problem solving largely depend on basic literary skill ( Kirkly). If a learner cannot master basic literacy skill, things that able to represent will be less. As the rising of technology, higher problem solving skill on mathematics and science are needed. They found that students who not able to master literacy skills and cannot not learn and develop higher ordering skills and problem solving ( Kirkly, 2003). Problem solving that mainly can be found while study mathematics. However, Baron (2012) found that a lot of students face the difficulty to pass the test math no matter how much of tutoring, extra classes had given. In addition, not only college students face this kind of problem, children also face similar problem. Types of math problem that face by children is word math problem. Word math problem is type of math that uses English word to explain the question instead of using the equation to explain the questions that need students to be solved. As a teacher, they ways those mathematics teachers teach the next generation also one of the problem that need to discuss. In the old days, teacher only can provide few ways to teach student to solve the math problem. However, not all students have the skill to absorb teaching style on providing information, guideline to solve the question. Moreover, teacher style on teaching students in the few past decade may not be efficient or work on current generation. When a person learn how to solve a particular modal, it will become as a short cut as the person only need to remember the process of solving the problem from the beginning, it only apply on the similar problem that solve before( Kirkly,2003). One of the model that explain problem solving process is when individual doing a problem solving, their cognitive will start by representing the problem then do a solution search, finally implement the solution (Gick, 1986 as cited in Kirkly,2003). If a person successfully find a solution, their cognitive will stop there, conversely, they will redo the step searching solution and representing the problem if they fail to find the solution (Kirkly).When a similar problem is presented, it become short cut as a person cognitive will be able to recall and implement the solution by remembering how they solved similar problem before. Problem solving require a lot of abstract representation that the reason we need to master basic literacy skill. For example, when a learner trying solved a word math problem, learner need to understand the meaning of the word such as increase, product of, less than, equally pieces and others. Then they need to transfer into mathematics symbol and form an equation form to solve the problem. However, human cognitive not able to hold too much representation at the same time and human only able to remember three to seven items ( Medin et al., 2004). Different types of mathematics problem use different types of problem solving method. Types of problem solving method can categorized at algorithm and heuristics. Heuristic have three ways which is using hill climbing, mean ends analysis and working (Medin et al., 2004). For example, a mathematics question that asks how much plus three will be ten? A younger child might use algorithm technique test all the number in order to find the correct answer. As for older child, the will likely use working backward method to find the answer. There are a lot of solution that can be found in educations field. For example, teachers will let provide a lot of similar problem to let their learner or students to solve and in the end createshort cut thinking. By this students will notice the similarity of each problem and able to transfer their skills. This solution can be found in teaching mathematics skill. Students math textbook present a lot of solution to student as an example to solve the similar problem but broader schema that expert are actually use is not available to student (McAllister, 1995). Student dont know which and how is the appropriate first step to do when they faced a problem (McAllister,).Teacher who use explicit translation strategy (ETS ) found to be effective in solving math word problem (INQUIRE, 2008). Explicit translation strategy is to teach students how to translate concrete problem into mathematical equation(INQUIRE, 2008). Research also found that students who teach using the ETS and receive extra learning lesson are able to perform better than other group in the math problem solving that held two weeks later (Darch, Carnine Gersten, 1984). As stated above, students who want to develop problem solving skills need to master basic literacy skills well (Kirkly, 2003). Therefore students need to keep practice different types mathematics problem regularly. Then, students should be teaches by teacher who are expect, more important teachers should be able to provide different method to solve a problem and more complicate example when students able to solve basic mathematical problem. Extra learning material should be given to help students to learn the ability to transform the skill that students learn from other problem. Severin(2007) found students who be given change to learn different type of problem solving strategies able to help student to solve others problem. Technology item also can be use to helps teacher and student improves their problem solving a ability. Teacher can create a learning site and provide different types of fun, stories problem solving question to attract their interest and provide them change to do trial and error while they playing problem solving game while learning. This is because how much a student put effort while doing a math problem will have an effect on their success rate (Severin, 2007). In addition we also can use computer technology to help us in teaching because technology make easier for students to access more information. In the days that computer still not able to own by every family, information on solving a math problem only depend on the knowledge of the teacher. Now, students can asses and absorb more and more idea to solve a math problem. Conclusion, problem solving can be use in different field. By knowing how to teach and learn are the key to teach students and children to develop their problem solving better in the future.

Comparison of Two Versions of Cinderella: Grimm vs. Perrault Essay

A lot of the fairy tale stories that we have seen as young adults and even as adults are original folk tale stories that have been modified and rewritten to accommodate our new cultures. Cinderella happens to be one of these stories that have been changed over the years. There are many different versions of Cinderella, an African Cinderella, a Hungarian Cinderella and even a Chinese version. All of the Cinderella’s are similar in plot, but the author dictates the story’s theme based on the people whom he is writing for which completely changes the story’s tone, mood and other elements. While Perrault's version stresses the values and materialistic worries of his middle-class audience, Grimm’s' focus is on the harsh realities of life associated with the peasant culture. Perrault’s and Grimm’s Cinderella’s have the same plot, but their writing style is different which completely modifies the tale. The main things that changes the way a story is written is the audience, the author must be careful not say anything to offend the people he is writing for. Charles Perrault is a French man who used to write for the nobility and the middle class, so it is expected of him to write with a lighter tone to satisfy his dignified audience. He describes the pampered lifestyle of the two step sisters who put on their â€Å"gold-flowered cloak[s]† and their â€Å"diamond stomacher[s], which are far from being ordinary† (Perrault). He emphasizes the materialistic things that the step sisters posses and describes their wonderful, carefree world. The only concern of the step sisters is the prince’s ball, the girls were â€Å"wonderfully busy in selecting the gowns, petticoats, and hair dressing† (Perrault) that was the only thing they worried about throughout th... ...errault’s â€Å"Cinderella† and Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm’s â€Å"Ashputtle† both feature a young heroine who despite overwhelming obstacles manages to change the course of her life, and live happily ever after with her prince. Both of the stories have a similar plot, characters, and events, but it’s the moral lesson that modifies the two stories and makes them different. The audience also impacts the story and the way it is presented. There are many things that authors consider before writing their story, and all their concerns reflect on the story. Charles Perrault’s concern was his audience, and he made sure that it didn’t offend the upper class. The Grimm brothers were not concerned about the upper class because they wrote their tales for ordinary people and they had no worries of people getting upset. All their feelings about values and morals are expressed in â€Å"Ashputtle.†