Wednesday, May 30, 2012

English Literature Essays


INTRODUCTION
This must be about the topic – do not start writing about names and dates and miscellaneous facts – this is padding, and immediately causes the reader to assume that you don’t know very much about the topic.
  1. If the topic is one based in fact, mention the basic facts in the introduction, then you can expand them, one at a time, in subsequent paragraphs.
  2. If the topic requires your opinion, state the premises on which you intend to base your argument. If you are not yet sure what you think, don’t offer an " I think" opinion – this immediately detracts from the forcefulness of any argument you may put forward in the rest of the essay.
By the time you have finished the essay it should be obvious to you, and you can state it confidently in your conclusion.
BODY OF THE ESSAY
Your introduction points should now be developed, one per paragraph, referring specifically to the book or books about which you are writing – do not deviate from the requirements of the question, as it wastes time and effort and succeeds only in distracting the reader’s attention from the main thread of your essay.

Do not introduce points which do not support your argument, unless the question specifically asks you to consider them – remember, you are trying to convince, not sow seeds of doubt!
CONCLUSION
  1. If your essay has been based in fact, merely sum up, and round off with a confident-sounding sentence.

  2. If the essay was developing in an opinion, read it through to discover what opinion you have in fact expressed, and then state it confidently, as if it were indisputable fact – don’t apologise for it.
    If your essay has been well organised, the reader will be convinced; if not, s/he will not be persuaded by a weak, apologetic ending!
PLANS

1. Novel essay
Theme, plot, setting, characters, style; fair divisions for any essay. Order and emphasis will depend on bias of question.
eg. If the question is about theme, talk about it in the introduction, then discuss, one per paragraph, how the other aspects contribute to it, and conclude by talking about the success or otherwise of the author in communicating his/her theme.
2- Drama essay
Theme, plot, setting, characters, technique.
eg. If the question is about technique, talk about how it affects the others-one per paragraph.
3- Poetry essay
Theme, style, technique (include such aspects as alliteration, assonance, versification, rhyme, rhythm, where appropriate).

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Terrorism and Democratic Virtues

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I. Introduction to "Terrorism and Democratic Virtues"
Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
In the days and weeks following September 11, both the executive and legislative branches proposed various national security measures aimed at reducing the risk of future attacks on the US at home and abroad. While there was general support among the American public for improved protections against further attack, various proponents of civil and human rights have voiced concern that too many rights and freedoms might be limited in the name of national security. In this section, we explore various aspects of these government responses to September 11.

Democracy, liberties and rights - some definitions
Directly translated from Greek, democracy means 'rule by the people.' In modern democracies, citizens retain the ultimate political authority, although routine decision-making is often delegated to representatives at the federal and state levels. Many leading social scientists have recognized that there is tension between democracy and liberty, since the majority in a given country could vote to limit the liberties and rights of the minority in that country. It is because the drafters of the United States Constitution recognized this potential problem that they provided safeguards against such abuses of power by the majority, including provisions for the protection of inalienable individual rights, and the division of powers among the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Still, history shows that this system is not foolproof. For example, the rights of African Americans were limited, particularly in the Southern states of the United States until 1954.
Civil rights and civil liberties in the United States are founded on the principles contained in the Bill of Rights. These principles protect citizens from unwarranted interference by the government or other individuals at the same time that they identify the government's role in providing equal protection under law to all citizens regardless of race, religion, sex, or other characteristics unrelated to the worth of the individual. Many of the constitutional amendments protect civil liberties, including freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention; freedom of speech; freedom of lawful assembly; and freedom of association and movement. Other amendments define a government role in ensuring fair and equal treatment under the law, including the right to a fair trial; the right not to incriminate oneself in a legal proceeding; and the right to equal access to public facilities (e.g., schools, public housing and polling places).
Human rights echo many of the principles upheld by civil rights in the United States, although these two terms cannot be used interchangeably. A very basic definition for human rights is "those basic standards without which people cannot live in dignity". Rights for all members of the human family were first articulated in 1948 in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The 30 articles of the Declaration together form a comprehensive statement covering economic, social, cultural, political, and civil rights. The document is both universal (it applies to all people everywhere) and indivisible (all rights are equally important to the full realization of one's humanity). These rights are more comprehensive in scope than those articulated in the US Constitution, which generally address only civil and political rights, with little attention to the other economic, social and cultural rights included on the international human rights agenda.

The United States' history of limited rights in times of crisis

The United States government has denied the rights and freedoms of certain populations in the face of a perceived threat at different times in its history. The Alien and Sedition Acts, adopted in 1789 during the administration of President John Adams, came at a time of controversy over the U.S. role in the conflict between England and France immediately after the French Revolution. These acts defined criticism of the president as "sedition" (i.e., inciting rebellion) and provided for extra-judicial deporting of legal resident aliens if the administration considered them to be a security threat. During this period, several newspapers were closed, and "threatening" non-citizens were forced to leave the country.
During the Civil War, on several occasions President Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus (designed to ensure that people who have been imprisoned have not been unlawfully arrested) without Congressional approval. He also closed newspapers that he considered to be seditious.
During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson urged Congress to adopt the Espionage Act, under which his administration sent more than 1000 people to jail for speaking out against the war and the military draft. Some, like socialists Eugene Debs and Rose Stokes, were imprisoned for as long as 10 years. After the war, attacks on dissidents intensified due to a rising fear that radicals might be inspired by the Russian Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Six thousand people in the U.S. were seized during the "Palmer Raids" of 1918-1921 (named after Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer), many of them aliens who had fewer rights than citizens.
During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt approved the detention of more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent, more than two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens.
The Alien Registration Act of 1940 (the "Smith Act") was the first statute since the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to make advocacy of ideas a federal crime. During the Cold War era, this Act was used to imprison people believed to be leaders of the Communist Party. Moreover, Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin attacked many civil servants, writers and artists working in Hollywood and elsewhere, journalists, and others for their supposed activities in the Communist Party during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Many were "blacklisted" so they could not find work.
During the Vietnam War, anti-war activists (and some civil rights activists) were subjected to considerable surveillance and secret "dirty tricks" conducted under the FBI's domestic COINTELPRO (counter intelligence programs). During recent decades, the previous excessive curtailments of rights of critics of wartime have been largely repudiated.

Current policies that have raised concern in the United States

Citing the increased threat of terrorism from actors inside and outside the United States, Congress enacted the USA PATRIOT Act ("Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism," originally termed the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001) on October 24, 2001. Civil liberties advocates have criticized numerous provisions of this bill as well as the lack of adequate debate before its adoption.
These critics are concerned by numerous provisions of the Act, which weaken rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The USA PATRIOT Act creates a new, very loosely-defined crime of "domestic terrorism," breaking down the distinction between foreign-intelligence and domestic criminal investigations - a distinction that has been maintained until now to protect against government intrusion into citizens' private lives. It allows secret searches and wiretapping of telephones for an investigation whose primary purpose is gathering intelligence for a criminal investigation of U.S. citizens and non-citizens without establishing probable cause that a crime has occurred. (For more information, see http://www.aclu.org/congress/archives.html#ns).
Most civil liberties advocates do not contest the notion that additional investigative methods may be needed to address extraordinary threats of terrorism. They are concerned about the broader and longer-term implications of reducing legal rights in response to acts of terrorism. Because of the extremely broad definition of "domestic terrorism," there is grave concern that the new law will be used not only against suspected foreign terrorists but also against people engaged in civil disobedience against the World Trade Organization and other international financial institutions, at the U.S. naval base in Vieques, Puerto Rico, or at clinics that perform abortions. They contend that the fight against international terrorism is being used as a way to "normalize" greater powers of surveillance, intelligence-gathering, and arrest.

Reduction of rights for immigrants

Following September 11, immigrants have suffered a dramatic decrease of rights. For example, one provision of the USA PATRIOT Act gave the government the authority to detain immigrants for repeatedly extended six-month periods. An Executive Order issued by Attorney General Ashcroft on the same day that the Act was passed equipped his department with the authority to keep immigrants in detention even if a federal immigration judge has already ordered the release of the individual for lack of evidence. Since September 11, more than 1180 Arab or Muslim men have been detained. As of the posting of this teaching resource, the Justice Department would not release the names of the detainees and would not reveal the number of people who have been detained. Many have been held without charge for months, without access to a lawyer. The vast majority of charges have been minor immigration violations, such as overstaying an expired visa. The Justice Department has sought to interview 5000 immigrant men aged 18-33 from the Middle East who entered the U.S. after January 1, 2000. Justice Department officials have argued that this does not constitute "racial profiling" because their definition is based on national origin, not ethnicity or religion.
Civil rights advocates voice concern that the founding principles of the United States are being jeopardized by these policies as minorities and immigrant groups are targeted by the government. Current US behavior that have raised concern abroad
While civil liberties advocates have focused on infringement of rights guaranteed to people in the United States by the Constitution, foreign policy commentators have raised concerns that the U.S. government is not promoting democracy and human rights in its foreign policy. For the last 25 years, the U.S. government has included advocacy of human rights and promotion of democracy in its foreign policy pronouncements. However, some of the countries that are members of the coalition for the war on terrorism have very poor human rights records. For example, the United States has made partnerships with Uzbekistan, where Muslims had been imprisoned for violation of religious laws, and Pakistan, where the leader has not been elected democratically, and there are regular accounts of serious human rights violations. (For more, see Human Rights Watch's report at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11).
Many U.S. allies have begun to raise questions about the United States' dedication to international human rights. In January 2002, there was a rising chorus of concern about U.S. treatment of prisoners from the war in Afghanistan who were taken to the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They have not had access to lawyers and are held in wire cages, which are violations of international law.
The terrorist attacks of September 11 have heightened many Americans' awareness of the democratic principles that they value. At the same time, the war on terrorism has shifted the balance between civil liberties and security, putting some of those core values at risk. The challenge is to mount a domestic and international response to terrorism that is effective but that does not, in the long-run, compromise basic human rights in the U.S. or internationally.


New War?


I. Introduction to "New War?" Theme
Teachers may want to have the students read this introduction before they read the selected essays on "New War?" to provide a basic understanding of the concepts included therein.
In his first major address to the nation after the events of September 11th, President George Bush declared war on terrorism and those who support it. He said that this would be a new type of war, unlike any that the United States had fought in the past.
Authors of the essays in this section ask the question whether this engagement really is a new type of war, and if so, what are the new characteristics of this war. They investigate multiple causes of this transformation: advances in military technology, changes brought about by the post-Cold War era, impacts of US domestic politics, and new types of engagement required to fight terrorists.
As background for exploring these questions, it is useful to define the characteristics of "conventional warfare" as it was known throughout much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Conventional warfare required the direct engagement on land, sea, and/or air of two or more military forces. Conventional wars were either between nation-states or were civil wars between the established government of a nation-state and dissident group(s) within that country.

1. Technologies and the New War

Technology is one of the major contributing factors to the shift in the way that wars are waged today. For armed networks around the world, like Al Qaeda, improved information and communications technology offer the means for these groups to organize across borders or from different corners of the world. And it is based on these global communication systems that they can raise money through illegal trading in drugs, illegal immigrants, illicit remittances from members of the networks throughout the world, etc. It is also through information technology and the global media that these networks can gain strategic information about countries like the United States that was not so accessible in years past.
It is not only armed networks that use information technology to their advantage. Governments throughout the world use technology for intelligence purposes. For example, satellites can be used to determine the location of enemy camps, criminal bank accounts can be monitored, and developments in other countries can be observed through news media there. Likewise, as will be discussed further in the essays, leaders use communications media to influence populations' views of events, and movies and television programs can add legitimacy to particular political positions.
Some experts also consider that advanced nation-states, which are dependent on technology for everyday life, are especially vulnerable to having their own technology used against them. In the new age of "virtual war," hackers could attempt attacks on anything that relies on information technology to function -- from water supplies to banking systems - potentially wreaking havoc in a given country. The question remains whether terrorist networks possess the high level of expertise necessary to commit these acts.
Advanced countries, especially the United States have used technology to improve their defense systems. The development of "smart weapons" means that forces can exact tremendous damage on their opponents with only minimal loss of their personnel because they use advanced technology to avoid direct engagement. This type of high-tech warfare was first demonstrated in the Persian Gulf War fought by the US in 1991 and was fine-tuned in the US engagement in the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo in the mid- to late-1990s. And by all accounts, smart weapons were militarily very effective in Afghanistan, the first phase of President Bush's declared war against global terrorism.
The great reduction in the potential for US casualties by using smart weapons has significantly affected public opinion about US military engagement, and has minimized domestic opposition. Now the US can more easily use force - or the threat of force - internationally.
However, the use of smart weapons raises important ethical questions. The Geneva Conventions (i.e., a group of four treaties, or written contracts, adopted in 1949 which govern all nation-states' treatment of members of the military, civilians and prisoners in times of war) call for the protection of civilian non-combatants. In conventional warfare where two armed forces are directly engaged, the ethics of warfare recognize that soldiers will kill soldiers but condemns harming civilians. This principle brings the use of smart bombs into question, since even with their increasing accuracy, smart weapons targeted by distant combatants and dropped from high-altitude aircraft occasionally miss their mark and kill or injure civilian non-combatants, or may cause "collateral damage" (i.e., killing or injuring civilians and/or damaging civilian objects) even when they directly hit their target.

2. Political Realities and the New War
Both global and domestic politics in the post-Cold War era shape the type of wars that are now being fought and are likely to be fought in the coming decades.
In terms of international politics, the convergence of the easing of bi-polar tension at the end of the Cold War with the expansion of globalization has greatly reduced the likelihood of a major nuclear confrontation or a war that would engage most of the major nations of the world. However, at the same time, there has been a surge in informal and privatized armed forces causing considerable instability in various countries and regions of the world. While their objectives range from conflict to conflict, it is increasingly apparent that these groups rely on international funding/trade and global crime networks to survive.
Domestically, the past decades have witnessed a growing ambivalence on the part of the US policy makers and the US public regarding the US's role in global politics. While there is a bi-partisan agreement by the majority of the US public, according to public opinion polls, in support of active US engagement in the global economy, no such consensus exists regarding US engagement in global politics. Indeed, several scholars and commentators have noted an isolationist tendency in the US. On the military front, this has surfaced in the reluctance of the US, as the sole superpower, to become militarily involved in conflicts in other areas of the world except in cases where US national interests are clearly and directly affected. However, as discussed above, the development of technologically sophisticated weapons that inflict fewer casualties and place many fewer US combatants at risk has increased the willingness of the US public to become militarily engaged in foreign conflicts.

3. New War and Global Terrorism

As will be expanded upon in the selected essays, neither global terrorism nor the declared war on terrorism fits the norms of conventional warfare, as described above. Global terrorism is executed by small, secretive, and often invisible networks of individuals who are not identified with a particular nation-state. While these "non-state actors" (i.e., those entities that are not official arms of recognized nation-states or governments) networks often have defined political objectives, they are not directly associated with the traditional type of national objectives. For example, the Al Qaeda network does not seek to take over a particular nation or government, nor does it target the military defeat of a particular government of a nation. Moreover, its armed units are not organized into traditional armies and do not engage their enemy with conventional strategies and tactics.
Thus, the new war on global terrorism by necessity will differ from conventional warfare. Because the enemy is not a nation-state, victory cannot be achieved by defeating an opposing government, even when it may be deemed necessary - as in the case of Afghanistan - to defeat a regime that collaborates with terrorists. While a combination of high-tech weaponry and strong support for internal forces opposing the Taliban led to the defeat of that regime, it is questionable that the same military strategy can be used effectively to destroy the capability of Al Qaeda and other networks. Alternative technologies and strategies will need to be employed if global terrorism is to be defeated.

Globalization


Teachers may want to have the students read this introduction before they read the essays on "Globalization" to provide a basic understanding of the concepts included therein.
"Globalization" is a term that came into popular usage in the 1980's to describe the increased movement of people, knowledge and ideas, and goods and money across national borders that has led to increased interconnectedness among the world's populations, economically, politically, socially and culturally. Although globalization is often thought of in economic terms (i.e., "the global marketplace"), this process has many social and political implications as well. Many in local communities associate globalization with modernization (i.e., the transformation of "traditional" societies into "Western" industrialized ones). At the global level, globalization is thought of in terms of the challenges it poses to the role of governments in international affairs and the global economy.
There are heated debates about globalization and its positive and negative effects. While globalization is thought of by many as having the potential to make societies richer through trade and to bring knowledge and information to people around the world, there are many others who perceive globalization as contributing to the exploitation of the poor by the rich, and as a threat to traditional cultures as the process of modernization changes societies. There are some who link the negative aspects of globalization to terrorism. To put a complicated discussion in simple terms, they argue that exploitative or declining conditions contribute to the lure of informal "extremist" networks that commit criminal or terrorist acts internationally. And thanks to today's technology and integrated societies, these networks span throughout the world. It is in this sense that terrorism, too, is "globalized." The essays in this section address some of the complex questions associated with globalization in light of September 11. Before moving to these essays, consider the discussion below about some of the economic, political, social and cultural manifestations of globalization.

Economic manifestations of globalization

Increasingly over the past two centuries, economic activity has become more globally oriented and integrated. Some economists argue that it is no longer meaningful to think in terms of national economies; international trade has become central to most local and domestic economies around the world.
Among the major industrial economies, sometimes referred to as the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, 65 percent of the total economic production, or GDP, is associated with international trade. Economists project that, in the U.S., more than 50 percent of the new jobs created in this decade will be directly linked to the global economy.
The recent focus on the international integration of economies is based on the desirability of a free global market with as few trade barriers as possible, allowing for true competition across borders.
International economic institutions, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), facilitate this increasingly barrier-free flow of goods, services, and money (capital) internationally. Regionally, too, organizations like the North America Free Trade Association (NAFTA), the European Union (EU), and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) work towards economic integration within their respective geographical regions.
Many economists assess economic globalization as having a positive impact, linking increased economic transactions across national borders to increased world GDP, and opportunities for economic development. Still, the process is not without its critics, who consider that many of the economies of the industrial North (i.e., North America, Europe, East Asia) have benefited from globalization, while in the past two decades many semi- and non-industrial countries of the geo-political South (i.e., Africa, parts of Asia, and Central and South America) have faced economic downturns rather than the growth promised by economic integration. Critics assert that these conditions are to a significant extent the consequence of global restructuring which has benefited Northern economies while disadvantaging Southern economies. Others voice concern that globalization adversely affects workers and the environment in many countries around the world.
Discontent with the perceived disastrous economic and social manifestations of globalization has led to large and growing demonstrations at recent intergovernmental meetings, including meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial countries.

Political manifestations of globalization

Globalization has impacts in the political arena, but there is not a consensus among social scientists about the nature and degree of its impact on national and international politics. Some political scientists argue that globalization is weakening nation-states and that global institutions gradually will take over the functions and power of nation-states. Other social scientists believe that while increased global inter-connectivity will result in dramatic changes in world politics, particularly in international relations (i.e., the way states relate to each other), the nation-state will remain at the center of international political activity.
Political theorists and historians often link the rise of the modern nation-state (in Europe and North America in the nineteenth century and in Asia and Africa in the twentieth century) with industrialization and the development of modern capitalist and socialist economies. These scholars also assert that the administrative structures and institutions of the modern nation-state were in part responsible for the conditions that led to industrial expansion. Moreover, industrial development brought with it social dislocations that necessitated state intervention in the form of public education and social "safety nets" for health care, housing, and other social services. Consequently, the development of the contemporary nation-state, nationalism, inter-state alliances, colonization, and the great wars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were in part political manifestations of changes in the structure of economic production.
It follows from this argument that in the era of globalization, with its significant changes in global economic relations, the nineteenth and twentieth century model of the nation-state may become obsolete. The economic orientation of the modern nation-state has been centered on national economic interests, which may often conflict with the global trend towards the free and rapid movement of goods, services, finance, and labor. These processes give rise to the question of whether the modern nation-state can survive in its present form in the new global age. Is it adaptable, or will it gradually be replaced by emerging multinational or regional political entities?
Changes in political structure and practices resulting from economic globalization are only a partial explanation of changes in world politics in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. International relations and world politics in the second half of the twentieth century were strongly informed by another global factor - the Cold War (i.e., the ideological struggle between the Western nations, the United States and its allies, and the Eastern Bloc, the Soviet Union and China and their allies). The early and most intense years of the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s coincided with the de-colonization of Asia and Africa and the creation of more than 70 new nation-states. Many of the new nation-states of Africa and Asia had based their struggle for independence on the principles of freedom, justice and liberty - principles espoused by both the Eastern and Western blocks. The economic, political, and ideological competition between East and West had fertile ground in these newly independent nation-states. Although the "cold war" never developed into a "hot war" of actual military conflict in Europe or North America, civil wars within and wars between new nation-states in Africa and Asia were fueled and supported by Cold War tensions. Major conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Congo, Angola, Mozambique, and Somalia are examples of regional conflicts that were fueled by the Cold War.
To some experts, the demise of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc a decade ago promised a new era of world peace and increased openness. The processes of globalization accelerated as goods, ideas and people flowed more freely across borders in the post-Cold War political environment. In place of policies of containment, the international community fostered policies of openness to trade and based on the principles of democracy and rights.
With such increased openness, multilateral organizations, and in particular the United Nations (UN), have changed their focus from maintaining the balance of power between the East and West to a more global approach to peacekeeping/peace-building, development, environmental protection, protection of human rights, and the maintenance of the rule of law internationally. The creation of legal institutions like the international criminal tribunals that have sprung up in the past decade, as well as the proliferation of major international conferences aiming to address global problems through international cooperation, have been referred to as proof of political globalization. Still, since all of these institutions rely on the participation of nation-states and respect the fundamental principle of national sovereignty, the extent to which these institutions exhibit true political globalization continues to be debated.

Social and cultural manifestations of globalization

Though there are many social and cultural manifestations of globalization, here are some of the major ones:
  • Informational services: The past two decades have seen an internationalization of information services involving the exponential expansion of computer-based communication through the Internet and electronic mail. On the one hand, the electronic revolution has promoted the diversification and democratization of information as people in nearly every country are able to communicate their opinions and perspectives on issues, local and global, that impact their lives. Political groups from Chiapas to Pakistan have effectively used information technology to promote their perspectives and movements. On the other hand, this expansion of information technology has been highly uneven, creating an international "digital divide" (i.e., differences in access to and skills to use Internet and other information technologies due predominantly to geography and economic status). Often, access to information technology and to telephone lines in many developing countries is controlled by the state or is available only to a small minority who can afford them..
  • News services: In recent years there has been a significant shift in the transmission and reporting of world news with the rise of a small number of global news services. This process has been referred to as the "CNN-ization of news," reflecting the power of a few news agencies to construct and disseminate news. Thanks to satellite technology, CNN and its few competitors extend their reach to even the most geographically remote areas of the world. This raises some important questions of globalization: Who determines what news What is "newsworthy?" Who frames the news and determines the perspectives articulated? Whose voice(s) are and are not represented? What are the potential political consequences of the silencing of alternative voices and perspectives?
  • Popular culture: The contemporary revolution in communication technology has had a dramatic impact in the arena of popular culture. Information technology enables a wide diversity of locally-based popular culture to develop and reach a larger audience. For example, "world music" has developed a major international audience. Old and new musical traditions that a few years ago were limited to a small local audience are now playing on the world stage.
On the other hand, globalization has increased transmission of popular culture easily and inexpensively from the developed countries of the North throughout the world. Consequently, despite efforts of nationally-based media to develop local television, movie, and video programs, many media markets in countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America are saturated with productions from the U.S., Europe and a few countries in Asia (especially Japan and India). Local critics of this trend lament not only the resulting silencing of domestic cultural expression, but also the hegemonic reach of Western, "alien" culture and the potential global homogenization of values and cultural taste.


Monday, May 21, 2012

Student Organizations


Student organizations have been established to support and enhance learning in many career-technical fields: Future Farmers of America (FFA), agriculture; Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), business; Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA), marketing; Technology Student Association (TSA), technology; and Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), allied health. These organizations provide opportunities for leadership development, service learning, and career exploration. Students, teachers, and parents expect that membership in these organizations will result in learning and enhanced skills as well as the development of positive values, social skills, and an ability to work independently and collaboratively (Vaughn, Kieth, and Lockaby 1999; Williams 2001). It is the anticipation of these academic, professional, and career-related benefits, as well as opportunities for friendship and belonging, that lead many young people to become members of career and technical education (CTE) student organizations. Intended for CTE educators, this Digest reviews research on outcomes students have realized from membership in these organizations and describes how the organizations are changing as CTE evolves.

Outcomes of Participation in CTE Student Organizations
A major research study was conducted by Purdue University comparing agricultural education students to the "typical high school student" identified by the Horatio Alger Association ("Communicating the Good News!" 2000). The Purdue study showed outcomes for students who participated in FFA, a CTE student organization with about 450,000 members (Stagg and Stuller 1999). Because all career-technical student organizations share similar goals for membership and participation, the outcomes of the Purdue study serve as the basis for this discussion, focusing on four major outcome areas: scholarship, motivation, professional development, and citizenship.

Scholarship

Key findings of the Purdue study showed that students involved in FFA are more enthusiastic about and attach greater value to their school studies than do average students. The FFA students also are more actively engaged in school activities, more likely than the average student to relate personal effort to success, and more likely to prepare for postsecondary studies and attend two-year and four-year colleges (Reese 2001).

One reason CTE student organizations inspire scholarship is that the school-business partnerships that characterize these organizations connect school learning to its application in the workplace. Minorities in Agriculture, National Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS) is one such national student organization that is committed to fostering partnerships between minority students in agriculture and national resources and professionals from academia, government, and business. Through MANRRS membership, students are able to network with more than 50 governmental, private industry, and educational entities. Studies showed that college freshmen and upperclass students who participated in MANRRS in 1993-94 (mostly African Americans and Hispanics), "had a 70% graduation rate within 6 years compared to a 56% average projected graduation rate for these groups for the entire university. Fifty-three percent graduated in 4 years or less; 3% graduated in 5 years of less; and 87% had received degrees by August 1998" (Talbert, Larke, and Jones 1999, p. 5).

Motivation

Students who become members of CTE student organizations are inspired to join because their peers or family members have recommended membership, they desire to participate in career-related activities and competitions, and they want to connect with other students who share common career interests. This motivation for membership appears to nurture a motivation for learning. According to the Purdue study, "83 percent of FFA students consider their agriculture courses to be exciting, interesting, and challenging as compared to only 32% of typical students. These students are also more likely to believe the amount of work they do in school is important to their success later in life and more likely to believe it is important to do their best in all of their classes" (Reese 2001, p. S17).

A positive attitude about the benefits of CTE student organizations often occurs as a result of the testimonials of other members of the organization. For example, Katrina Miller's decision to join the Technology Student Association was influenced by a former TSA president who spoke at a TSA Fall Leadership Conference. "She told us about the TSA offices she had won and her achievements in TSA competitions. She was so poised and passionate, and I knew right then that if she could do these things, I could too" (Miller and Meuleners 2000, p. 24.).

Professionalism

Many students join CTE student organizations because they believe membership experiences and competitions will prepare them for employment in their chosen careers. Membership appears to enhance students' self-confidence in this regard. Eighty-nine percent of FFA students believe they can realize success in their chosen career area (Reese 2001). These students also have more specific career goals and are more likely to work while in high school, which serves to enhance their professional development.

Through participation in CTE student organizations' national conferences and competitions, students gain valuable professional experience. "In 2000, over 125 students traveled to national conferences to compete in contests, network with business people and peers, and learn information that is vital to their futures" (Wills 2000, p. 44). These activities give students opportunities to apply their evolving communication, leadership, and networking skills.

Businesses that support CTE student organizations become involved as a way to ensure that their employment needs will be met by the future generation of workers. The heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration industry, for example, supports the Skills USA-Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) by enlisting companies to donate equipment for national competitions and provide employees to serve as judges. In this way, the industry has a vehicle for introducing students to its equipment and ensuring that schools connect academic learning with the skill demands of the workplace. This gives businesses an opportunity to have a hand in shaping potential employees; at the same time, the competitions afford professional benefits to the students. The gold medalist of the 1997 Skills USA-VICA competition, for example, was able to train at the Carrier company's Bynum Education Center in Syracuse, New York. He trained one on one with a Carrier worker and "Carrier picked up the cost of his airfare and accommodations" (Siegel 2001, p. 42).


Citizenship

Research shows that students who are members of youth organizations are more actively engaged in community as well as school activities. The Purdue study found that 90 percent of FFA members participate in school and community activities (Reese 2001). Another study revealed that students involved with student organizations were more likely to be involved in community affairs and organizations, school organizations, and church (Leventhal 1999). Activities for linking CTE student organizations with the community include job shadowing, service projects, student-organized field trips, employer-employee banquets, and alumni-student gatherings (Miller 1997).

How Organizations Are Changing as CTE Evolves
Student organizations will not be successful in the future unless they can motivate new students to join and participate in the activities. Two primary ways that CTE student organizations can achieve this goal are to (1) make their focus more relevant to today's workplace and (2) strive to recruit a diverse student population.

Workplace Relevance

Society has undergone many changes since the inception of most CTE student organizations and these changes influence how and where people work. When the FFA was started in 1928, for example, people were leaving farming communities and migrating to the cities. The organization was initiated as a way to keep vocational agriculture in the public school system and offer the typically white, rural youth a means of improving their farming production skills and developing a sense of self-worth and recognition for their accomplishments so they would remain in agriculture (Vaughn et al. 1999). Today, there are fewer and fewer family farms and a decreasing number of youth have family ties to production agriculture (Igo and White 1999).

To be viable today, CTE student organizations must be designed to satisfy the primary need of today's students—improving their employment potential in a technologically oriented workplace. They must draw their members' interests toward areas that offer job potential, e.g., in agriculture, it is important to provide opportunities that extend beyond agriculture production to business, communication, agriscience, and technology as applied in the agriculture industry (Gliem and Gliem 2000).

Diverse Membership

Other changes in society relate to work force composition. Today the workplace is composed of people with varied ethnic and economic backgrounds. Igo and White (1999) note that future generations of students involved in agriculture will not be from the typical rural areas, but from urban communities. To thrive, CTE student organizations must recruit students from these areas and from the various cultures they represent. In a study conducted to learn the characteristics of students enrolled in agricultural education who elected not to join FFA (Stagg and Stuller 1999), it was found that non-FFA members included significantly more Asians, African Americans, and Hispanics. This reflection of selective membership may be one reason that, of the over 800,000 students involved in agricultural education, only 450,000 are FFA members. CTE student organizations need to find ways to attract all students by providing and emphasizing benefits that membership will afford them, both personally and professionally.

The recruitment of diverse members should also include students with disabilities. Ploss, Field, and Frick (1996) describe youth with disabilities who have participated in CTE student organizations. One female student who was blind participated fully in FFA. The authors describe her enthusiasm for belonging to FFA and participating in its national competitions. They note that she was so professional and well spoken that the audience and often the judges were not aware that she was visually impaired.

Students can also promote membership in CTE student organizations by sharing with a diverse array of their peers the personal benefits they have realized through membership: For example, Rich Klein reports that "because of VICA, I did a lot of advanced study in my field" (Siegel 2001, p. 5). Katrina Miller notes that "through my TSA experiences I have learned to be confident in my abilities and move forward in my career goals" (Miller and Meuleners 2000, p. 24). Testimonials like these can be strong motivators for students who have little or no background in student organizations.

Young people have a variety of needs that must be met if they are to become mature, responsible, caring, and informed individuals. CTE student organizations provide a variety of opportunities that will help students in these areas. However, to be effective in the future, these organizations must recruit and embrace a more diverse membership and introduce members to occupations as they exist today.


References

"Communicating the Good News! Using the Purdue/Horatio Alger Study to Document the FFA Edge." Indianapolis, IN: National FFA Organization, 2000. http://www.ffa.org/news/alger/downloads/pdf/guide.pdf

Gliem, R. R., and Gliem, J. A. "Factors that Encouraged, Discouraged, and Would Encourage Students in Secondary Agricultural Education Programs to Join the FFA." In 21st Century Research for Agricultural Education. Proceedings of the 27th Annual National Agricultural Education Research Conference, edited by G. Miller. American Association for Agricultural Education, 2000. (ED 449 351)

Igo, C. G., and White, J. D. "It Has Gone Without Saying Too Long Already!" Agricultural Education Magazine 71, no. 5 (March-April 1999): 8-9.

Leventhal, J. I. "Providing Leadership Development for All Students." Tech Directions 59, no. 1 (August 1999): 22-24.

Miller, K., and Meuleners, M. "Straight from the Source." Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers 75, no. 1 (January 2000): 24-25.

Miller, L. W. "Making the Connection." Business Education Forum 52, no. 1 (October 1997): 39-41.

Ploss, A. J.; Field, W. E.; and Frick, M. J. Bridging Horizons. An Advisor's Guide to FFA Involvement for Members with Disabilities. Alexandria VA: Future Farmers of America, 1996.

Reese, S. "The Advantages of Agriculture Education and FFA." Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers 76, no. 2 (February 2001): S1-S17.

Siegel, J. J. "Skills USA-VICA Brings Industry Together." Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News 212, no. 5 (January 29, 2001): 40-42.

Stagg, B., and Stuller, B. "Will FFA Be a Part of Agricultural Education in Twenty Years?" Agricultural Education Magazine 71, no. 5 (March-April 1999): 2, 19.

Talbert, B.; Larke, A., Jr.; and Jones, W. A. "Using a Student Organization to Increase Participation and Success of Minorities in Agriculture Disciplines." Peabody Journal of Education 74, no. 2 (1999): 90-104.

Vaughn, P. R.; Kieth, L.; and Lockaby, J. "The FFA Organization: Needed Then & Needed Now." Agricultural Education Magazine 71, no. 5 (March-April 1999): 4-5, 11.

Williams, K. L. "Student Organizations and Business Education: A Winning Combination." Business Education Forum 56, no. 2 (December 2001): 56-57.

Wills, S. "Promoting Student Organizations." Business Education Forum 55, no. 2 (December 2000): 44-46.

ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION

There has been a controversy between animal rights supporters and scientists about whether it is right to use animals in experimental research. Also, it is very debatable whether using animals for such research results in finding a cure for diseases. From my point of view, if there are no other alternatives, and if it is possible that this will contribute to science, animals may be used for experimental research.

Although the animal rights activists claim that people and animals are equal and thus they should be treated equally, I think that people and animals cannot be seen equal, and therefore the death of an animal cannot be the same thing as the death of a person. For that reason, causing animals to die for science, for the sake of saving human lives, may be considered ethical to some extent if it will contribute to the advancement of science and will be to the benefit of humanity in general.

Furthermore, animal rights supporters label scientists as ‘cruel’ for causing animals to die in medical experiments, while they do not oppose the people, mostly farmers, who kill animals for food, even though they know that 99% of animals deaths is caused by farmers while only a small percentage, i.e. 1% is caused by scientists. The underlying reason for that is they find scientists easier to attack and cannot deal with farmers who are organized and strong.

Another basic argument of animal rights defenders is that people and animals are different genetically and therefore it is useless to use animals in experiments to see the effects of some substances on people. They claim that it will make no good to use animals in experiments because they are too different to be compared to people. Some of them even assert that it is better to use people directly as they think that the results of experiments on animals cannot be valid and reliable as long as the same observation has not been done on man also. However, these people cannot foresee the disastrous results of such a practice. Many people are likely to die until a healthy result is obtained.

People and animals may not be the same, but to some degree there are similarities which can at least give scientists an idea about their experiments. From this point of view, scientists are right to use animal models to provide themselves with information about what is happening at level of detail that could not be achieved in humans. Although there might have been some incidents when animal testing did not prove to be useful and some effects of some drugs observed on animals could not be observed on people, there are also a lot of examples that show that using animals resulted in significant developments and helped to cure some serious illnesses.

On the other hand, there may be alternative methods that should be used instead of animal experimentation. Then, of course, it is cruel and unethical to use animals. For example, in some experiments in-vitro methods can be used as an alternative to using live animals. In such occasions, it is certainly much better and right to employ these alternatives.

All in all, it can be said that using animals for medical research is ethical a long as it contributes to scientific development and helps scientists find ways to improve human health. And this practice is only acceptable on the condition that necessary pains are taken and animals are treated humanely.

VIOLENCE IN THE FAMILY


        The term “violence in the family” refers to male violence against females. It means that men are generally rude to women both physically and psychologically. Concerning this issue, a study has been conducted by Family Research Institute in five different geographic regions of Turkey on married women about husband violence against wives. The results of this survey indicate that two independent variables seem to be related to approval of violence.

One of the variables is the number of children, which affects the women’s approval of male violence in the family. Data on this relationship show a complex link between the two: the number of children influences the intensity with which a woman approves male violence. They increase parallel to each other: while the number of children rises from 1 to 6, the approval percentage rises from 10 to more than 40. The second variable shows the linkage between the age of women and their approval of male violence. As age rises, the degree of approval rises too. However, there is a sharp increase between the ages 35-40 and from 40 onward it continues to rise.

The women’s approval of male violence stems from different factors such as education level of both genders. If men had enough awareness to respect women, violence would be decreased. In the same way, if women were educated, they would have financial independence or at least they would know their rights and would act accordingly. Financial independence gives women the right to divorce. Therefore, a woman who has enough money to support herself and her children does not have to tolerate an unhappy life with her husband who resorts to violence.

Another factor that determines the degree of violence approval is modernization. In other words, traditional values that are observed among women and certain segments of the society are the cause of approval. For example, years ago women could not do anything without asking their husbands first. Although such conservative beliefs seem too old-fashioned to be accepted today, they still apply.

The wicked belief against women who are divorced or widowed is the other factor that has an effect on approval of violence. Women are afraid of becoming a widow because of this common attitude. Lots of men are very merciless in their treatment of women; they treat them as if divorced women are strange creatures or as if they are guilty of some immoral crime. Therefore, women cannot venture a divorce fearing persecution.

As a result, being a woman in Turkey is difficult but being a divorced woman is more difficult than this, so lots of women have to accept and live with their husbands’ violent acts. Something must be done for women but a lot of people think that there are more important issues in the country that need handling. For this problem to be solved, people -without any discrimination- must be educated on women’s rights. It must be accepted in the wider society that women have to be seen as humans not as slaves. Only after people understand this, women will gain the status that they really deserve in the society.

Happiness

Humankind can’t continue their lives without desires. If one wants to be happy, surely, he has to discover his best desires that provide him a happy life. Some of these desires that help to continue our lives can be acceptance in our relationships, a good family life and strong social relations. Trying to satisfy these desires has a great meaning to achieve happiness for me.

To start with, however embarrassed I am about this desire of mine, I have an obsession to expect people to accept my thoughts and manners in every situation. Yes, this is not a good characteristic and sometimes makes me an antipathic person but trying to be accepted by someone can give you happiness, too. Besides, if you can manage to make someone love you knowing and accepting all about you, I think that is the absolute happiness.
 
Furthermore, it seems to me that family is the basic source of happiness. Certainly, I can’t always be a good guy and sometimes I make them upset but I can’t stand seeing them upset. Therefore, I try to do whatever necessary to make them happy. Consequently, when I see happy family faces, I feel deeply happy.
 
Thirdly, to have friends is one of the most meaningful aspects of life. I believe that one should have three very warm friends at least. For example, I can’t bear loneliness and if I couldn’t share all my heart with these warm friends, I believe that I could never be happy. As a consequence, if you feel like me, it will be worth improving your close relationships in order to be happy.
 
To recap, humankind has a short life but he is given a lot of desires to be happy. Moreover, if one wants to discover the meaning of his short life, he should look for it in desires. Whether he finds it or not, he will taste happiness just by looking for it.
    Everyday in one way or another we are trying to find happiness in a complete chaos, that is what all we are struggling for. Actually, temporary happiness is everywhere if we want to find it and search for it. Sometimes it is just as close as a cute kitten to us, sometimes giving a hand to someone who is in need of us is enough. Even taking a breath may give somebody the absolute happiness at times. But what if we leave temporary happiness alone and decide to construct our lives on basic principles of permanent happiness? Certainly these principles depend on one’s characteristics and point of view. In my opinion, social relations, acceptance and independence are the most important elements of permanent happiness in life.
 
        To begin with, social relations are very important for me to be happy in the general drift of my life. I should have good relations with the people around me for  peace of my mind. If I have close and intimate friends with whom I can share my troubles, worries and also my joy, then it means that I have beaten the life up to a very considerable point. In my opinion, someone who has real friends has the most valuable treasure of life. In order to obtain this treasure, I make my friends among the people whose principles resemble mine, whose characteristics best suit me and who are sincere. Besides friends I try to have good relations with the people I encounter somehow everyday, like neighbors, acquaintances, teachers, relatives and the others.
 
        The second element of continuous happiness for me is acceptance: to clarify, acceptance of my characteristics, behaviors, choices and desires. At one point, it can be defined as the acceptance of my existence as a real individual. As long as I am accepted and taken as I am, I can make right decisions for myself. To accomplish this, I explain that I do not want unnecessary criticisms from the people around me. Unless the things I do or think affect anybody, the others should not poke their nose into them. It is none of their business to interfere with me about the subjects that only interest me.
 
        In the third place, learning to be independent is very important for me to reach  real happiness in life. I should be self-sufficient enough to continue my life without too much assistance of the others. Sometimes we are left without our families, sometimes none of our friends stand by us or at times we may get into a position where we have to do things just by ourselves. We live our lives not as a team but as an individual, so we must learn to cope with it as individually as possible. To be an independent person, I try to be self-confident and to be a self-confident person I try to obtain different qualities in different fields. Furthermore, I believe my power, love myself with all my faults and endeavor not to repeat them but to learn from them.
 
        To sum up, if I acquire success in social relations, independence and acceptance, then it means that I have the golden key to make happiness an enduring element of my life. Obtaining all these elements may not be very easy, they may be achieved only in the long run but there is something we should always bear in mind, achieving the real and permanent happiness in life is not that easy, either.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

The Relevance Of Gandhi For All Times


1.   The Relevance Of Gandhi For All Times
By Ravi Kumar (General Open Category)
MAHATMA GANDHI - the greatest of our leaders. He lit the imagination of the entire nation. There is a basic lesson of Indian History. Our people have always taken their moral standards from their rulers; the people have risen to great heights when they have basked in the glow of noble kings or leaders. The present generation is waiting for a leader who will make it relearn the moral values, and who will inculcate in the people, as Gandhi did, a sense of the responsibilities which fall on every citizen of a free society.
The waste of human ability energy and money on armament will continue unabated, and diversion of world resources to development will remain a pipe dream, so long as man does not learn the great lesson which Gandhi preached so convincingly in our own times-viz. non-violence is the law of our species. The diversion of world resources to development stands no practical chance of being heeded unless and until the balance of terror is replaced by the balance of terror is replaced, by the balance of reason.
Although it is true that India has been an integrated nation since olden times; it is also true that on the present context Gandhian values have special significance for national integration. Today communal amity has become essential for national integration and hence Gandhi gave it the highest priority. By communal unity Gandhiji did not mean merely paying lip service to 'bhaibhai-ism'. He meant it to be an unbreakable heart unity'. In the religious context Gandhi emphasized that communal unity has to be based on equal respect for all religions. Everyone, Gandhi said, must have the same regard for other faiths as he had for his own. Such respect would not only remove religious rifts but lead to a realization of the fact that religion was a stabilizing force, not a disturbing element. Gandhi's basic axiom was that religion since the scriptures of all religions point only in one direction of goodwill, openness and understanding between men and men and between community and community.
Gandhiji regarded education as the light of life and the very source from which was created an awareness of oneness. Gandhi believed that the universality of religion can best be realized through the universlization of education, and that such universalization was the spring board for national integration. Harmony is not brought about about overnight. Gandhi advocated the process of patience, persuasion and perseverance for attainment of peace and love for harmony and was firmly convinced of the worth of gentleness as panacea for all evils. Communal harmony had the pride of place in Gandhi's constructive programme. He taught us the dignity of labour as a leveling social factor that contributed to a national outlook in keeping with the vision of new India. he always believed that a nation built on the foundation of non-violence would be able to withstand attacks on its-integrity from within and without.
Gandhi pleaded for the humanization of knowledge for immunization against the ideas of distrust among the communities of the nations and the nationalities of the world. He wanted to take the country from areas of hostility into areas of harmony of faiths through tolerance, so that we could work towards understanding each other. His mass contact programme was specifically aimed at generating a climate of confidence and competition and eliminating misgiving and misconceptions, conflicts and confrontation.
Gandhi also held that bridging the gulf between the well off and the rest was as essential for national integration as inter-religious record. HE said that we must work for economic equality and social justice, which would remove the ills caused by distress and bitterness. He said that we must work for economic equality and social justice, which would remove the ills caused by distress and bitterness. He stressed that the foundation of equality, the core of harmony will have to be laid here now and built up brick by brick through ethical and economic satisfaction of the masses.

Gandhian Relevance - A Phenomenal Success:
It is 54 years since Gandhi was assassinated and there are all kinds of discussion in India and abroad on what Gandhi left for humanity and whether many of his teachings would survive the test of time. What even the passionate critic of Gandhi cannot miss is the string of activities along Gandhian lines one can see in almost all countries of the World now. If not in very significant measure there are very few countries in the world where something or the other in the name of Gandhi is not being organized. In short there is a global non-violent awakening after Gandhi. What is the relevance of Gandhi in this all-pervading materialistic, agnostic and consumerist culture? It is precisely these three tendencies Gandhi fought all his life.
There is no denying the fact that Gandhi was deep rooted in his cultural and religious traditions. The phenomenal success Gandhi registered in far away South Africa fighting for human rights and civil liberties and later the adoption of the Gandhian techniques by Nelson Mandela and the subsequent revelations made by the former South African president De Klerk that he was greatly influenced by Gandhi's principles.
The year 1994 bore witness to the efficacy strategies and philosophy as could be seen from the manner in which the fight Gandhi began 100 years ago in South Africa i.e. in 1903 bearing fruits when the blacks and the whites in South Africa were able to work out a satisfactory solution to a peaceful transfer of power which resulted in the holding of elections and Dr. nelson Mandela taking over the reins of power. In the American continent Martin Luther King's heroic fight for civil liberties on the Gandhian lines and his own admission that it was from Gandhi that he learnt his operational tactics also is not an isolated instance of the relevance of the Gandhian tactics Martin Luther King (Jr.) said, "If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought and acted, inspired by the version of a humanity evolving towards a world of peace and harmony. WE may ignore him at our own risk."
Gandhi's contribution to the political awakening and freedom movement in different parts of the world and adoption of non-violence strategies which help both the opposing groups respect each other's sentiments and accommodating the news of others as much in common with UNESCO's decision to propagate the message of tolerance for humanity survival. Asia and African Continent particularly has seen peaceful transition power of power and social change, thanks to Gandhi's initiatives and teachings.

Concluding remarks:-
The name of Mahatma Gandhi transcends the bounds of race, religion and nation- states, and has emerged as the prophetic voice of the 21st century. he is remembered for his passionate adherence to the practice of non-violence and his supreme humanism. After the great Buddha and Jesus he once again demonstrated that non-violence could also be an effective instruments of social change.
Gandhi successfully demonstrated to a world, weary with wars and continuing destruction that adherence to Truth and Non-violence is not meant for individual behaviour alone but can be applied in global affairs too.
I can do no better than to quote the immortal tribute of India's first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, at the time of Gandhi's passing, "The light has gone out of our lives". Now we have to try and see what we can do with our limitations to overcome what Gandhiji described as the seven social sins:
Politics Without Principles.
Wealth Without Work.
Commerce Without Morality
Education Without Character
Pleasure Without Conscience.
Science Without Humanity.
Worship Without Sacrifice.
We can sum it all up by saying that it was Gandhi who, through his dedication, lifted the country from the British policy of 'divide and rule' and let the Indian masses form rivalries to reconciliation and from hostility to harmony. And in this the Mahatma was ably supported by his great disciples- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and many others.
 
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