Education policy Essay Example for Free

Education policy Essay Education the basic need Object of Education: Importance of Education: Background of Pakistan’s Educational System Educational System in Pakistan: Key Performance Indicators for Education Systems PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN 1. Medium of Education: 2. Disparity of System at Provincial Level: 3. Gender Discrimination: 4. Lack of Technical Education:: 5. Low allocation of funds: 6. Inefficient Teachers: 7. Poverty: 8. Corruption: 9. Social imbalance: 10. Mismanagement of System: 11. Infrastructure Problems: 12. Private school system: 13. Lack of educational policies: 14. Increase in population: 15. Lack of attention of the authorities: 16. Lack of uniform educational system: 17. Medium of Instruction: 18. Education as a business: 19. Delay in renewal of policies and syllabus 20. Political Interference: SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: 1. English should be medium of Instruction: 2. Talented and qualified Staff 3. Fulfill the lack of teachers 4. Primary education should be made compulsory: 5. Increase in teachers incentives 6. Translation of foreign research to local language 7. Check on distinctive education:- 8. Scholarships and financial support to students: 9. Special Financial packages: 10. Betterment of education policies and teachers workshop: 11. Infused Technical Education: 12. Promotion of primary education: Conclusion Essay Education the basic need Education is the light of the life. Education proves to one of the most important factors for the development of human civilization. Education enhances human status and leads everyone to propriety. it is a continuous and lifelong process. It attributes most important, precious and permanent property of an individual. Education provides manpower, strengthens national unity and uplifts public awareness. It invites positive and constructive change in life. It makes our life really prosperous and meaningful. Everyone wants to be well educated. Life can be successful by the help of appropriate education. Educated person can only judge what is correct and what is wrong And takes the appropriate and right decision but uneducated person fails to do so. Object of Education: Robert Maynard Hutchins describes it as â€Å"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. † We should give our youth the way to educate themselves. Edward Everett said that â€Å"Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. † Importance of Education: We all know the importance of education. It is the most important aspect of any nation’s survival today. Education builds the nations; it determines the future of a nation. ISLAM also tells us about Education and its importance. The real essence of Education according to ISLAM is â€Å"to know ALLAH† but I think in our country we truly lost. Neither our schools nor our madrassa’s (Islamic Education Centres) are truly educating our youth in this regard. In schools, we are just preparing them for â€Å"Money†. We aren’t educating them we are just preparing â€Å"Money Machines†. We are only increasing the burden of the books for our children and just enrolling them in a reputed, big school for what, just for social status On the other hand in our madrassas we are preparing people who finds very difficult to adjust in the modern society. Sometimes it seems that they are from another planet. A madrassa student can’t compete even in our country then the World is so far from him. He finds very difficult to even speak to a school boy. It is crystal clear that Islamic Education is necessary for Muslims but it is also a fact that without modern education no one can compete in this world. There are many examples of Muslim Scholars who not only study the Holy Quraan but also mastered the other subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy and many more, with the help of Holy Quraan. I think with the current education system we are narrowing the way for our children instead of widening it. There is no doubt that our children are very talented, both in schools and in madrassas, we just need to give them proper ways to groom, give them the space to become Quaid-E-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Alberoni, Abnalhasam, or Einstein, Newton, Thomas Edison. The education system we are running with is not working anymore. We have to find a way to bridge this gap between school and madrassa. Background of Pakistan’s Educational System Numerous international assessments could explore that Pakistan is lagging behind many countries in achieving the Education for All goal (EFA). We were the signatory to the treaty under Dakar Framework where it was decided by all the developing countries that they will be trying to achieve the target of EFI in the meeting held in Senegal in 2000. UNESCO rates in Pakistan are at a lower EFA development Index (EDI) because of low; enrolment at primary school, adult literacy, gender equity and equality, equalities in education and quality of education. The adult literacy in Pakistan, in spite of concerted efforts, fail to go beyond the border line of 50 percent. The women literacy is much more belittling as thirty three percent of the adult women cannot even read. The more embracing would be that we would not be catching the target to achieve the adult literacy by 2015. Progress towards the achievement of the targets is exceptionally slow, while gender parity goal is at risk of not being achieved by 2015. Moreover, more than 6 million children are out of school. Educational System in Pakistan: Education system in Pakistan is really having a bad configuration at the moment. There is no doubt in accepting the fact that education stands the backbone for the development of nations. Looking at the history of nations, we may safely reach the conclusion that the advanced nations of the world could reach the zenith of prestige and power taking support from education. The allocations for education are too meager, and in spite of allocation, the amount is not spent for what it was meant for as the corruption is found in all the tiers of education and also because of the same delivery from the government institutions that is much below the desired and aspired levels. Private education in Pakistan is far reaching for the poor and the turnover of this quality education does not serve the country the way they are supposed to. Planning for education does not go in congruence with the needs and implement remains ever ignored, so by this way the system is getting more spoiled rather than flourishing. Our universities have failed to produce the planners, developers, implementers, and decision makers. Rather the turnover is a mismatch with the ground realities, the half backed persons we are producing are of no use to us. The students we come across are degree seekers rather than the knowledge. The increase in number of colleges and universities does not mean that we are going by the standards rather these are worsening, a simple evidence of which is that no Pakistani university could find a space among the top 1000 universities of the world. The socio-economic scenario is directly attached with the status of Education in the country. The developed world managed to scale up their education in line with the needs and market requirements. Despite the recent achievements, a lot more is needed to be done as the country still faces numerous challenges which cause deterrence. We are under obligation to raise the education of our population to the level of our South Asian neighbors, to combat our own social and economic wants to the satisfactory level. The very scale of Pakistan’s education sector more than 150,000 public education institutions serving over 21 million students and a huge private sector that serves another 12 million – presents formidable challenges. Education is found to be the cheapest and tangible defense mechanism for a nation on the social, political, and economic fronts. But the down trodden condition of education in Pakistan bears an ample testimony of the fact that it is unable to defend its own sector. Over the span of 64 years, the nation has been given the 23 policies and action plans but we could not start the march towards success and are waiting for a savior who could take the system out of turmoil. There were ample spending in the government of Pervaiz Musharraf on education and due to which, we could see the visible positive educational change in Pakistani society. Currently the economic situation in Pakistan is under severe stress and education sector has received the highest impact in Pakistan. The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan has led to the fact in the following words, â€Å"The state of Pakistan shall remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period. † In Human development Report, Pakistan is placed at 136th position because its 49. 9% population comes under the definition of education. The dropout rate is alarmingly high at the primary level; consequently, it is revealed by the Data Center of UNESCO, that 33. 8% females and 47. 18% in males could pass through the most initial level of education. We may be conclusive about the ground reality that people in the 6th largest country of the world have no access to the basic education even. Key Performance Indicators for Education Systems The frequently used indicators for assessing education and its systems are adult literacy rates, male and female enrollment at different levels of education, participation rate in the different areas of the country; the dropout rates, the amount of resources allocated to education as a proportion of the GDP and some measures of the quality of education being pursued. At the moment, the workability of these indicators rests on the footing of authenticated and recent data so that the planning details may be worked out with confidence. Irony of fate, the indicators, their footings and the quality of data all want more authenticity, but unfortunately, Pakistans record lacks objectivity and rationality on all counts. PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN 1. Medium of Education: The system of education in Pakistan is operative in match with the local needs and ground realities. It is almost a decisive factor that the education in the mother tongue surrenders more dividends but we have the system more segregated and diversified just contrary to our requirements. A good example of it is that we fail to decide about the Medium of education over the span of 64 years. Different mediums are operational in both, public and private sector. This creates a sort of disparity among people, dividing them into two segments. 21. Disparity of System at Provincial Level:: The Regions of Pakistan in the name of provinces are not at par as regards the infrastructure, availability of staff, their training, content mastery allocation of resources and their utilization. This develops a disparity not only in the system but in the turnover too. There is a need to revisit the schools in Baluchistan (The Largest Province of Pakistan by area) because these are not that much groomed as that of Punjab (The Largest Province of Pakistan by Population). In FATA, the literacy rate is deplorable constituting 29. 5% in males and 3% in females. The conditions are to be made more congenial about teaching and learning in all parts of the country without any discretion. 22. Gender Discrimination:: We should have know how of the population comprising females, unfortunately their education is not attended to the way it was deemed fit. The gender discrimination is a cause that is contributing towards the low participation rate of girls at the basic level of education. The male and female participation ratio is projected at the primary school in the shape of ratio of boys girls as 10:4 respectively. In the decade passed, government invited private sector to shoulder the responsibility of education of the youth. The intent was also to provide the education at the doorstep to the children especially the female students. The private sector took up the challenge and there was an increase in the growth of private schools but this step didn’t cause the increase in the students or the quality. The masses could not be attracted because of precious education. It created clear cut tiers of society and created a gap among those with the haves and have not’s. 23. Lack of Technical Education:: There is a craze for the white collar jobs for the same pupils. Select the general rut of education, though they have the least tilt or the capacity to cope with the demands. China, Japan and Germany have the ruts for those who have a taste for and do not achieve the excellence in the general rut of education. We have kept the opportunities open for all to participate in general education at all levels especially the university level. We could not attract the general masses towards technical education making them to earn of their own act as the entrepreneurs and make their living without being the burden on the government. Education system is needed to be revamped making a space for the science, IT, management, and pupil with the excellence to go to the higher education pursuing the education of their own choice. Lesser emphasis on technical education means the lesser manpower for industry and hence the lesser finance generation. 24. Low allocation of funds:: The allocation of funds for education is very low as it never went beyond 1. 5 to 2. 0 percent of the total GDP. Even this amount was not utilized and had to be surrendered back to the government because of want of expertise and the knowledge of codal formalities and in time release of funds. There is a need to increase it around 7% of the total GDP keeping in view the allocations by the neighboring countries, there is also a need to rationalize the share at the different levels not ignoring any. 25. Inefficient Teachers:: Government fails to attract the potential candidates for teaching with the zeal vigor and excellent carrier. Teaching is rated as the lowest among the jobs for the youth, because of lesser incentives, slow promotions and lesser fringe benefits. The teachers in government schools are not well groomed and equipped with knowledge and training. People who do not get job in any other sector, they try their luck in educational system. There is a need to reorganize pre-service and in-service trainings making them matched with the requirements rather to keep them ideal, unique and novel. 26. Poverty:: Poverty is growing over the years. The average class is vanishing like anything. It happens to be a curse for the nation that exists without having the average income group. The escalation of poverty has restricted the parents to send their children to tasks for child labor or at least to public or private schools. In these schools, the drop out is very high because schools are not the attractive places, the curriculum is dry and the teaching does not match the live situations. Poor parents are constrained to send their children to madressahs where the education is totally free. 27. Corruption:: Corruption causes the educational policies, plans and projects to fail because of being the major contributing factor. There is no accountability and transparency in the system, the salaries are low, the incentives are too less to be accounted and even those are uneven. An estimated Rs. 2,594 million out of a total of Rs. 7,016 million provided for improvement of school facilities such as buildings, electricity, drinkable water, etc had gone unaccounted during the fiscal periods 2001-06 (UNESCO Bano, 2007). Similarly, more than 70% literacy centers in Punjab remained inoperative or exist only on paper (ADBP, 2007). The chances of ghost schools should be evaded by involving the community in the processes of inspection and monitoring. 28. Social imbalance:: The students from the elite class follow the O and A levels curriculum instead of Pakistans routine orthodox and stagnant curriculum. They have little or no awareness of their religion and culture whereas those passing out from Urdu medium schools are usually destined to work in clerical and lower level positions. Religious madrassas churn out yet another class that is usually unaware of the world outside their own perception. 29. Mismanagement of System:: Teachers’ absenteeism, poor professional training, sub-standard materials and obsolete teaching methods act as the major contributive factors towards the low enrolment in schools. Burki (2005), opines that most of the public schools are either mismanaged or poorly managed. They are found imparting education of second-rate quality through substandard textbooks and curricula that do not cater the needs of the 21st century. The education should be based on learning outcomes through suggesting multiple books rather than following a single book as an obligation. 30. Infrastructure Problems:: The dropout rate of those lucky enough to be enrolled goes beyond 45% as has been divulged by the several reports. Most of the public sector educational institutions stay in a status of poor condition lacking even basic facilities, resultantly shaking the presupposed standards of education. There are four areas that snivel for pressing concentration which are curriculum, textbooks, examinations, and teacher training (Hoodbhoy, 2001). The textbooks need be made more facilitating, student and learning friendly. 31. Private school system:: Private Schools in Pakistan enroll more students than in other countries of the region. They least bother about the capacity and facilities available, they rather over burden the teaching staff. The rapid mushroom growth of private schools and academies of teaching reflect the peoples lack of trust in the public sector schools coupled with a deficiency of sufficient educational institutions to cater to the needs of the fast growing population. However, there are certain private schools which are slightly better than the public ones. In the elite schools where the quality education is offered, heavy fees is charged that continues to be a problem. These private sectors schools are meant only for a special sector of the population and are out of the reach of general masses. The private sector schools should be brought under the control of rules making these somewhat accessible for the common population. 32. Lack of educational policies:: The National Education Policy (1998-2010) was developed prior to Dakar. It has a clear cut vision and direction to support the education department. Since the 2001, the Ministry of Education has developed a number of policy documents including that of National Education policy (2009) but the endeavors remain focused on paper work more rather than the operationalization, though the involvement of NGOs and international development agencies is very much there. The simple reason is that the plans are vicious and not the ground reality based. The policies should be environment friendly. . 33. Increase in population:: Literacy in Pakistan has risen from 45 to 54 percent within the span of 2002 to 2006, simultaneously primary enrollment rates have also increased from 42 to 52 percent. The population explosion could not enable to catch the targets. In spite of the increase in the certain parameters, the participation rate in Pakistan remains the lowest in South Asia. Alongside it, there are marked male-female, inter-regional and rural-urban disparities: Only 22 percent of girls, compared to 47 percent boys, complete primary schooling. Female literacy in rural Baluchistan is only 32 percent compared to high urban male literacy rates (and 80 percent among the urban male in Sindh) 34. Lack of attention of the authorities:: Most of the criticisms leveled against the education procedures and practices may be rationalized through improving governance and accountability. It would be tangible and workable if we could go for considering the merit, enabling capacity building, increasing investments in education as an industry and finally giving the heir and fire powers to the administrative heads. The private sector and the banks should finance the educational milieu with confidence, as at the moment, we are spending 2. 3 percent of GDP which is the lowest in South Asia. 35. Lack of uniform educational system:: There is a crying need for quality which calls for homogeneity among the procedural formalities like the observance of the curriculum. Had it been uniform the working for it, further extension becomes easier and getting the intellect skimmed out of masses becomes possible. Currently, the poor are deprived of education in the elite institutions which are causing the development of a special class. This class doesn’t work for the nation; they work elsewhere but are fed through the national resources. 36. Medium of Instruction:: We took a long period in deciding that what our medium of instruction would be, till now we don’t have a clear picture before us. It is good to have the National language as the medium of communication provided; we have a rich treasure of knowledge. In our case, we do not fail to develop Urdu to cope with the intellectual needs nor do we translate the treasure of knowledge available for our national use. 37. Education as a business:: Education has been pursued by some of the people as an industry but because of being illiterates, they fail to cope up with the stipulated standards. The leader with vision spoils the mission as well as the projects undertaken. Their only intent is money making that has caused the decay in the standards, induction of sub-standard staff, and depriving the deserving to grow. They don’t want to catch with the move of success but they try to be good entrepreneurs. 38. Delay in renewal of policies and syllabus/Political Interference:: There is a need to continuously update the curriculum because if it goes stale, it does not equip the beneficiaries with the saleable skills and expertise. At the first place, the problems cited have arisen due to lack of commitment and inefficient management on the part of state. The policies lack long term vision and its implementation strategies are being affected by undue political interference. In addition to it, the measures taken are not evidence based and geared by the vested interests of the authorities. Whatever strategies have been applied failed to promote the rational and critical thinking skills amongst the students. At the second place, we find lack of resource commitment and realistic implementation alongside poor allocated resource utilization. As relevant statistics are not available, implementation of the education policy has not been successfully executed. At the third place, we come across weak budgetary planning because of staggered data and least coordination among the data maintaining units (USAID, 2006). The coordination, match with the assessment, project design and implementation are not to the desired level within the government and with the donor agencies. The harmonization is missing too between the federal and provincial governments which cause drastic problems in the policy implementation. The policy formulating, planning and implementing bodies work in isolation as the water tight compartments. The governments consultation is very much restricted and does not go beyond its specific quarters. It should have to be extended to non-state sectors to initiate and mobilize the action. Teachers does not normally form the part of policy making process, hence the process of sharing and consultation remains missing. It leads to implementation of educational policies without consultation, thus the efforts go in vain (UNESCO, 2007). Over the span of time, what we have learnt is to go for dialogue, and keeping the private and public sector on board. The matter of access to education and challenges to quality remain at stake as being unresolved despite much policy deliberation. Recently, Minister of Education announced a new Education policy for that next 10 years ignoring the fact that the previous educational policy span still persists that was from 1998 to 2010. The policy has projected new plans and promises to the nation pointing to the fact that all the public schools will be raised to the level of private schools within the shortest period of time. In the absence of a plan of action, the suggested plan of action would not work. The schools have been put under obligation to use the national curriculum and encourage the students of 5th and 8th class to take board exams. This has disturbed the students of private sector also. It is urged that the Universities should be the research centre’s and must not be allowed to act as the examining bodies for graduate or post-graduate examinations. Allocations are supposed to be made to the aspired levels as UNO suggests a country to allocate at least four percent of its GDP towards education but here in Pakistan we are just allocating less than two percents of GDP. Even that is not fully utilized because of procedural formalities. Suggested Solutions for Educational System: 13. English should be medium of Instruction: English language should be the medium of instruction from beginning to the higher levels of learning. National language should be a supporting language for communication facilitation and every day business. Efforts should be made to enhance the knowledge treasure in the national language through translation of the research based information. 14. Talented and qualified Staff Hiring should be made from amongst the highly qualified and the teachers should be paid not according to the level of education but the qualification of the staff. 15. Fulfill the lack of teachers: Efforts should be made to bring down the student-teacher ratio to 15:1 in lieu of current 40:1. Consequently, the number of teachers will have to be enhanced, leading to the rise in number of teachers and enabling the competent persons to be inducted to the system of education. 16. Primary education should be made compulsory: Primary education should be made compulsory and free (it is already free of cost but not compulsory). It should also be made appealing, impressive, interesting and utilitarian to attract the general masses. 17. Increase in teachers incentives Teachers should be offered more financial benefits by increasing their pays. 18. Translation of foreign research to local language University professors should be encouraged to conduct and share the research to the concerned stakeholders. They should also be asked to translate the foreign research into local languages for sharing it with the lower formations of education enabling them to implement/take benefit out of it. 19. Check on distinctive education:- Government should strictly check all private educational institutions for keeping a balance of standards and level of practices. 20. Scholarships and financial support to students: Students should be offered more scholarships and government should support the intelligent and outstanding students to prosper, develop and serve their local community rather than migrating to the big cities. 21. Special Financial packages: The dilemma here in Pakistan is that students are genius but they use their intelligence in negative way, hence, contributing nothing towards the development of country. Another problem with Pakistan is brain drain. Capable and outstanding professionals prefer foreign jobs instead of serving in their own country. This is due to the low financial benefits and indifferent attitude of government towards them. Recently Government should provide them facilities and special financial packages to encourage them to stay in their own country. 22. Betterment of education policies and teachers workshop: In the view of importance of education, the Government should take solid steps towards implementation instead of projecting policies. In this regard, the allocations should be made easy and timely from provinces to districts and then to educational institutes. Workshops must be arranged for teachers as a continuous feature for learning. 23. Infused Technical Education: Technical education should be infused into the regular system stream. The education board of Punjab has projected a plan to give tech- education to the children of industrial workers. 24. Promotion of primary education: Promotion of the primary education should be made possible by consulting teachers, professors and educationists while devising any plan, syllabus or policy for it. There should be a balance in reliance on public and private for enabling education to reach the general masses in its true shape. Students’ outlook is to be broadened by taking them out of the books into the practical realities. Education is the only cure of disability of the state and for bringing revolution through evolution and by eradicating the social evils through education. Conclusion Education serves as the backbone for the development of nations. The countries with the effective impressive need oriented, saleable and effective system of education comes out to be the leaders of the world, both socially and economically. It is only education which can turn a burden of population into productive human resource. Pakistans current state demands that the allocations for education be doubled to meet the challenges of EFI, gender disparity and provision of teachers in the work places earlier than 2018 as per stipulated qualifications. Millennium Development Goals are yet to be realized latest by 2015. The natural calamities, political turbulence, provincialisms, and political motivations make the best planned, fail. The allocations towards the sector of education could not be enhanced because of the earlier. We have to revisit our priorities to keep the country on the track of progress.

My Cousin’s Funeral :: Personal Narrative Writing

My Cousin’s Funeral I dreamt once that I was in love with my cousin Rob Campbell. In the dream, he was rosy and cherubic. When we kissed, he was soft. In the morning, my lips remembered Rob’s kisses. I felt the sensation dancing quietly just above my skin, woven and brushed, like a cashmere sweater. I talked to my dad over instant messenger and told him that I had a dream that Rob was my lover. I didn’t want to tell him this, embarrassed, but something seemed to propel me forward. He typed his response, slowly. I waited. â€Å"That’s O.K,† the screen read. â€Å"I dreamed a lot about my brother when he died too.† My grandfather Hank died one day in my living room. He fell out of bed and called to my mom, singing on the night air, â€Å"Peggy, Peggy...† No one heard him until it was the cusp of dark and light. There was a moment when he died. He was a fountain of coagulation and mucus. He was very pale and his skin looked like a molded piece of white rubber. I was 16 but I felt like an infant in that moment when my grandfather took his last breath. At Rob’s visiting hours, there is a reception line. His mother and father and sister and brother stand up next to the casket. My dad and mom—his uncle and aunt—are up there too, along with my paternal grandparents and my dad’s brother Mark. I sit in the back with my brother and his wife and my boyfriend. I watch as the room fills with people. The line toward the casket is jumbled and when people first enter the room, they don’t see Rob. They see Debbie and Paul and Becky and Aaron first. Then, as the line straightens out, they see Rob, white and chalky. I watch as mouths open, lips quiver, eyes close, Rob’s apples jump, breaths halt. I feel bad watching their pain so I watch their hands instead. Hand to hand. Grasping hands of my dad and my grandfather. Strangers. Sweaty hands, clammy hands, nervous hands, sad hands. At one point, my grandmother leaves the receiving line. She is wearing the purple flowered dress from J.C. Penney that she wore to my high school graduation. â€Å"Susan, I’m glad James and I got the flu shot,† she whispers to me on her way to the bathroom.

Personal Philosophy of Nursing

A definition of a Philosophy is â€Å"when someone contemplates, or wonders, about something that serves as the blueprints or guides that incorporates each individual’s value and belief system. † (Chitty & Black, 2007, p. 318) Personal Philosophy of Nursing is the core values and beliefs that a nurse upholds when taking care of another human being. It is the belief that each individual no matter what disease, race, or economic status they have will get treated with the highest regards to compassion, integrity, and respect that they deserve. I Melissa Fielding believe that my personal nursing philosophy on September 13, 2009 would be to treat others as I would want to be treated. I would like to think that each individual patient has earned my compassion, integrity, and respect that they deserve. I choose nursing as my profession, to be able to take my compassion, knowledge, values and beliefs and apply them to the very ones who cannot take care of themselves. I believe that the very core of nursing is to maintain a good relationship with my patient and to be a patient advocate and to treat every human being with dignity and respect. My main focus for nursing to â€Å"practice compassion and respect in all professional relationships, by valuing the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of the health problems. †(, 2001, p. 1). I will take into consideration each patient who may not be the most pleasant patient as a sign that the patient is afraid of not knowing what is going on with them and I will maintain a calm, professional and reassuring manner with them. My vision for myself as a nurse is to remember to â€Å"promote health and wellness. †(Core of Nursing, 1999) to those in need without prejudice. I would like to provide the best care to all patients remembering that they come from all different backgrounds. To live out my philosophy of nursing, every day I must remember about my patients that I will continue to treat my patients the way that I would want myself or a family member to be treated with allowing them to be involved in the decision making regarding their care, respect, care, compassion, and dignity. I will continue to involve the family members in the decision making by being sympathetic to their own sensitivities, needs, encouragement and fears. I will continue to treat my fellow colleagues with respect, knowing that they can be a help in my values and beliefs when taking care of patients. I will continue to take care of my own health by staying fit, eating right, and getting plenty of rest which will allow me to be the best nurse I can strive for thus being the best caregiver my patients can look forward to. In conclusion, I feel that the philosophy of nursing is a combination of core values, and beliefs that teaches us to treat each human being with the respect, compassion, dignity, and uniqueness, regardless of disease, social or economic status, or race that they deserve. My focus with each patient will be to allow them to have the right to be involved in the decision making of their care as well as allowing their family members to be involved in the decision making. I will maintain my beliefs and values by treating every patient, or coworker with respect that they deserve. I believe that each person has a calling in life and it takes a special person to become a nurse. Nurses have to have a very strong belief and value system in order to give patients the care and compassion they so deserve. I believe that by continuing education and always looking for new ways to learn is the very core and philosophy of nursing. Personal Philosophy of Nursing A definition of a Philosophy is â€Å"when someone contemplates, or wonders, about something that serves as the blueprints or guides that incorporates each individual’s value and belief system. † (Chitty & Black, 2007, p. 318) Personal Philosophy of Nursing is the core values and beliefs that a nurse upholds when taking care of another human being. It is the belief that each individual no matter what disease, race, or economic status they have will get treated with the highest regards to compassion, integrity, and respect that they deserve. I Melissa Fielding believe that my personal nursing philosophy on September 13, 2009 would be to treat others as I would want to be treated. I would like to think that each individual patient has earned my compassion, integrity, and respect that they deserve. I choose nursing as my profession, to be able to take my compassion, knowledge, values and beliefs and apply them to the very ones who cannot take care of themselves. I believe that the very core of nursing is to maintain a good relationship with my patient and to be a patient advocate and to treat every human being with dignity and respect. My main focus for nursing to â€Å"practice compassion and respect in all professional relationships, by valuing the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of the health problems. †(, 2001, p. 1). I will take into consideration each patient who may not be the most pleasant patient as a sign that the patient is afraid of not knowing what is going on with them and I will maintain a calm, professional and reassuring manner with them. My vision for myself as a nurse is to remember to â€Å"promote health and wellness. †(Core of Nursing, 1999) to those in need without prejudice. I would like to provide the best care to all patients remembering that they come from all different backgrounds. To live out my philosophy of nursing, every day I must remember about my patients that I will continue to treat my patients the way that I would want myself or a family member to be treated with allowing them to be involved in the decision making regarding their care, respect, care, compassion, and dignity. I will continue to involve the family members in the decision making by being sympathetic to their own sensitivities, needs, encouragement and fears. I will continue to treat my fellow colleagues with respect, knowing that they can be a help in my values and beliefs when taking care of patients. I will continue to take care of my own health by staying fit, eating right, and getting plenty of rest which will allow me to be the best nurse I can strive for thus being the best caregiver my patients can look forward to. In conclusion, I feel that the philosophy of nursing is a combination of core values, and beliefs that teaches us to treat each human being with the respect, compassion, dignity, and uniqueness, regardless of disease, social or economic status, or race that they deserve. My focus with each patient will be to allow them to have the right to be involved in the decision making of their care as well as allowing their family members to be involved in the decision making. I will maintain my beliefs and values by treating every patient, or coworker with respect that they deserve. I believe that each person has a calling in life and it takes a special person to become a nurse. Nurses have to have a very strong belief and value system in order to give patients the care and compassion they so deserve. I believe that by continuing education and always looking for new ways to learn is the very core and philosophy of nursing.

Analysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral - 943 Words

In Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral†, the short story is told by a character within the story. The first-person point of view gives us a transparent visual of an important time in the narrators’ life. The narrator, who is â€Å"un-named† in the beginning of the story, uses blunt, flawless and a particular choice of words. This gives us as the reader a deeper connection with the narrator. The narrator begins this story by taking us through the changes he go through with the uneasy feeling of having a blind-man coming to his house to visit. In the beginning the narrator is un-named, we read the story as thoughts within his mind. His actions gives-off a sense of jealousy. He’s bothered by the former relationship the blind-man and his wife has had in the past. He is blunt and honest with (us) in telling how he feels about the situation. â€Å"I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me.† â€Å"A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.† The narrator gives us the introduction to the life event. He tells us about his wife and how she met the blind-man. In short, she formally worked for him, reading him things when she lived in Seattle for a summer. The narrator mentioned when the blind-man touched around his wife face and her current marriage with her childhood sweetheart. Her husband at the time was in the military –industry, which caused her to have to move a lot. She and the blind-man kept in touch by sending voice re cordedShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral1696 Words   |  7 Pagesfrom, or trying to bury alive. Cathedral, written by Raymond Carver, takes place in the early 1980’s. Originally published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1981. Carver slightly revised the story and re-released it in 1983. At a time when the blue collar working class lived paycheck to paycheck, working hard for newfound luxuries such as color television, this short story is humorous and eye-opening for the reader. For adults ranging from thirty to forty years old, the 1980’s were possibly a ghostly, hauntingRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1426 Words   |  6 PagesCharacter Analysis in Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral†: The Narrator Literature has the potential to act as a mirror by presenting people’s lived experiences, expectations, and perceptions through characters. Such is what can be deciphered through the analysis of different characters in Raymond Carver’s story â€Å"Cathedral.† This paper focuses on the narrator of the story portrayed by the author as blind, which is used metaphorically not to imply physical blindness, but the inability to have reasonedRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1006 Words   |  5 Pages Gabrielle Sobolewski English 200 Professor Ruth Jennison 11/12/15 The short story â€Å"Cathedral† by Raymond Carver is told from the perspective of a first-person narrator. Throughout the story, the narrator is self-absorbed in his own thoughts and emotions and fails in his willingness to overlook personal insecurities in order to accommodate others’ discomfort, i.e. predominantly his wife and the blind man. In general, the story lacks figurative language and is told in short, directRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 970 Words   |  4 PagesIn Raymond Carver’s short story, â€Å"Cathedral†, we meet the character who is never named, and who is known as the narrator to us. Although the narrator’s character changed towards the end, and we don’t really learn much after the change of his personality, it is still a gradual change that took place. The narrator’s attitude is very important in the story because it revolves around him and the way he views things. This short story is about a m an who is married to a woman, and this woman has been friendsRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1097 Words   |  5 PagesSeptember 2015 Cathedral by Raymond Carver In this short story by Raymond Carver begins with a man whose wife invited a good friend over named Robert and is blind. Before Roberts Arrival, the wife’s husband, whose name is Bub, does not know what to make out of his wife’s good friend Robert coming over to their house. Carver utilizes a story of a blind man who changes Bub’s outlook in life. Through the narrators changing character, theme of loneliness and jealousy, and the cathedral being a symbolRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s The Cathedral 863 Words   |  4 Pages One of the Raymond Carver story where we can find a lot of religion symbols; it is â€Å"Cathedral.† The story develops an ironic situation in which a blind man teaches a sighted man to truly â€Å"see† for the first time. Near the end of the story, Carver has these two characters work together on a drawing of a cathedral, which serves as the symbolic heart of the story. The cathedral represents true sight, the ability to see beyond the surface to the true meaning that lies within. The narrator’s drawingRead MoreAn Analysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral1794 Words   |  8 Pages A Cynics Enlightenment Raymond Carver’s short-story Cathedral is outwardly about a pessimistic man, whose wife’s blind visitor named Robert changes the narrators predisposing perception of the world and awakes a new view on life in the process. But inwardly, the story is about the desperate need for connection between these three characters, which isn’t feasible do to the emotional-detachment by the narrator. In the beginning, the narrator is hindered by his prejudices which doesn t allow himRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral1524 Words   |  7 PagesAs if someone has unlocked his prison cell to liberate him of his stereotypical point of view. The protagonist of Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral† was an individual whose stagnant mind has blind him from truly seeing the aspects and characteristics of people around him. Before meeting his wife’s blind friend whose name is Robert, the protagonist perceives reality with a stereotypical mind-set shaped by m isleading information from movies. Hence, he make judgement about other people without ever settingRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral2364 Words   |  10 Pagesmost. The same could be said about people who are limited by one or more of their six senses and are judged by the majority of the population who are not limited and make preconceived notions about these limitations which can bind them. Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral† explores many literary devices that reveal the pre conceived perception towards people with physical limitations without understanding the individual first, which is still a problem today. The protagonist, the narrator is closed mindedRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1340 Words   |  6 PagesRaymond Carver’s characters were considered to be very much like him: â€Å"’on the edge: of poverty, alcoholic self-destruction, loneliness† (Mays 32). His short story â€Å"Cathedral† is about a young couple, who have a visitor coming to stay with them. This visitor, Robert, is the wife’s friend, and he is blind. The narrator, the husband, has never met someone who is blind, was bothered by that. To him, being blind meant constantly needing help from others. His depiction of blindness was what he has seen

The Female Advantage For Education - 877 Words

The female advantage in education has garnered much scholarly attention nationally and internationally in recent years. In the United States, women are now more likely to graduate from a four-year college than men and girls earn higher grades than boys throughout K-12 education on average. DiPrete and Buchmann investigate this gender gap in education and argue that the female advantage in education is not necessarily a â€Å"boy problem,† but a problem of the American educational system that fails to motivate and accommodate for students who are capable of obtaining a college degree but decides not to. While women’s educational performance and attainment exceed that of men’s on average, their low representation in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, disadvantage beyond the educational realm, and the overall gender inequality in the society persist. Ridgeway and Correll posit that the hegemonic gender beliefs, reinforced by the social rel ational contexts of gender, produce and reproduce gender inequality in the larger society. Taken together, these scholars offer valuable insight into the gender system that structures men and women’s behaviors, expectations, and opportunities differently and often unequally in different domains of the society DiPrete and Buchmann investigate the apparent female advantage in education through extensive quantitative analyses. With various nationally representative data on students in primary, secondary, and post-secondaryShow MoreRelatedCo Education624 Words   |  3 PagesAdvantages and Disadvantages of Co – education Co – education exists when boys and girls learn together in one school. It first existed in Greece because of the belief of Plato, a Greek philosopher, that co – education helps in the development of the personality of both men and women when they are put together in the same school or class. It is prevalent in many countries because of its advantages, but for some, they do not want it because of its negative effects. In most countries, co – educationRead MoreEssay on Why Male Teachers are Important in Society Today?1406 Words   |  6 Pagesto face advantages and disadvantages. Some of these male teachers find the need, or desire, to mentor these young boys. Female educators are important but male educators are just as important in ways not possible by a female. Male and female teachers both provide education that the other sex is weaker in. Therefore, it is critical that young people get exposure to both in the educational environments. With being a male educator there are a great amount of advantages. The greatest advantage of beingRead MoreMixed Schools1386 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿ This essay provides a discussion between the disadvantages and advantages of mixed schools. The first part of the essay begins with the disadvantages of mixed schools, about why some parents do not allow their children to attend mixed schools and even why some students themselves do not want to attend mixed schools. These are the educational, psychological and social disadvantages of mixed schools. The second part of this essay provides the benefits of attending mixed schools by looking at theRead MoreEssay Changing Perspective on Gender Inequalities in Schools678 Words   |  3 Pagesperspective on gender inequalities in schools. I wanted to find out what people really felt about the fairness of their education, and whether they really felt they had been shortchanged in the learning process because of their sex. My results were generally what I had expected to find, though there were a few interesting findings along the way. I used an article from Education Week entitled, The Silent Gender Gap, An empirical research project conducted by Molly Weinburgh of Georgia State UniversityRead MoreA Draft Persuasive Essay : Cheyenne Regnier1252 Words   |  6 Pagestopic, saying there’s a natural strength advantage, it would be uncomfortable for a male to compete alongside females, among other reasons but ultimately, if the drive and effort is present, there are legal rights and no legitimate reason for woman to not be given the opportunity to prove themselves and normalize the incorporation of females to male sports. Beginning with the most prevalent controversy, the obvious physical advantage males have over females. â€Å"Weight, shape, size, and anatomy are notRead MoreDiscrimination of Girls1678 Words   |  7 PagesDiscrimination against female children has been a topic of debate. It has been a subject of concern and sociological significance. This subject raises the cultural aspects about the role of a female child in society, what her human rights are as a human being and a number of sensitive issues.This issue is important because there is nearly universal consensus on the need for gender equality.[1] Gender based discrimination against female children is pervasive across the world. It is seen in all theRead MoreEssay On Neuroimaging940 Words   |  4 Pagesneuroimaging has led to the discovery of male brains containing a greater amount of white matter, while female brains contain more gray matter (Gur et al., 1999). Sun et al. (2015) collected imaging data to track the progress of br ain network topology over a five-year period and compared the results between gender differences. Participants in the study included 43 males ranging from ages 22-53, and 28 females from ages 21-59. Only those having no brain disorders, mental illnesses, substance abuse, or first-degreeRead MoreGender Stratification in the U.S. Today Essay1198 Words   |  5 Pagesdiverse and wide spread. Women and men are disproportionate in every possible way in never-ending circumstances, both instant and durable, by both idea criteria and prejudiced experience. Therefore, what tally as gender difference in family life, education, workplace and politics? These social structures are assembly on the base of the masculinity and femininity, gendered role and gender identity society label to men and women. There is sufficient, vital unfairness in gender relations within the familyRead MoreSingle sex schools or Coed schools1395 Words   |  6 Pageshave similar impact on juvenile’s achievement as coeducational schools. This essay will explain why I disagree with this statement. In my perspective, although these education systems both have advantage elements for students, I still believe coed schools better than single-sex schools. This essay will analyze some elements of advantages and disadvantages among single sex and coeducation schools. Moreover, I will discuss some characters between boys and girls, such as boys’ and girls’ academic achievementRead MoreThe Advantages and Disadvantages of Mass Media1011 Words   |  5 PagesThe Advantages and Disadvantages of Mass Media Mass media is one of the fastest medium of exchange of information which capture audience attention and interest, for example, television and radio is said to be the best Mass Media. A Mass Media to be effective must be accessible to the target audience and able to hold audience attention and interest. Therefore, this essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Mass Media. The first advantage of mass media is peace and reconciliation.

Platos and Aristotles Views on Knowledge - 1407 Words

Anthony Pulliam Humanities 09/17/2010 Platos and Aristotles Views on Knowledge Plato and Aristotle view knowledge and the process whereby it is obtained. They both point out that many epistemological concepts which they believe where knowledge comes from and what it is actually. Most of them have been astonished me in certain ways, but I found that rationalism and wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is make the most sense to me regarding the nature of knowledge. As the following, we will discuss about why these two philosophical viewpoints are superior and the others are inferior. Aristotle believes that sensory perception of material objects is knowledge and he says, Our senses begin the†¦show more content†¦In Platos Theaetetus, he says, Any one forms the true opinion of anything without rational explanation, you may say that his mind is truly exercised, but has no knowledge. This is quite true that when one can state a true opinion supported by a rational explanation, ones opinion constitutes knowledge, since perceptions of senses are excluding in this case. Moreover, a rational explanation does not contain any subjectivity, it is an objective entity for humans to understand true knowledge. For this reason, I fall with rationalism and believe it is a superior philosophical viewpoint about the nature of knowledge. Aristotle sustains that wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is. For Aristotle, wise people know more than just what something is; they also know why it is what it is, or what causes it to be what it is. People with wisdom, for instance, a master worker understand not only that fire is hot, but also know why it is hot. Those with experience only, who do not know why something works in a certain manner, cannot teach. Say physicians understand that there is a relationship between the medical condition of this class of patients and the ingredients in this particular drug. They are then motivated to learn why the drug works on theseShow MoreRelatedPlatos and Aristotles Views on Knowledge1414 Words   |  6 Pages09/17/2010 Platos and Aristotles Views on Knowledge Plato and Aristotle view knowledge and the process whereby it is obtained. They both point out that many epistemological concepts which they believe where knowledge comes from and what it is actually. Most of them have been astonished me in certain ways, but I found that rationalism and wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is make the most sense to me regarding the nature of knowledge. As the followingRead MoreExamining the Ethics of Plato and Aristotle Essay1063 Words   |  5 Pagesand view on their ethics. I will concentrate on their theories on the good life as a life of justice, censorship, knowledge and the good life. I will first examine Plato’s ethics. Plato was a philosopher who was both a rationalist and absolutist. According to his view, people must be schooled to acquire certain kinds of knowledge i.e. mathematics, philosophy and so forth. This training will give them the capacity to know the nature of the good life. Since, evil is due to lack of knowledge. NotRead MoreAnalysis of Aristotle and Platos Thoughts Essay985 Words   |  4 Pagescontrary to Plato’s strict utopian structure and group over individual hierarchy view of the ideal state. Plato’s ideal state is strictly structured through a utopian ideal. Everything within Plato’s ideal state has a place and purpose, and everyone within it is aware of that. While the state works for the people as a whole instead of individual, Plato also proposes the idea of propaganda to mold even the lowest of his utopia into model citizens for the state. Plato’s state is theRead MoreThe Ethics Of Plato And Aristotle977 Words   |  4 Pagescensorship, knowledge and the good life. I will first explain Plato’s ethics. Plato was a philosopher, both a rationalist and absolutist. According to Plato, people must be schooled to obtain certain kinds of knowledge for example mathematics, philosophy etc. The training will give them the ability to know the nature of the good life. Not many people have the mental ability to learn what the good life is. They have to be exactly like a person who has knowledge. The people who have knowledge areRead MoreDistinctions and Comparisons between Aristotle and Plato Essay1681 Words   |  7 PagesAristotle are in agreement on certain factors of their philosophy. Many have scrutinized and compared the dissimilarities and similarities of Aristotles doctrine of categories and Platos theory of forms. The observations found are of an interesting nature. The beauty behind the writings of Plato is to not accept what is interpreted through the senses. In Platos theory of forms, Plato explained the immaterial world as the realm containing the perfect form of objects and ideas that are presented onRead More1.In Your Own Words, Define The Term â€Å"Metaphysics† As Used1161 Words   |  5 PagesDoes anything exist? Is anything that we see or believe in real? My examples of metaphysics from the book: I will be using Plato and Aristotle’s metaphysics examples. Interestingly enough, â€Å"Plato’s metaphysics claims that there are two kinds of reality† (Lavine 26). He believes in the material and immaterial word. The world of reality and the world of the senses. Plato’s metaphysics actually gives life to one of his most famous writings, The cave of allegory. This particular piece tells the story ofRead MorePlato And Aristotle s View On Knowledge Essay1297 Words   |  6 Pagesconflict emanating throughout all mankind questions the significance of knowledge to human nature, regarding knowledge’s definition, acquisition, branches, and value. Major role models in the foundation of philosophy - specifically, in this essay, Plato and Aristotle - obsess over the significance of knowledge and its importance to and relationship with the development of human beings and their mindsets. Although Plato’s view o n knowledge describes the internal predisposed essence of all Forms and the needRead MorePlato vs. Aristotle: Virtue1656 Words   |  7 PagesPolitical Science 201 November 12, 2013 Anna Umstead Plato and Aristotle, arguably two of the most influential Greek philosophers, discussed their differing views on virtue extensively throughout many of their works. Although they agree that virtue is a desirable characteristic that will lead to happiness, the ultimate good, there exists between the two philosophies salient differences. While Plato believes only philosophers are capable of true, inherent virtue, Aristotle believes all men canRead MoreBoth Plato and Aristotle are among the most influential philosophers in the history. Socrates was900 Words   |  4 Pagescritic of Plato’s teachings. Since Aristotle found faults in Plato, hence their work is easily comparable as it is based on the common aspects of philosophy. In this paper I will first explain some similarities and then I shall explain the differences between the theories of Plato and Aristotle. Both Plato and Aristotle based their theories on four widely accepted beliefs of the time; â€Å"knowledge must be of what is real, the world experienced via the senses is what is real, knowledge must be ofRead MoreConceptions of the Soul Essay1161 Words   |  5 PagesPlato (in Phaedo) and Aristotle (in De Anima) present two fundamentally different conceptions of the soul. Through an analysis of their frameworks and genre, and whether their methods are plausible, it can be concluded that Aristotles formulation of the soul is more compelling than that of Plato. According to Plato, the body and the soul are separate entities. The soul is capable of existing before life of the body and after death of the body and it is constant, unchanging and non-physical

Me Ilamo Bill free essay sample

I walked off the bus in a totally different, totally new culture. What am I getting myself into, I thought? This thought crossed my mind many times as I was standing in the baking heat outside in the town of Parita, in Panama, waiting for my host family to arrive. Not having ever seen them before I anxiously waited as our group leader called everyone’s name. Laurisa, Xavaier, etc it went on and on until my name was called. It was like something out of a movie. I looked in the crowd and a little old lady appeared. My new abuela (grandmother) was named Maria. Maria was barely 5 feet tall and had a big smile on her face. ?Como fue tu vuelo? (How was your flight?) Having no idea what she was saying and no clue how to respond, I replied â€Å"Si.† Frustration started to cloud my mind but I held it back. We will write a custom essay sample on Me Ilamo Bill or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I knew this was going to be challenging. As the first night proceeded I started to recollect the little Spanish I knew. I managed to ask her where the bathroom was and she pointed to a door near a giant concrete slab in the middle of the house. There were many stray cats that she chased out of the house when they jumped in through open windows and tried to steal food. Regardless, her house was the only one on the block with indoor plumbing. The next day I felt more comfortable with my Spanish and so when Maria asked me about my family I tried to respond. With many hand gestures and some broken Spanish I told the story of my grandfather immigrating to the US from Mexico as a child, moving with the rest of his family to Waukesha, Wisconsin. She was surprised that I was not fluent in Spanish. I told her that in my grandfather’s family his father did not allow anyone to speak Spanish in the house because â€Å"We are Americans now.† The underlying reason was a desire to â €Å"blend in† because of racism. Mexico and the past life were never mentioned. Thus my grandfather and his own children (including my mother) never learned to speak Spanish. As weeks went by in Parita I felt more comfortable speaking to people. Our service group was made up of students from all over the US. We worked on a library building for the local school. We laid bricks for walls and poured concrete for a foundation. Working five hours a day in the heat was hard but the kids in the school were nice and we got to know them and played soccer with them after school. One day I will always remember was the day Maria took me to the supermarket. I could hold basic conversations with people but I did not realize how eventful this day would become. It was quite an ordeal. The first part of the trip my grandma wanted to show me her church. She typically spent about 4 hours a day there. It was beautifully constructed and had been built in over 450 years ago. However when the pas tor spoke to me he used many words I could not understand so I could not respond. I felt bad about it. Then we took the bus down a few more streets and I felt something weird in my shoe. I felt something crawl on my toes and I swiftly kicked off my shoe. It was a giant cockroach the size of the palm of my hand. I screamed like a little girl and my grandma quickly smashed it into the ground with her cane and broke out laughing. We then got something to eat at a local cafe. We were in line at the cafe and I recognized some of the foods, however I did not read the signs. I ordered what I thought was spaghetti and meat balls and my grandma gave me a surprised look but did not say anything. As I started eating she asked me how it tasted. It was good. It was good until she told me what it was. I looked back at the sign and it said â€Å"tongue with red sauce.† She laughed again and smiled. Next we went to the supermarket. I was introduced to many different kinds of Panamanian food s, such as plantains, whole chickens and whole fish from the ocean. I thought it was cool that all the food was whole and fresh. I did not think much of it at the time but my grandma asked me if I would like to try a traditional Panamanian dish. I said â€Å"yes.† She bought a whitish meat at the deli she called â€Å"mondongo.† That night after cooking for about 45 minutes she brought out a big bowl of rice, peas and meat – the â€Å"mondongo.† Excited and curious I ate the whole thing. The next day I asked my Spanish teacher what mondongo was. She laughed and said â€Å"Do you really want to know?† She then informed me it was the inside stomach lining of a cow. Leaving Panama was a sad day, however, learning about a new culture, living it, not just reading about it in a book, really had me appreciate things that I took for granted in my real life. Now I live my life appreciating people from other cultures. I learned not only the language but a ne w way of life. I also created a new rule for travelling. When you don’t understand what someone is asking you, do not always reply with â€Å"yes!†