The Mercy of Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Mercy of Religion - Essay Example However, despite all this, conflicts still makes the most part of the news today; the media is talking about violence from all corners of the world. It is devastating how Christianity is least influential on the struggles for peace and against violence in the USA. They have let the leaders whose lips are fast to talk about war and how the citizens should protect themselves dominate the arena. Christian religion has its focus and attention on understanding the past events, how they affect our society instead of the earlier and current occurrences in the society (Moore 23). Christian believers should be quite hiding in the past and focus on the current and fulfill its obligation in terminating the global violence. The USA should be first in peace negotiation and ending violence. In every social setting, a woman is equally important like the man because she performs the basic task in the family like ensuring adequate water for use in the family, looking after the sick, tending the gardens and other duties. The woman is the building blocks of any society and I belief without her, we would have a chaotic society where peace is no existence, malnourished children, and men, and many features that are more unexciting, (Rosemary 12). Despite the good things a woman can do, many cultures do not regard her and mostly assume her efforts and duties, for instance, she is considered the poorest in the family for money she gets is utilized for the well being of the society while the man uses his to buy luxuries like a radio. Religion puts the woman a compromising position in that she is required to be submissive to the man, support him and in some religions, he must not be adulterous but a man can. Many NGO have however been establish and are working towards promoting th e rights of the woman in the society and above anything the appreciation she deserves for the roles she plays. Since its inception after the

Hinduism Paper Essay Example for Free

Hinduism Paper Essay With over 900 million followers, Hinduism is the third largest religion today. Only Christianity and Islam have more. The major difference between them though, is that Hinduism did not spread like the other two religions. Out of the 900 million followers that the Hindu religion has, only 20 million are located outside of India. The religion barely spread outside of India, mainly because of how the Hindu religion is followed and how its culture is. Hinduism has a very rich history, and during the seventeenth and eighteenth century the religion went through some big changes that changed India and the countries around them. Hinduism started in around 3000 BC but unlike other religions, which had one certain founder, or someone who generally started the religion, the Hindu religion grew slowly out of beliefs, cultures and practices of ancient Indo-Aryan tribes. In the article â€Å"Enjoying Religions: When Did Hinduism Begin?† Buddha tells us that Hinduism took centuries to actually become a true religion. Hindus believe in reincarnation, that every living thing has a soul, and that after death each soul gets born again into a different body. Karma plays a huge role in Hinduism, where if you live a life of good, you move onto a better form of life, and if you live a life of evil, you move down to a lower form of life. Hindus believe that you keep coming back to life to live on earth over and over again, and over many lifetimes you can escape this cycle and join Brahman. This is pretty far apart from Christianity and Islam, where you only live once and then either go to heaven or hell according to how you lived your life. Another difference between Hinduism and other religions is that they don’t have a central book like the Bible or the Quran. Instead they have sacred texts, and together they make a book called Vedas. The caste system played and continues to play a major role in India. Hinduism is not just a religion, but also a way of life, which affects everyday life of the average Indian. From marriage to friendship and from what you can eat to how you should sleep. In Hindu culture you can only be married to someone who is in the same caste as you are. Hinduism has played a huge role in shaping the history of southern Asia. The Pre-Modern Period of Hinduism, which was around the years 1500-1757, was a time where different cultures were starting to get involved in India and the Hindu religion. Mainly Islam. Professor Gavin Flood tells us in his article, â€Å"The History of Islam† that the Islam forces started in the North, and by the beginning of the seventeenth century Mughal power was brought into effect and in the article â€Å"The Mughal Empire – Akbar† they really give an inside look at the life and reign of Akbar. Akbar, who was one of the greatest leaders of the Mughal Empire and in Indian history, was very tolerant to religion. In fact, he actually married a Hindu princess. Akbar allowed the Hindus to practice freely. However, his great grandson, Aurangzeb, who ruled from 1618 to 1707, restricted Hindu practice and destroyed many Hindu temples. He was the last of the Mughal Emperors. Although under his rule the Mughal Empire reached its greatest extent, he was also the reason for the empires fall. The British Period, which starts at 1757 and goes all the way to 1947, started with Robert Clive’s victory at the Battle of Plassey, which ended the Mughal Empire and the rise of British supremacy in India. Before the Indian Rebellion in 1857, India was divided into many small and unstable kingdoms, until the entire country fell into British rule. In the beginning of British rule they were very lenient on religious tolerance, and allow the Indians to practice their Hindu religion. Slowly over time, Christian missionaries started going to India trying to convent the Indians. Shortly after, British scholars started going to India and started to try to westernize the local population. Some tried to make the Hindu religion more modern and western, and created Neo-Hinduism, as it says in the article by Brian Smith, â€Å"Hinduism†. Hinduism has come a long way in history. Most people would say the Hinduism is still just as pure as it started, even with foreign invasions like the Mughals with Islam, and the British with Christianity. Although they’ve tried, foreign missionaries could not convert the Hindus to either Islam or Christianity. Until today Hinduism is still mostly practiced in India and very little outside of there. Even though Hinduism is a religion mostly practiced in only one part of the globe, it is still the third largest religion in the world. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/history_1.shtml http://religiondilama.blogspot.com/2009/04/when-did-hinduism-begin.html http://library.thinkquest.org/C006203/cgi-bin/stories.cgi?article=akbarsection=history/mughals/emperorsframe=parent http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Hinduism.aspx

Effects Of Shift Work On Employee

Effects Of Shift Work On Employee 3. Why and how might shift work impact on the health of employees? What could be done to minimise the health risks of such work? In modern life shift work becomes a necessary part of life. Shift work is an employment schedule that is not in the usual daytime hours and in which two or more groups of workers work at separate times in the 24 hrs. (Finn, 1981).According to HSE(2006) approximately 14% of people in UK doing shift work in different shifts Some institutions like hospitals, ambulance services, police department, transport industry and some industries needs continuous 24 hrs shift work. But this shift work disrupts the circadian rhythm that can lead to reduction in alertness. The diurnal rhythms control pulse rate, the cardio-pulmonary system, composition of blood, blood pressure, secretions of endocrine glands, appetite and wakening and sleep cycle. So shift work interrupts these natural processes for which the human body is normally programmed. So this can cause compromise i n health and safety of the workers. Lack of adequate sleep has produce adverse affects including nervous system related disorders, physical problems which can lead to accidents on job. Fatigue is also the most common reaction in shift workers. Shift work is the main cause of fatigueness in combination with physical, mental and emotional factors that causes exhaustion in workers. Shift work affects the general health and performance of the employees. Because of shift work employees have not follow any routine in their eating habits and they have not regular pattern to sleep and this may produce health problems (Finn, 1981). According to health and safety perspective all the working hours are not same. Night shifts are more difficult and risky. Working overtime also raises the fatigueness in a worker. This can lead to other accidents. Some workers do shift work with their own choice but mostly do because of economic necessity (ACTU Guidelines on shift work extended hours, 2000). Mostly people dont know the extra stress that night shift workers have, is because of work in late night hours. When most people are in their beds, night shift workers are getting ready to work. Night Shifts put negative impact on health of workers because these shifts affect the circadian rhythms of the human body. These circadian rhythms change all over the day and night to regulate different biological functions of body. For example our cardiac rate and the temperature of body changes throughout 24 hrs and this is lowest at 4am and it is on the peak in the mid of afternoon. The circadian rhythms reset after 24 hrs by environme ntal factors like light and darkness. Temperature of body goes up with the day light and goes down at night. Thats why body is active during daytime, whereas in the night it is meant to sleep for recovering and replacing the energy of the body. But working at night disturbs biological clocks thats why sleeping becomes difficult so workers feel fatigue. Work during night shifts imbalance these rhythms in spite of their regular timing. Because of this, workers who can do night shifts come across problems in sleep, fatigueness, gaining weight and problems related to digestive system. Some of these problems also become chronic diseases. According to study done by the Journal of the National Cancer institute (2001) depicts that the females doing night shifts have more risk of breast cancer because of exposure to light during night which interrupts the production of melatonin (Victoria,2010).A study found that the breast cancer risk is 60% more in women doing night shifts. Because the mel atonin hormone mainly produced during sleep. However several studies found rhythmic adjustments to a new work schedule sets in 4 days to 2 days. The continuous change in day, evening and night shifts diminishes the normally programmed body rhythms. According to Sparks and Cooper et al (1977) the field of occupational health psychology, overtime fatigue is an important factor in the health conditions and working hours plan. Because of excessive work in shifts raises in backbone injuries, bacterial infections, three times increase in accidents on job after 16 hrs of work these all have related to fatigue and overtime in shift work (Rosa, 1995) To minimize the health risks of shift work: According to article how lifestyle changes can reduce shift work stress published in Sleep disorders guide (2006-08) suggests that workers have to follow some useful measures to tackle the shift work correctly. Workers should not take more than 2 night shifts regularly in one week. So that their body take rest and the workers are not faces fatigueness. Workers take frequent breaks from work when they feel tired and not able to stand in same posture for a long time. Keep entertaining by talking to your fellow colleagues if worker feel difficult to work during long hours in night shifts, but always follow the safety measures. Workers have to follow proper eating habits .Afternoon shift workers take their meal in the middle of day, not in middle of their shift. Workers are advised not take heavy meals when they go for night shifts and they take light meal throughout night shift and take moderate breakfast. A heavy meal compels the workers to s leep and this may lead to accidents and even discomfort in stomach. After completing the night shift workers have to take proper rest with adequate sleep. They have to avoid heavy exercise before going to bed because metabolism of body will still elevated for many hours and this will produce difficulty in sleep. While sleeping they relaxed their mind and keep their brain free from any disturbance. If they fail to sleep then read a book or listen some music. Workers should follow healthy life style according to their shift work and they should exercise 30-40 minutes daily. With doing regular exercise his mental and physical health remains good and this will reduces the health problems. Workers have to take proper diet to maintain their physical health. Workers drink more water in night shift. They have to socialize with other coworkers to minimize disruption in social life. Workers practices to reduce the stress. They have to schedule daily events by the calendar use. Workers choose the prioritize tasks and always tackle one task at a time (Stones, 1987). 4. Critically review the evidence that multiple roles in work and non-working life lead to negative outcomes for employees and organizations. Work culture changes rapidly in present days. Previously concept of work done is to fulfil basic human needs but now this is not the fact. The basic needs are not enough, but standard of living is also an essential part for doing work. According to Blekesaune (2008) unemployed people are at major risk of breakdown in personal relationships .Males and females who lost their jobs have similar impact. According to Work life Balance Survey(Hurst and Richards 2003) there were more than 1200 employees who took part in internet survey done in the form of questionnaire and each one ,out of the ten participants worked more than 70 hrs every week, whereas he is being signed for 35-40 hrs. 98% of workers took their office work t home. 17% of them skip their lunch break.97% workers found that it is difficult to balance work and life.70% of workers took work as main stressor (Work life balance survey, 2003). Work or nonwork conflict generally noticed when work and non work roles are not compatible with one another and participation in one role made difficult in participating in another role (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). The Spillover Model (Loscocco and Roschelle, 1991) guided well on present study related to work and non work conflict. In Spillover model, there is a positive relation given between work and non work roles to the limit of satisfaction or not satisfaction in one of the roles moves into other (Bond et al., 1998).Work and non work conflict influences the general health and mental wellbeing of workers and their families. As an example, a recent epidemiological study done in Australia establish that the parents who work regularly for long hours or back home stressed have develop more physical illness and other psychological problems(Earle,2003). According to Duxbury (2003) work and non work conflict impact on the ability of workers to bring up their families which results in lesser levels in family wellbeing and stability. Researchers found that policies which are designed to assist work and non work conflict can change workers behaviour which is good for the organization. Evidences found that the policies which are family friendly results in raises in back to work after the delivery (Squirchuk and Bourke, 1999). When we are talking about the effect of stressors on a person, few researchers analysed to divide the life of a person into separate functional fields. Like divided between the home and work place. Because in each area individual play more than one role. Like in family they have two roles spouse as well as parents and same in their workplace they follow different roles. Researchers found that in each field person suffers from stressors and strain. So if in a demanding job person becomes stressed at work place then its quite possible that he come back home in same state of mind, so this create difficulities in home atmosphere also. There are two major hypotheses proposed to explain the work -home relationship. The spillover hypotheses proposed that there are no hard boundaries between different life areas. The work and nonwork experiences will positively related to one another. So the persons, who changed, stimulate and satisfy work experiences will likewise same non work experiences. Thus stressful moments experienced in work makes person tired at work as well as when he came back home, this makes difficult to interact with the family and social life. Case studies based on early work approve this approach (Young Wilmott, 1973, Piotrokowski, 1978). According to compensatory hypotheses, in between home and work there will be negative relationship. As an example, for boarded and non stimulating work experience, a person compensates this with good experience at home or from other free activities (Wilensky, 1960, Rousseau, 1978). According to the compensatory hypotheses, a person majorly involved in work would be not involved at home or the other way around. Another immaterial approach is segmentation hypotheses which approve that work and non-work areas are essentially nondependent, separated psychologically and perform separate functions (Blood and Wolfe, 1960, Dubin, 1973). This was the primary formulation of work and home relationship but myth of separate worlds of family and work has exposed (Kanter, 1977). This model is now often dishonored. These models just gives idea that up to what extent behaviour in one area lead to same or different behaviour in other, or to which extent satisfaction or stress in one role is associated to similar feeling in other (Staines,1980). According to National Study of changing work force, 19% of fathers who are working and 38% of working mothers feel stress oftenly and very oftenly in the three month period of this study. The data shows that male and female both suffered by contrasting demands of the family and workplace to balance these two. These conflicts noticed in previous two decades, when labour work becomes more in organizations and females are equally take part in working in organizations. The increased ratio of working women splits their role in two areas. In studies of Work and family conflict mental health is always targeted. Mental illness is inability to cope with the surrounding environment and reality. These studies proved that mental health depends upon the variation of experiences in work and family (Forne, 2000). In work and family conflicts there is not any selective gender but mental problems for e.g. mood changes are more in females who are working then males (Kohn, Dohrenwend Mirotznik, 1998). In the midlife, work and family conflict and mental stress are comparatively stable. So if the worker is having mental health problems, this is not good for organization also. Worker not cooperated with co workers and the environment of work is always tensed. This will affect the production of the organization also. There is another major problem which occurs because of work and family conflict that is drinking. When a worker not balance his both roles and because of stress start drinking alcohol and become habitual then this make the situation worse. Because he could not take care of his family properly and even not concentrate on his work. Because of this he cut off from his family as well as from society and even from his co workers. He or she might become a victim of accident at work. Because of drinking problem he lost money and this also affects his financial condition. Marriage life of worker is also affected thats why now a days divorce rates are high, because of imbalance in family and work. When work and life conflict occurs care of children and elderly people becomes difficult. Sometimes person even thought about the suicidal attempt because of this worse situation. 5. Discuss and critically evaluate research that has examined the impact of bullying at work. Introduction Bullying at work is behaviour of annoying, offending or affecting negatively to a person in his work tasks (Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf Cooper 2003).According to HSE bullying at work is to ignore someone, circulating rumours, annoying somebody in front of others, giving somebody a task which is not achievable, constantly underestimating somebodys work .It is not a new behaviour but it was not much noticed till the end of twentieth century. Bullying was brought into the public arena by Andrea Adams, a journalist of UK, who wrote a book o bullying, in the year 1992.He also produced radio documentaries in which discussion was there on workplace bullying. In UK and Ireland bullying word is used whereas in Germany, Austria and Scandinavia it is called as mobbing and in US as emotional abuse. According to the study, Destructive conflict and bullying at work (Hoel Cooper, 2000) one in every ten people bullied on work within last 6months and the number increases to one in four in last five years. According to this study women are bullied more as compare to men. Managers or persons on senior post were culprit in 74.7% cases of bullying. The obvious experienced negative behaviour at work was somebody was not giving proper information, which gives negative impact to your performance or impossible targets or deadlines. Bullying was mostly associated with bad mental health and less satisfaction in organization (Hoel Cooper, 2000). Types of Bullying Bullying at work due to direct comments on employees causes harasses, humiliation and put negative impact on performance in work and this creates uncomfortable working atmosphere (Einarsen Rakness, 1997).It is found that usually bullying behaviour has two categories: personal and work related. Personal is an again and again offensive comment regarding you and your personal life. Work related is direct comments on your work task, not giving reasonable deadlines to complete tasks, non manageable load of work. According to Zapf (1999) there were five types of bullying behavior: A. Make the task more difficult. B. Stop communicating with somebody. C.Attack on anyones personal life. D. Humiliate and criticize in front of others. E. Circulate rum ours. Now a days physical bullying or sex abuse related bullying also found with women employees in workplaces. Impacts of bullying on psychological wellbeing Bullying at work put direct impact on persons psychological wellbeing. Psychological impacts are mental stress, anxiety, loss of sleep, less concentration in the given task or work, binge eating, addiction to alcohol or smoking, lack of alertness at work ,due to this sometimes accidents occurs. Psychologists noticed behavioural changes in workers, who face regular bullying at work. Worker becomes irritated, emotional, and aggressive. Some women who faced sexual bullying, later on gone into reverse personality. They become aggressive even on situations which are ignorable. They hate opposite sex either he is in his own blood relation. If a person continuously suffers from bullying he may develop Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Bjorkqvist et al, 1994, Leyman and Gustafsson ,1996). Impacts of bullying on physical wellbeing The person who faces regular bullying for long time also found physically ill. Because of this his blood pressure becomes high so he is suffering from hypertension and it is one of the indicators for cardiac diseases. Their immunity which helps him to fight with diseases or infections gone done. So he got infections more easily. Because of anxiety his digestive system also disturbs, so problems like diarrhea/constipation, stomachache, acidity occurs. Studies shows that continuous mental stress could also be one of the reasons of skin diseases like irritation, psoriasis etc. sometimes mental stress is the main reason of migraine. Sometimes lot of frustration could change persons mind towards suicidal attempt. Impact on organisations Bullying at work place also put impact on organizations by lowering the productivity of goods. Because workers are not work properly in organizations. Due to continuous bullying some workers often took leaves from work, which also put bad impact on work. Quality of production also gone down due to the bullying, because of this profit of organization also reduces. Studies show that work efficiency of workers also lowers because of bullying at work. At times this bullying at work place led the concern organizations to the court which is also harmful for the reputation of organization. 6. Compare and contrast the effectiveness of primary and secondary/tertiary stress management strategies in improving employee wellbeing. According to Richard Lazarus (1984) the definition of stress is that Stress is a feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize (Lazarus,1984). According to Dr. Mellisa Conrad Stopplers book, Stress, Hormones and Weight gain Stress is simply a fact of nature-forces from the outside world affecting the individual. The person responds to stress accordingly as it affect the person and his environment. Stress occurs because of external and internal factors. External factors are the environment, our home, personal relations, all outer situations, challenges, difficulties and expectations of life. Internal factors which affect your power to deal stress are nutritional status of a person, level of health and fitness, emotional status and how much rest and sleep a person got (Stoppler, 2007). Management of stress For managing the level of stress, organizations tried and do efforts for mental and physical health of the workers (Cooper Cartwright, 1997). The stress prevention done at primary, secondary and tertiary levels (Murphy, 1988). Primary intervention (preventive) Todays world is the world of globalization. In this world there is lot of competition, because of that stress becomes the biggest problem in employees in the organizations. Organizations are also affected due to stress level in employees. So organizations have low productivity and pay major cost for health care. For preventing the stress in organizations, primary interventions are there to reduce the level of stress. The major concentrate of primary intervention management is to search the causes of stress and to remove the causes. Primary intervention is also known as Stress prevention intervention. The main features of primary intervention stress management are, improving communication, re-scheduling or designing the structure of the tasks, give decision making chances to workers, lowers the work load, build cohesive teams, establish genuine policies of employment, sharing the rewards and contrast resolution skills. The primary intervention tries to modify or remove the causes of stress in the organizations so that workers work in good working atmosphere (Cooper et al., 2001). According to Wall, T.D. Clegg, C.W. (1981) study of work design done at confectionary company who faced troubles of demoralization in workers, gap in relations between workers and turnover problems. Organizations given the power of decision making, break for rest and after twenty eight months, they observe there was not any change in skill or not any progress in the task given to them. Secondary intervention (Creative) Secondary intervention is mainly related with the immediate detection and management of experienced stress by raising awareness and modifies skills of stress management of the worker with training programs (Cooper and Cartwright, 1997).In the secondary intervention workers have to manage their stress, not changing or removing the stressors. The Programmes of stress management assist and channelize the workers to know the symptoms of stress in them and other coworkers and try to get out of it. In the secondary intervention development of coping skills, management of anger, counseling and cognitive behaviour therapies are used. In the secondary intervention some class sessions or training programs are also there for increasing awareness and controlling the stressful conditions like training to do muscle relaxing exercises, educational seminars etc. Training to the workers to do their work could lower stress and improve their efficiency or creativity (Bunce and West, 1996). Cognitive behaviour therapy improves the mental wellbeing to well tolerate the harsh experiences without changing and controlling them (Bond and Bunce, 2000). Tertiary intervention (Reactive) Tertiary intervention assists the workers to give treatment, compensate and rehabilitate them who are suffering from illness due to stress. This intervention usually assist workers to come out from stress occurs due to their work. The main aim of these programmes is to treat the worker who is beneficial for the organizations. This intervention includes medical intervention, treatment and ongoing counseling also. So that worker returns to their work normally. These services are provided in house counselors or foreign agencies in the form of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPS). Employee Assistance Programs give twenty four hrs telephone services. Workers are easily access these services (Cooper and Cartwright, 1997). Meditation help to reduce stress, sleeplessness, anxiety and tensions (Alexander et al.,1993).For lowering their stress level, workers concentrate more on deep breathing and muscle relaxing exercises(Mcguigen,1994). Comparison of stress prevention interventions According to Kempier and Cooper (1999) now a days for stress management the secondary and tertiary interventions are more used as compare to primary ones. It was seen that these three interventions are effective in reverse order. In case of stress at the working place the primary intervention targets on the cause of stress in work place, secondary saw the effect of stress on worker and tertiary helps workers to rehabilitation and provide treatment in case of medical sickness due to stress. Secondary and tertiary level interventions play important role in preventing stress but they are not completely successful in stress management unless the cause of stress is not removed. Another limitation of secondary and tertiary interventions is that they dont address the area to control the stressor which is important. Secondary and primary interventions are not sufficient to maintain the health of workers without removing the cause as in primary intervention (Cooper and Cartwright, 1997). Conclusion The secondary and tertiary interventions are useful in stress prevention but without the removal of cause they are not much beneficial. These interventions have favourable affect on indivual level and organizational level.

Radio Frequency Identification :: Technology, Electromagnetic Radio Waves

RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION Introduction RFID is a technology which enables detecting and identifying objects using electromagnetic radio waves. This is processed through exchange of information between a reader and a tag being attached to the object that includes the data associated with the object. This can be used to detect and classify vehicles, animals, patients, shipment goods and airline baggage. [1] RFID technology involves two main components, they are transponders which are also known as tags or labels, contain the relevant information about the object and other the interrogators, also known as readers or transceivers, that extract the data from the tags. These tags can be passive or active tags. Passive tags use the energy from the EM radiation of the reader for its processing, where as active tags receive power from an internal battery for its processing and communication with the reader. An integrated electronic circuit is embedded in tags for storage and processing operations and an antenna that transmits and receives the RF signal. [2] Figure : components of RFID Source : http://www.docstoc.com/docs/17328767/Draft-SP800-98 The tags used in RFID are enabled with read-write operations, with a large storage capacity. Data can be modified any number of times. Tag and reader act as two way radio communication in which each antenna carries the modulation and demodulation of RF signals, with operation frequency ranges from low frequency to UHF. As radio waves are used, RFID does not require line of sight for communication and the operating distance between the reader and tag varies according to the frequency range from few centimetres to few meters. [3] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-frequency_identification [2] [3] http://www.docstoc.com/docs/17328767/Draft-SP800-98 History The start of RFID took place in 1915, by the British with a system called IFF, which means Identification Friend or Foe. In 1940, during Second World War, the first installation of IFF transponder was in a German aircraft named FUG. [4] Leon Theremin, in 1945 invented a device which retransmits an incident radio wave and audio information. This passive device which was activated from an external source became the forerunner for RFID technology. [5] The concept of RFID came into existence in 1973 when Mario Cardullo invented a passive transponder which emits information when activated by an interrogating signal and consisted a 16bit memory unit for storage purposes. [6] In 1973, at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Steven Depp, Alfred Koelle, and Robert Freyman developed the RFID tag system that uses 12bit tags, operating at 915 MHz. [7] After many years of research RFID tags came out with active tags that eliminated the use of external power source.

Independent learning Essay

STUDENT VOICES BOOK_Layout 1 2011/10/07 11:57 AM Page 115 The Foundation Programme, I think, taught me how to work and be a person who is more reliant on myself. So if I don’t do the work and I don’t get the grades, I know it is on me. Varsity is where you have to be more responsible for all your actions. You have to be aware of whatever you are doing. You just can’t be negli- gent. (Chipo ? MSAFP) At university, you are just given assignments at the beginning of [the] semester and then you have to make sure that you do them well in time. There is no one to manage you and push you to do those assignments. In high school the teachers al-ways ask you about the assignments: â€Å"Did you do it? Why didn’t you do the as- signment well, and on time? † But here if you don’t do the assignment on time, they subtract marks and then you fail. (Lebogang ? MSAFP) Like them, Tony and Jaco also emphasised that a student must take responsibil- ity for their studies. For Tony, rather than parents, â€Å"you decide† and for Jaco, â€Å"everything is just up to you†. I think it is all about you taking responsibility for your own work. You ? nd in high school, if you’re with your parents, your parents are there to put pressure on you. You ? nd your parents saying, â€Å"No more TV. Go and study now. † But now, it’s you yourself. You decide your study times. You decide whether you’re going to do an assignment or not. You balance your social life and your school life. You balance it yourself. It’s not your parents who do that for you now. (Tony ? MSAFP) Basically time management is left to you for everything. You don’t have people telling you that this has to be done. Everything is just up to you. For me, it wasn’t a challenge because I had come from a working background. (Jaco ? MSAFP) Similarly, former DoTS students highlighted that taking responsibility to learn is essential for persisting with university study. Pip and Copernicus also empha- sised the importance of keeping up to date without the guidance of teachers and parents. For Pip, taking responsibility was â€Å"quite hard†, while for Copernicus, taking responsibility was â€Å"one of the biggest things†. I suppose just learning for ourselves and taking that much responsibility for our own learning, that was quite hard. (Pip ? DoTS) Compared to high school, everything’s your responsibility now. You have to make sure you do it. I think that was de? nitely one of the biggest things for me. If I was going to struggle with anything, it was being responsible. (Copernicus ?DoTS) Alicia, Kirsty, Tara and Max considered taking responsibility for their studies to be part of becoming independent. For Alicia, â€Å"you’ve got to keep on top of it† and for Kirsty â€Å"it’s all independent† and â€Å"there’s no one chasing you†. It’s very independent here. You’ve got to keep on top of it. There’s no one to tell you, â€Å"This is where you’ve got to be at. † (Alicia ? DoTS) It’s all up to you I suppose. It’s all independent. If you don’t do the readings, there’s no one chasing you to say you’ve got to do them. If you don’t have an as- signment in, there are not many excuses you can use to get an extension. (Kirsty ? DoTS) CH A P TE R 6 INDEPENDENT LEARNING 116 STUDENT VOICES BOOK_Layout 1 2011/10/07 11:57 AM Page 116 Like them, Tara and Max emphasised the importance of taking responsibility for their studies. For Tara, â€Å"it’s up to you†. For Max, university study involves â€Å"less guidance basically† and you â€Å"do it on your own†. Obviously it’s up to you to get the assignment in on time. To write it, you’re not really going to have a lot of help from other people like teachers. It was hard to be responsible for yourself, not having the teachers constantly having tabs on you and things like that, and not guiding you through. That took me a little while but I got used to it eventually. (Tara ? DoTS) First year wasn’t dissimilar to high school. It was with less guidance basically. So there was just the requirement for you to be more independent, to go out and do it on your own. (Max ? DoTS) For school leavers who were used to being reminded by teachers to complete their work, an adjustment to independent learning at university was a stark con- trast, but they emphasised the centrality of independent learning in university study. Rachel, Meg and Caitlyn each re? ected on the dif? culty of working inde- pendently. For Rachel, studying without a teacher supervising her was the hard- est. While for Meg, adjusting to not having anyone to remind her was the most dif? cult thing, Caitlyn observed â€Å"nobody is going to chase you†. Having to work by myself at home I’d say was the hardest, because the teachers weren’t sitting there saying, â€Å"Right, you’ve got 45 minutes to get this piece of work done. Go and do it. † (Rachel ? DoTS) The most dif? cult thing was probably not so much the fact that you are on your own, but the fact that people won’t remind you. You’ve got to make sure that you’ve got that assignment done. That’s all on you. I think the responsibility was pretty heavy because you’re so used to everybody else taking care of you. Now you’re a grown-up, you’re here and you’ve got to do it yourself. (Meg ? DoTS) Here you have to be independent. Nobody is going to chase you if you don’t hand in the assignment. Not that lecturers don’t care, but you’re just another name on the list. Their job is to teach and your job is to learn and if you’re not keeping up your end, I guess it’s just too bad. (Caitlyn ? DoTS) Besides taking responsibility for their own learning, former pathways students also struggled with self-motivation, self-discipline, and self-direction. Sammy, Marie and Tony all learned to direct themselves to study. For Sammy, â€Å"you have to learn to do things†. For Marie, â€Å"you don’t have anyone on your back telling you†. For Tony, not completing work is the student’s â€Å"loss†. Independence matters most. I would also say self-motivation. It taught me to study for myself because of the deadlines and the lecturers were pushing. You have to learn to do things for yourself because no one is going to do them for you. (Sammy ? MSAFP) I think a lot of people struggle with self-discipline, especially if you don’t have anyone on your back telling you, â€Å"Look, it’s 8 o’clock. You have to go to class. † (Marie ? MSAFP) If you don’t do it, it is your loss. (Tony ? MSAFP) INDEPENDENT LEARNING 117 6 STUDENT VOICES BOOK_Layout 1 2011/10/07 11:57 AM Page 117 In contrast, Jaco arrived as a very self-directed student who had no trouble keep- ing up to date. For Jaco, â€Å"if you start something, you ? nish it†. I’m one person to really work to my timetable. I don’t like to be late for anything. If anything needs to be done, it needs to be done the proper way. That’s some- thing I’ve grown up with from my parents. If you start something, you ? nish it, period, within the time frame. (Jaco ? MSAFP). Choosing to be a university student and making a conscious decision to learn are important for becoming a self-directed learner. Caitlyn, Denise and Sorcha pointed out that each student must make the choice to study for themselves. For Caitlyn, a student ? not the person’s mother ? must â€Å"make the decision to do it†. For Denise, a student must â€Å"want to do it†. For Sorcha, a student must become self-regulated and must â€Å"be interested in studying†. Being independent, having to do things for yourself, is hard. The work is chal- lenging, but I expected that. It’s not like when you’re in Year 12 and your mum wants you to ? nish and your school wants you to ? nish. My mum probably could- n’t have told you what I was doing at uni. There is no one to sort of push you along. You have to make the decision to do it yourself. (Caitlyn ? DoTS) Studying at school you’ve got no choice. You’ve got people on your back remind- ing you of what you have to do, when it has to be done, and how to do it, whereas at university you have to be motivated and want to do it. You have to be self-directed. (Denise ? DoTS) You have to be interested in studying, otherwise no amount of motivation or teacher-input can help. You’ve got to be a self-regulated learner. You can’t lean on your friends to take you through an exam. (Sorcha ? DoTS) Deciding to learn is not always an easy process for new students. Having com- menced the DoTS pathway three years after ? nishing high school, Nursing stu- dent Vaughan struggled to become a self-directed learner. A dif? cult thing was probably the self-directedness of uni. I’ve never been self-di- rected. I still struggle with it a little bit [in my third year]. (Vaughan ? DoTS) While Vaughan struggled with self-directedness throughout his degree, during the DoTS pathway, he sought professional advice to ? nd that he had to â€Å"get on with it† himself. I’d gone and seen the counsellors and they alerted me to the reality that no one is going to do it except me, so there are no quick ? xes there. We had a bit of a chat about things and you realise you have to get on with it. (Vaughan ? DoTS) Becoming a self-regulating learner involves taking individual responsibility for learning, for keeping up to date, and for becoming independent. These require- ments for university study appear to be well recognised by former pathways stu- dents even though many struggled, as do most new university students, with the initial transition. CH A P TE R 6 INDEPENDENT LEARNING 118. STUDENT VOICES BOOK_Layout 1 2011/10/07 11:57 AM Page 118 PUTTING IN EFFORT Putting in effort to learn, to understand the materials and to complete the re- quired work are among the most demanding aspects of university study. In South Africa, Accounting lecturers at Stellenbosch University assumed high stu- dent failure rates were due to poor preparation on the part of the students. Their Accounting students agreed, with one third suggesting that their classmates did not put in suf? cient effort and half believing they themselves did not study hard enough. These students also suggested that attending class and putting in effort  were among the most important factors for persisting with university study (Steenkamp, Baard & Frick, 2009: 151? 152). Former MSAFP and DoTS pathways students attested to the importance of putting in effort. Pip, Lisa, Vaughan, Sorcha and Reap explained putting in effort in terms of understanding course materials. For Pip, it was important to â€Å"make an effort to understand†. For Lisa, it was important to â€Å"get the answers† and â€Å"know your stuff†. For Vaughan, it was important for a student to learn the course materials and â€Å"know† they â€Å"did it† by themselves. I always make an effort to understand. I de? nitely don’t do the amount of work outside my contact hours that I should, but I make an effort to understand it. When I do have contact hours, I’ll make an effort to understand it and, if I don’t, then I go out and read up on it. I think it makes a difference if you want to be here and you actually want to understand the work. I think that’s what makes a good uni student. (Pip ? DoTS) I know that I’ve got to get things done. If I don’t get them done, then I’m not going to get the answers. We have quizzes each week and you can’t answer the quizzes if you haven’t studied and you don’t know your stuff. (Lisa ?DoTS) I read my chapter and I don’t collaborate with other people. I just tend to do it by myself because I want to know that I did it by myself, not because someone else has written down all the answers for me. (Vaughan ? DoTS) Like them, Sorcha and Reap emphasised the importance of making an effort to learn. For Sorcha, â€Å"you can become smart† with hard work and effort. For Reap, â€Å"you can’t fake it†. You can be smart and not do the work and not be successful and not achieve your goals, whereas if you have the time, the passion and all that, you can become smart. (Sorcha ? DoTS) You can’t breeze through uni. You’ve got to be able to do the work. You can’t fake it. (Reap ? DoTS) A willingness to put in effort to learn involves having the right attitude toward study which includes commitment and dedication. Barbara and Kendall believed that without the right attitude it is dif? cult for new students to adapt to univer- sity and experience academic success. For Barbara, university â€Å"has to be your number-one priority† and for Kendall, a student should â€Å"work so hard for it†. I think you have to be committed. You have to be committed to go to uni. Just be- cause you’ve got the brain, you got the marks, you got accepted, you might as  INDEPENDENT LEARNING 119 6 STUDENT VOICES BOOK_Layout 1 2011/10/07 11:57 AM Page 119 well go and do it ? it’s not really the right attitude, because you’re a nuisance, mostly to the tutors and lecturers. You have to be committed. You have to be there because you want to be there. I think it has to be your number-one priority to a certain extent. Get your assignments done. Get your uni work done. Then play. (Barbara ? DoTS) I just think you have to be dedicated. You have to know what you want. You have to work for it. It’s not just going to fall in your lap. Once you get it, it’s the best. Like I’m not even ?nished my course yet, but I’ve just got a job as a Division Two nurse and I’m wrapped. You work so hard for it and when you get there, it’s the best. (Kendall ? DoTS) A willingness to put in effort coupled with an attitude of dedication and com- mitment are attributes of an independent learner. Becoming an independent learner involves a new approach to study. Former pathways students contrasted their expectations of university learning with their experiences of becoming independent learners. Anna and Simon re? ected on different ideas about students and study. For Anna, a student should be â€Å"smart†,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"independent† and have a â€Å"love of learning†. For Simon, study at university in- volves thinking, discussing, â€Å"collaborating your thoughts and learning new things† as well as reading, reasoning and writing. [st3:When I was in Year 12 I would say that you have to be smart to come here. But doing DoTS teaches you what you need to be. You have to have a love of learning. You have to be an independent learner. (Anna ? DoTS) I remember in high school that I didn’t know what studying was. Now, for me, studying means doing what I need to do. I think of doing the work that re- quires me to think and learn something outside a lecture. Thinking is part of studying and so is discussing. It’s a process. You’re collaborating your thoughts and learning new things. An assignment is a good example. Because you have to read extra material, you have to have an understanding, you have to do your rea- soning and you have to put your ideas down. (Simon ? DoTS) Like Simon, Tony recognised the differences of degree study. For Tony, study at university involves â€Å"work on your own† and â€Å"research on your own†. In MSAFP I was used to having, let’s say, three tutorials in a week and in those tu- torials I could work through that assignment with my lecturers and ?nd out what I have to do. But you ? nd in undergrad you only have one tutorial in a week and you have to do your work on your own, research on your own and everything. (Tony ? MSAFP) Becoming an independent learner involves students also recognising when they need help. Asking for help is an issue that new university students, and particu- larly pathways students, ? nd challenging. For example, in the UK, low SES stu- dents studying at Shef? eld Hallam University tended not to ask for help but rather accepted their dif? culties with university study as though they were a nor- mal part of life. In in-depth interviews, both mature-aged students and school leavers reported they rarely approached tutors and instead preferred to draw on informal supports and peer networks. One student reported being afraid the CH A P TE R 6 INDEPENDENT LEARNING 120 STUDENT VOICES BOOK_Layout 1 2011/10/07 11:57 AM Page 120 tutor would think she was a â€Å"slacker†, while others drew on a â€Å"strong sense of self-reliance† coupled with an â€Å"immense determination to succeed† (Clegg, Bradley & Smith, 2006: 107? 108, 111). Similarly, in a survey of 101 direct entry Business students in Scotland, the majority did not disclose personal issues that  might affect their study (Barron & D’Annunzio-Green, 2009: 20). Although students may be reluctant to consult tutors in person, they are also reluctant to seek help online. In Australia, at a new suburban campus of the Uni- versity of Queensland, students knuckled down to study independently and without assistance. More than 80% of the students rarely, if ever, asked for help, support, or assistance online (Ballantyne, Madden, & Todd, 2009: 306). New stu- dents may not feel comfortable to ask for help when they deal with new lectur- ers and tutors each semester. Both mature-aged students and school leavers at  the University of Wollongong felt that interaction with their lecturers, whether online or face to face, was important in feeling comfortable enough to ask for help (Lefoe, Gunn & Hedberg, 2002: 44). Other students, studying Psychology at Macquarie University, found they only received help from a tutor when they asked directly for assistance (Plum, 1999: 244? 245). While former DoTS students described independence at university as being â€Å"up to you†, they also pointed out that assistance is available when requested. Paige, Therese and Helen each stressed the importance of seeking assistance and asking for help. For Paige, it is important not to be scared to seek advice. For Therese, it is important to â€Å"ask them†. For Helen, it is important to â€Å"take the initiative† and â€Å"go and ask for help†. I think you have to make sure that you’re not scared about going to ask for help, because people are there to help you. (Paige ? DoTS) My brother did say to me once that the lecturers are there to help you. If you have a question, you must ask them. (Therese ? DoTS) I think you have to be more independent. You have to be willing to put in the work and you have to be willing to ask for help. Those who aren’t willing to ask  for help, they fall by the wayside. When you know you might be drowning, you’ve just got to get up and take the initiative. Like in a workplace, no one will come and ask you. You’ve got to go and ask for help yourself. (Helen ? DoTS) Furthermore, Helen outlined the strategies she used in asking for help when, as a pathway student, she was â€Å"afraid† or just â€Å"con? dent enough† to seek advice. I would just go and ask whoever I needed to ask. I’d knock on people’s door ? lecturers, tutors, anyone. If I was a bit afraid of asking, I’d actually ring and ask at the front of? ce, â€Å"Who do I speak to? † and they’d put you through. I was con? dent enough to do that, I think, from working in my gap year. If I hadn’t worked that year, I think I probably wouldn’t have been. (Helen ? DoTS) Putting in effort helps a student adjust to the new style of independent learning at university. Independent learning requires a student to become metacognitive about their learning and study habits, so they are aware of when to seek advice. Taking the initiative to ask for help is an attribute of a student who is taking con- trol of their learning and becoming independent. INDEPENDENT LEARNING 121 6 STUDENT VOICES BOOK_Layout 1 2011/10/07 11:57 AM Page 121 THE RIGHT ATTITUDE. Students cannot become independent learners unless they have the right attitude to study and a willingness to learn. Melinda, Lisa and Vaughan recognised the importance of a willingness to learn in university study and each drew on their vocational motivation to persist with university study. For Melinda, wanting to learn is â€Å"probably number one†. For Lisa, it is important to â€Å"want to learn†. For Vaughan, it is important to have a â€Å"desire to learn† to absorb information. Wanting to be a student and wanting to learn are probably number one. Wanting to actually do it, because you’ll never do it if you don’t want to. You have to want to learn. If you just want to be a nurse, you can be a nurse with just a pass. But to be a good nurse, you have to want to be a student. You have the chance to learn, so you can get High Distinctions, so that you can be a great nurse, not just a nurse. (Melinda ? DoTS) I want to learn. I never used to want to learn, but I do now. I actually want to learn about all the different things and how everything works in Nursing. (Lisa ? DoTS) I think it’s about willingness to learn too. There’s a mountain of information out there. If you’ve got no desire to learn, you’re not going to take any of it in, so  you’ve got to want to be there. (Vaughan ? DoTS) The right attitude helps a student actually complete the work. A student’s atti- tude to learning is important in accepting the responsibility of a university work- load. Whether a student’s most recent learning experiences were at a secondary school, a vocational college, or in the workplace, becoming an independent learner in a university environment necessitates a different attitude (Booth, 1997). Age may also in? uence a student’s attitude. In Australia, mature-aged students have been found to be more committed to study than school leavers. Compared  to school leavers in outer western Brisbane, twice as many studying parents (over the age of 25) never skipped classes and regularly used support services. Moreover, students more than one year out of school were more con? dent and decisive than school leavers and were seven times more likely to complete the weekly readings (22% versus 3%) (Ballantyne, Madden & Todd, 2009: 307? 308). While it may be the case that mature-age students have the right attitude to study, many school leavers in the MSAFP and DoTS pathway also demonstrate the right attitude. Having a willingness to change may best indicate a student’s capacity to ad-just to independent learning as well as to enable academic engagement and epis- temological access. In the UK, a University of Nottingham survey of History stu- dents found two-thirds of students expected to change over the period of their degree, suggesting that adjustment to university is an ongoing process and not just a dif? cult phase at the beginning of the ? rst year. These History students, who preferred discussion and debate over any other method of learning, ex- pected to develop open-mindedness, interpersonal communication skills, and in- dependence (Booth, 1997: 209, 214; see also Brownlee, Walker, Lennox, Exley &  CH A P TE R 6 INDEPENDENT LEARNING 122 STUDENT VOICES BOOK_Layout 1 2011/10/07 11:57 AM Page 122 Pearce, 2009). Their positive attitudes to learning enabled them to persist with study. Similarly, former MSAFP and DoTS pathway students highlighted the in? u- ence of a student’s attitude in persisting with university study. Persistence de- pends on motivation and engagement as well as commitment and a sense of re- sponsibility to learn. Sammy, Elaine and Lindy af? rmed a willingness to learn underpins success in university study. You have to want to do something to achieve success in it. (Sammy ?MSAFP) If you put your mind to it and tell yourself you can do it, you can be successful. That’s what I think. (Elaine ? MSAFP) I tell myself, â€Å"This is your future. The future is in your hands. † Nobody can write my exam for me. Nobody can study for me. It’s my future. It’s my life and the way I live it is my choice. I make myself study by looking at everyone else studying. When they’re all studying, I get motivated to study. (Lindy ? MSAFP) Like them, Meg, Paige and Therese each clearly articulated a willingness to learn and recognised that university study is serious business. Meg and Paige high-lighted that the right attitude helps a student achieve success, while Therese stressed that skills development is made possible when a student has the right attitude. When I came here, I was 19 and I was ready to start being a grown-up. What I do now is going to play out my future. Every step I take is towards where I want to be. (Meg ? DoTS) I think I’m a lot more focused now. I know what I have to do and what needs to be done, that I can’t slack off and that I have to meet deadlines. I know that be- cause I’ve chosen to do this, I have to put in the effort. (Paige ? DoTS) You should actually want to be here and to take it seriously. You’re not here just to have fun. With skills, you can develop them over time. You can teach yourself how to study and what’s the best way to study, how to ? nd information that you need and that is relevant, then to be able to differentiate between what’s relevant and what’s not relevant. But that comes with time I think. (Therese ? DoTS) Other former pathways students expressed an awareness of their changing atti- tudes to study. Caitlyn recalled, with some humour, the dependent attitude she overcame during the ? rst semester of the DoTS pathway. I remember actually asking the lecturer if I could have my birthday off, and he said no! (Caitlyn ? DoTS) Chloe and Lisa re? ected on their changing attitudes toward their social lives as they became more serious about study. Chloe gave up excessive partying on weekends, while Lisa changed her â€Å"party life into uni life† I went out every weekend and got drunk. I’ve given that up now, because a hang- over lasts quite a few days with me. It really knocks me down. (Chloe ? DoTS) I just needed to change my party life into uni life. I liked to hang out with my friends more and go out on the weekends. But that’s changed now. (Lisa ? DoTS) INDEPENDENT LEARNING 123 6 STUDENT VOICES BOOK_Layout 1 2011/10/07 11:57 AM Page 123. Vicky, Lisa and Melinda reiterated that a student’s attitude is re? ected in their be- haviour and highlighted that choosing to attend classes re? ected a commitment to study and a sense of responsibility to learn. Turn up to- class. Don’t just say, â€Å"If I miss this lecture, it won’t matter,† because it will. The blackboard site doesn’t give you everything. (Vicky ? DoTS) I know there are compulsory classes, but you have a choice of what you want to learn and what you want to do. (Lisa ? DoTS) If you don’t want to go to lectures, don’t. If you don’t want to go to tutes, don’t. If you don’t want to do the readings, don’t. It’s your education that suffers from it and it’s your grades. I don’t want to say there are not people there to help you, but they’re only there if you ask for help. (Melinda ? DoTS) Former students of both the MSAFP and DoTS pathways point out that success- ful students are self-disciplined. Sammy, Chitalu and Chloe re? ected on how self- discipline helped them not only to keep up to date, but also to enjoy studying. I have a personal laptop and when I ? nd myself playing [games], then I think that tomorrow I have a tutorial and if I have studied enough for that. If I haven’t, I im-mediately switch off, so I start reading my lecture slides and trying to understand the questions that might be discussed in the tutorial. (Sammy ? MSAFP) It’s not really hard work when you are disciplined and you do what you’re sup- posed to do. But when you take it lightly and you just have fun, it really becomes hard work. (Chitalu ? MSAFP) I don’t really need to make myself do it because most essays I enjoy writing and enjoy learning. I guess I’m pretty disciplined. (Chloe ? DoTS) Yet, other former pathways students also pointed out the risks of procrastination and avoidance. Chipo, Tara and Lisa re?ected on wasting time and delaying, or avoiding, study commitments. For Chipo, postponing study is â€Å"time wasted†, while for Tara and for Lisa, it was easy to â€Å"put things off† or put â€Å"everything aside†. If you waste your time, time wasted is time that you can never get back. I had to learn these things as I went along because, you know, you postpone things. You say, â€Å"Oh no, I’ll do it later† and then next thing you discover you’ve got an assign- ment due tomorrow. (Chipo ? MSAFP) I tend to procrastinate a little bit and to put things off. (Tara ? DoTS) At the start, I was too busy stressing out and putting everything aside and not  even thinking about it. In the second half of my ? rst year, I got the hang of what uni is all about and what you’ve got to do to get by. (Lisa ? DoTS) Like them, Daniel, who returned to study from the workforce, tended to pro- crastinate. The solution was to have his life â€Å"timetabled†. I’m a terminal procrastinator. I always have been and stupidly enough I’ve been conditioned to actually continue to do so because I keep getting reasonable results in spite of procrastinating. I timetable a lot. I have my life timetabled so I start the semester saying, â€Å"Alright, I have this on this day and this on that day† and then. CH A P TE R 6 INDEPENDENT LEARNING 124 STUDENT VOICES BOOK_Layout 1 2011/10/07 11:57 AM Page 124 around work I schedule one day where I focus on each subject. On that day, whether it is travelling on the train or at home in the afternoon, I do all of the reading and work on assignments and stuff like that. I allocate the time to do the work. (Daniel ? DoTS) One aspect of independent learning that former pathways students found easy was being â€Å"in control† of their own study. In contrast to high school where stu- dents felt pushed, particularly by teachers and through competition with their  peers, at university students directed their own learning. Lindy found being in control â€Å"the easiest thing† about becoming an independent learner. The easiest thing was being in control. I didn’t have a very hard time getting used to being in control. (Lindy ? MSAFP) Like Lindy, Grace, Andrew, Julia and Max appreciated the autonomy of univer- sity study. Arts students Grace and Andrew both preferred studying at university over studying at high school. Grace felt she was â€Å"making up for† bad habits at high school, while Andrew felt as if he were ? nally â€Å"doing something†. In high school I hated studying, so I ? nd it really strange. I ? gure I’m making up for what I didn’t do in high school. (Grace ? DoTS) I did uni pretty well actually. I kind of preferred it to high school. Because, for one, I felt like I was doing something. With high school, it’s kind of like what you have to do. We were there because we had to be. At uni, it was where I wanted to be. (Andrew ? DoTS) Similarly, Julia and Max had no trouble taking control of their learning. Educa- tion student Julia viewed her learning as an opportunity, while Arts student Max found his own progress â€Å"inspiring†. I can’t believe people don’t hand work in because that’s just beyond me. I just  think why would you not even give yourself a chance? When I saw the mark for attendance, I thought I’m going to make sure I attend every class because that’s marks I can count on and I would never not hand anything in because every mark is another step closer. (Julia ? DoTS) It’s all on yourself. You’re responsible for failing. You’re responsible for doing your assignments. You’re responsible for passing. You’re responsible for your grades. There’s no one pushing you along. It’s inspiring to think that you’re con- trolling your own learning. (Max ? DoTS) Having the right attitude to study is important for success. Regarding themselves as serious, responsible and goal-oriented students, some former pathways stu- dents were openly critical of their peers who did not share the same â€Å"right atti- tude† to study. Andrew and Rachel were both critical of students who aim for a minimum pass, regarding them to be â€Å"unmotivated†. I come across a lot of unmotivated students who are like, â€Å"I’m just here to get a pass and get my degree and get out. † (Andrew ? DoTS) I actually ? nd a lot of people are only motivated to get that pass score. They are not that motivated to go the extra mile. (Rachel ? DoTS) INDEPENDENT LEARNING. 125 6 STUDENT VOICES BOOK_Layout 1 2011/10/07 11:57 AM Page 125 Like them, Jenna regarded some of the other students as having the wrong atti- tude for studying. Describing their attitudes as â€Å"very lazy† and â€Å"very blas †, Jenna contrasted her own willingness to learn and to put in effort with their lack of motivation and poor attitudes. There are de? nitely some students who are very lazy in their attitude. They don’t go to classes. They don’t do the reading. They have a very blase attitude and I ? nd that very frustrating because I’m here to learn and I put in the time and effort. (Jenna ? DoTS).

Erich Maria Remarque and the Nature of War Essay

Unlike truly historical works emphasizing the human side of war, for example, Cornelius Ryan’s The Longest Day or A Bridge Too Far, in which the author provides highly detailed accounts of historical events through the eyes of participants leading to an objective treatment and analysis of those events, Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a novelization of the experience of German soldiers in World War I. Remarque thus follows a literary line which includes William Shakespeare’s Henry V, Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, and Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace and extends through cinematic efforts such as â€Å"The Big Red One† and â€Å"The Hurt Locker†, which utilize historical context in order to examine the transformative nature of war on those most intimately involved. Each work examines a central theme, e.g., patriotism, cowardice, social change, brotherhood, etc., interwoven with and supported by details of v arious wars. The particular details chosen by the authors, with the possible exception of Tolstoy who seemingly left nothing out of his opus, are those lending support to that central theme. Thus, to understand the process used by Remarque in making his choice of which details of World War I to include in All Quiet on the Western Front, one must first ascertain his thesis and its origin. Referring to the biographical notes following the novel, we learn that Remarque â€Å"was himself in combat during World War I, and was wounded five times, the last time very severely (Remarque, 1928, p. 297).† That during the time of his service Remarque was near the age of his protagonist, Paul Baumer, suggests an autobiographical nature to the novel and lends credence to the story that no second hand account could provide. Yet Remarque does not take the opportunity to provide closure to his experience or to provide a set of objective conclusions to the war. Drawing again from the biographical notes, Remarque possessed â€Å"intense determination to concentrate in his fiction upon the worst horrors of the age, war and inhumanity (Remarque, 1928, p. 297)†. Three major themes can be found within All Quiet on the Western Front combining to support Remarque’s ideology – the legitimacy of statehood, the futility of war, and the dehumanizing effects of war. Given his experiences and his viewpoint, what details did Remarque expound upon and to what purpose? In a discussion  among the soldiers as to the origins of the war, they openly question the authority by which war was declared. When Tjaden asks how wars begin, Albert answers, â€Å"Mostly by one country badly offending another (Remarque, 1928, p. 205).† Yet it is this notion of country which perplexes the most. In Europe’s past, wars were fought over disputes between smaller nation states by order and to the benefit of local rulers. This was clearly not the case in World War I, a fact not lost on the soldiers: â€Å"But what I would like to know,† says Albert, â€Å"is whether there would have been a war if the Kaiser had said No.† â€Å"I’m sure there would,† I (Paul) interject, â€Å"he was against it from the first (Remarque, 1928, p. 203).† What the soldiers had not yet come to terms with was the rampant nationalism that had swept Europe. Rising from the Industrial Revolution, nurtured by the Atlantic revolutions, and spurred by the globalization of trade, Europeans of smaller states set aside their notions of subjects under a common ruling dynasty to a sense of unity among peoples bound by blood, customs and culture. â€Å"All of this encouraged political and cultural leaders to articulate an appealing of their particular nations and ensured a growing circle of people receptive to such ideas. Thus the idea of â€Å"nation† was constructed or even invented, but it was often presented as an awakening of older linguistic or cultural identities (Strayer, 2011, p. 797).† Such were the notions the young schoolboys received from their schoolmaster Kantorek who spoke of country and honor before shepherding them to their enlistment. Yet, when those identities failed to adequately address the cultures affected, as in Austria-Hungary, nationalism failed to suppress dissent. With the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, by a Serbian nationalist, the system of rigid alliances established among the emerging nations plunged the world into war (Strayer, 2011, p. 979). After further reflection, the soldiers began to understand how they came to be in a war whose causes could not be satisfactorily explained by patriotism alone: â€Å"State and home-country, there’s a big difference.† (Kat) â€Å"But they go together,† insists Kropp, â€Å"Without the State there wouldn’t be a home country (Remarque, 1928, p. 205).† Remarque addresses the futility of war in various ways. He describes the effects of the material  advantages of the Allies throughout the war, particularly following the entrance of American forces, foretelling defeat for Germany in a war of attrition: â€Å"Our lines are falling back. There are too many fresh English and American regiments over there. There’s too much corned beef and white wheaten bread. There are too many new guns. Too many aeroplanes. But we are emaciated and starved. Our food is bad and mixed with so much substitute stuff it makes us ill†¦..Our artillery is fired out, it has too few shells and the barrels are so worn that they shoot uncertainly and scatter so widely as even to fall on ourselves (Remarque, 1928, p. 280).† Most tellingly, Remarque condemns the madness of trench warfare which â€Å"resulted in enormous casualties while gaining or losing only a few yards of muddy, blood-soaked ground (Strayer, 2011, p. 982).† Paul’s Company engages in a protracted, vicious trench battle in Chapter Six in which they are first driven back in retreat, regain the lost ground after an hour to eat, and push forward into the French trenches before realizing their new position is untenable. â€Å"The fight ceases. We lose touch with the enemy. We cannot stay here long but must retire under cover of our artillery to our own position (Remarque, 1928, p. 117).† In the end, it was everything ventured, nothing gained. The senseless loss of life on both sides and the indifference to the carnage is highlighted in his description of the battlefield itself. â€Å"The days are hot and the dead lie unburied. We cannot fetch them all in, if we did we should not know what to do with them. The shells wil l bury them (Remarque, 1928, pp. 125-126).† Lastly, Remarque relentlessly stresses the dehumanization of the soldiers throughout the course of the war. In his forward, Remarque makes his purpose for writing All Quiet on the Western Front clear: â€Å"It will try to simply tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war (Remarque, 1928, p. i).† The first step in the process comes with the realization that those shaping their future have done so with an agenda of their own. In speaking of Kantorek the schoolmaster and Corporal Himmelstoss, Paul reflects, â€Å"For us lads of eighteen they ought to have been mediators and guides to the world of maturity, the world of work, of duty, of culture, of progress – to the future†¦the idea of authority, which they represented, was associated in our  minds with a greater insight and a more humane wisdom. But the first death we saw shattered this belief (Remarque, 1928, p. 12).† The second phase in the downward spiral is presented as the desensitization of the individual. Remarque portrays this through the soldier’s continued acceptance of the squalor of their condition. Through poor rations, living in mud filled trenches, and being in constant fear for their lives from regular shelling associated with trench warfare and from the use of a deadly new weapon, mustard gas, Paul and his comrades develop a detached persona which shields them from their hideous reality: â€Å"Just as we turn into animals when we go up to the line, because it is the only thing which brings us through safely, so we turn into wags and loafer when we are resting†¦We want to live at any price so we cannot burden ourselves with feelings which, though they might be ornamental enough in peacetime, would be out of place here (Remarque, 1928, pp. 138-139).† A third phase lies in the objectification of the soldier by others. Remarque best accomplishes this in his portrayal of medical treatment for the wounded. Early on, he establishes this premise through the death of Franz Kemmerich. A lack of supplies has denied him morphine to reduce his suffering. The higher than expected casualty count has begun to turn doctors into processors of human flesh: â€Å"One operation after another since five-o’clock this morning. You know, today alone there have been sixteen deaths – yours is the seventeenth. There will probably be twenty altogether – (Remarque, 1928, p. 32).† Kemmerich’s body is quickly processed: â€Å"We must take him away at once, we want the bed. Outside they are lying on the floor (Remarque, 1928, p. 32).† As the war drags on and casualties mount, the individual casualty becomes less a patient and more a number. Following an injury, Paul enters the hospital to learn of the latest advance in wartime triage: â€Å"A little room at the corner of the building. Whoever is about to kick the bucket is put in there. There are two beds in it. It is generally called the Dying Room. They don’t have much work to do afterwards. It is more convenient, too, because it lies right beside the lift to the mortuary (Remarque, 1928, p. 257).† Through his experience in the hospital, Paul comes to a stark realization, and Remarque drives home his point: â€Å"A man cannot realize that above such shattered bodies there are still human faces in which life goes its daily round. And this is only one hospital,  one single station; there are hundreds of thousands in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia. How senseless is anything that can ever be written, done, or thought, when such things are possible. It must be all lies and of no account when the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out, these torture-chambers in their hundreds of thousands. A hospital alone shows what war is (Remarque, 1928, p. 263).† The ultimate phase is the transition of the soldier from object to invisibility. Paul’s death, and the â€Å"matter if fact† manner in which Remarque presents it, stands in stark contrast to the official report of the day – â€Å"All quiet on the Western front. (Remarque, 1928, p. 296).† The fate of a man has been subordinated to the fate of a nation without the nation realizing his sacrifice. Throughout All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque selects his details of World War I to support his themes decrying nationalism, the meaningless state of war, and the disintegration of the human spirit through the pursuit of warfare. No mention is made of specific battles or individual acts of heroism. The lack of specificity adds to the tone of the general, unyielding nature of war. Heroism, writ with a capital â€Å"H†, is a concept not to be found in Remarque’s world of war. In presenting his details of World War I, Remarque remains unyielding in his portrait of the destruction of the human condition on the altar of national pride. REFERENCES Remarque, E. M. (1928). All quiet on the western front. Ballantine Books. Strayer, R. W. (2011). Ways of the world; a brief global history with sources, volume 2: Since 1500. 7th edition: Bedford/St. Martins.