Waiting for Superman free essay sample

I was crying because there was no one coming with enough power to save us. † Just as many children look up to fictional characters such as Superman, parents rich or poor, look up to our school system to educate their children. However, too many of these parents are beginning to realize that proper education, like Superman, is nonexistent. In Waiting for â€Å"Superman,† Davis Guggenheim addresses the teachers union about the failing public school system in America. Through the use of ethos, anecdotes, statistics and visual and audio elements, Guggenheim attacks a problem too precious to let slip through our fingers. Davis Guggenheim is a father. A father who chose to put his children into private education, but with good reason. He has experienced the public school system and how it’s teachers operate first hand. In 1999, he produced a documentary about these teachers, so he knows what conditions he is working with. We will write a custom essay sample on Waiting for Superman or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This is a key component of Guggenheims ethos since he has the bias of a father who wants proper education for his children just as most other fathers would. He builds upon this by featuring well known, powerful people into the documentary. These people include: Geoffrey Canada, Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates. Each adds their opinion to the subject. Geoffrey Canada is an educator who admit evens his first few years of teaching were rough. Because Canada states this, the audience is reassured that he knows what it takes to be a successful teacher. What better way to address the teachers union about the importance of high performing teachers than with a high performing teacher? Then there is Michelle Rhee. Rhee was the 7th new chancellor for the Washington D. C. public schools system in 10 years and claims she â€Å"knows they’re [kids] getting crappy education. † Her approach to changing the school system is more harsh than Canadas, but Rhee’s views are still important. By including a more political view of the problem, Guggenheim expresses his understanding of the multiple components that come with trying to solve it. And of course, we can’t forget Bill Gates. In fact his view may even have the most impact of all. Bill Gates is rich, extremely rich. He may have dropped out of Harvard University, but he’s rich. So it may seem senseless to include him in a documentary that is trying to prevent drop outs right? However if Gates was able to drop out of a prestigious college and then go on to be the second richest man in the world, what does that say about education? Perhaps if every child was given the opportunity to receive the same education Gates had, by the next few generations the U. S. could be spewing with millions of â€Å"Bill Gates† ready to become billionaires. These three individuals are great components that establish a strong sense of ethos for the film, but the personal stories of the five families’ struggles are what truly making it moving. Guggenheims use of pathos in the film is horrible. Horrible in the sense that the audience is sucked into a black hole of empathy for these five families. There is Anthony the boy who lost his father to drugs. Bianca, the little girl who couldnt graduate. Daisy, the girl who has the brains but not the school. Francisco, so adorable it breaks you’re heart he can’t receive proper education. Emily, the one who is almost out of time. It’s not a coincidence all of these children have at least one challenging condition they live with everyday. Nor is it coincidence that every single one is so darn cute. Guggenheim uses this pathetic appeal to his advantage causing the audience to empathize. Near the very end, Anthony is asked why he wants to get accepted. â€Å"I want my kids to have better than what I had I wanna go to school. † This one clip sums up a kids view of not being educated. It shows they are being forced to grow up because of the conditions they live in. With this, Guggenheim implants a gut-wrenching feeling about how terrible our country is for depriving these children from perhaps the one positive alternative in their lives. Once he has filled your brain with these array of emotions, Guggenheim humorously â€Å"enlightens† the tone with statistics. In many different parts of the film, Guggenheim takes a break and turns to cartoons to explain specific topics and other stats about our school systems. Some of the most important argumentative cartoons is about tenure. He first includes clips from The Simpsons and also School of Rock just to show how completely outrageous the idea of tenure is. These are comic relief, but there is a subliminal message. Each clip includes a teacher sitting back, telling the kids to teach(tend) to themselves and of course the kids do nothing. This symbolizes that as long as the U. S. continues to accept and protect crappy teachers, schools will produce failing students. Another tenure related cartoon was about â€Å"the lemon dance. † It includes characters with bodies of a teacher but the head of a lemon dancing around from school to school getting thrown out do to their lack of teaching skills, only to end up in another school where he cycle starts over. Again, Guggenheim uses this to mock the ridiculousness of tenure since it essentially causes â€Å"the lemon dance. † Parents wouldn’t allow their child to eat a sour lemon, so why should a lemon be able to teach, or in this case dance? All of these elements are like the leather pieces of a shoe. Sure, they look nice alone, but a shoe is only a shoe if the laces are tie d. Like laces filling the holes in those shoes, the visual and musical effects in the film create a huge emotional impact. As mentioned before, Guggenheim’s use of anecdotes is key. With these personal interviews, the camera angle is neither above or below the subject. It is a dead center, close-up view of raw emotion. This allows the audience to feel as if they are in a one-on-one conversation with the parents or children . So you can sense every flinch of pain, every hint of sadness in all of their voices and facial expressions. Guggenheim also makes effective use of â€Å"B† roll in the film. Often when he is narrating about the schools or family conditions, a school or neighborhood is being screened. The schools are completely run down and resemble miniature jail houses. The neighborhoods are also run down, lower income parts of town. What is interesting about this, is that in the first three minutes of the film Guggenheim drives past three public schools while taking his kids to their private school. Each public school is gated in, like a jail. Then the private school’s gate is wide open as if to symbolize an open pathway to a promising future. With this Guggenheim also has specific music selection including Green Day’s American Idiot representing America’s high ability to be over confident. He also includes the song Taking Care of Business as sarcasm to former presidents signing education reform bills. Which is ironic since the audience is well aware of the fact those bills definitely did not â€Å"take care of business. † Without the specific video archive and music selection, this documentary would only have been half-way effective and Guggenheim has realized there is already enough half-way effective products in our country. Davis Guggenheim has money. Davis Guggenheim has the privilege to choose. Davis Guggenheim chose private education for his children. Waiting for â€Å"Superman† immerses our population into the lives of those who don’t have the money or the choice to provide their children with proper education. Strong, emotional use of ethos, personal anecdotes , statistics and visual musical effects pulls Americans through the painful reality that our schools are failing students, failing our future. â€Å"Our system is broken and it feels impossible to fix but we can’t wait. The steps are simple. † Thanks to the work of Davis Guggenheim ,our country may finally start to realize that the future can’t be placed in our hands if we aren’t taught how to use them.

World War II

In 1945, when World War II finally came to an end, people all around the world agreed on one thing: never again did they want to see a war of that magnitude. World War II was a bitter and harsh war in which millions of lives were lost. Those who survived the cruelties of war would never be the same. The United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union understood the strong desire of all nations to see world peace. Thus, the United Nations was established. Prime Minister Clemet Attlee described the goal of the United Nations as not just the negation of war, but the creation of a world of security and freedom, of a world which is governed by the justice and the moral law. We desire to assert the preminence of right over might and the general good against sectional aims (quoted in Johnson 7). In short, the main purpose of the UN is maintenance of world peace and the avoidance of war. The idea as a whole sounds wonderful in theory. The problems ari! se when the UN itself cannot agree on a course of action or when those that the UN attempts to help resist or even despise the assistance. In instances such as the Korean War and the Bosnian Peacekeeping attempts, the United Nations did not help to keep peace but instead may have contributed to the violence as well as prolonged the conflicts. After World War II, Korea became jointly occupied. The Soviets arose in the territory north of the 38 parallel, and the U.S. took control of the southern part of the country. Neither the Soviet Union nor the U.S. was willing to let Korea fall under the hands of the other. From the start of Koreas liberation, division was prevalent. The Soviet Union wanted to establish a Communist Korea while the U.S. hoped to bring democracy to Korea. By 1947, two different political parties had risen in Korea. Despite these opposing governments, nationalists from both North and South Korea hoped to negotiate a treaty th...

Balmer Series Definition in Science

Balmer Series Definition in Science The Balmer series is the portion of the emission spectrum of hydrogen that represents electron transitions from energy levels n 2 to n 2. These are four lines in the visible spectrum. They are also known as the Balmer lines.The four visible Balmer lines of hydrogen appear at 410 nm, 434 nm, 486 nm and 656 nm. These are caused by photons produced by electrons in excited states transitioning to more stable energy levels. There are also multiple ultraviolet Balmer lines that have wavelengths shorter than 400 nm. The spectrum becomes continuous approaching 364.6 nm (ultraviolet). Note: While Balmer discovered four visible lines, five other hydrogen spectral series were later discovered for values of n besides 2. The Balmer series in especially important in astronomy. The lines are seem emitted by many stellar objects because most of the universe consists of the element hydrogen. The series is used to help determine the surface temperature of stars. Source Nave, C. R. (2006). Hydrogen Spectrum. HyperPhysics. Georgia State University.

Audience Analysis Cover Sheet + Persuasive Letter on Surrogacy Assignment

Audience Analysis Cover Sheet + Persuasive Letter on Surrogacy Arrangements - Assignment Example Such as this is not a topic commonly discussed to them, reactions will be varied. Most would be interested in hearing the objective arguments on both sides of the spectrum before fully developing their own opinion. A number will already have a shaped opinion which may be for or against the issue. By the end of the speech, some may still be on the fence with their stand. It is important to note that their concern would be minimal unless they know of or are suffering from fertility issues. Those who may have a background which favors surrogacy motherhood would have a strong opinion in favor of it. While those who don’t will most likely yield reasonable attention on the speaker’s stand. It may not be avoided that there would be some bigotry surrounding the issue. Topics that would scrutinize and disparage gay people and gay relations should be avoided. A holier-than-thou voice in presenting the subject should also be evaded. These would simply exclude people and could even be perceived as ignorance and narrow-mindedness. It should not revolve around intolerance but rather an objective approach to presenting the most logical and preeminent debate on the issue. Approach should be firm from the beginning of the speech. When presenting the argument which is against surrogacy motherhood, there should be authoritativeness in stating your opinion. This is to be able to convince the audience on your conviction regarding the rectitude of your argument. They should feel your own personal adherence to the fact that the issue of surrogacy is wrong in a number of aspects and not just simply a stubborn belief. In presenting the data that let you come up in forming your own position, there should be a tone of seriousness to it. Because it is a sensitive issue, it would be difficult to add humor to your speech. Instead, fervor should always be present to persuade them to adapt to your stand. The speech

Study of Cylindrical Sails for Large Ships Essay

Study of Cylindrical Sails for Large Ships - Essay Example For instance, the estimate for 2007 was 60,000 deaths. The use of the ships also has had a negative impact on global warming, and this is a growing concern for environmentalists. Because the world is being impacted to the point of people dying, resolving this issue has become very important. Furthermore, C02 emitted from ships is only increasing, up about 3 percent from 2007, because of the growing use of more and more ships on the ocean. Therefore, the shipping industry realizes the threat this negative environmental impact has on its industry, as people and politicians both do want to see a change. The shipping industry reportedly put out 847 tonnes in 2007 (this was actually one of the lower estimates; some organizations claim that the rate was much higher). The shipping industry is therefore being put under increasingly pressure to act. Therefore, the researcher proposes that the use of wind tunnels combined with cylindrical sails will help to address this problem. There have been several studies done, which will be discussed, involving the use of cylindrical sails. By combining the cylindrical sails with the use of the wind tunnels, the ships should be able to go faster than those that just traveled with the cylindrical sails, thus making this option more feasible for the shipping industry, which does have time limitations when traveling. Research Objectives Quantitative methods of research will include the calculations of the ship's traveled distance and the ship's length. Wind tunnel data will also be used to determine the success of the study. By using these calculations, it can be determined if the voyages using the new types of sail are correct. Qualitative methods will include researching the actual comments of the researchers, and obtaining information regarding their thoughts and feelings about the ships. Fig.1 The researcher plans to use cylindrical sail with air suction, utilizing dodger support structures and power of air intake. The wind tunnel will not be used as the sail, but the model the researcher tests will be conducted in wind tunnel to grasp the order of possible saving as well as the mechanism of flow around the sail. Research Design There are five various wind assistance devices that can be used for ships, and will be discussed here. Schematic drawing of different wind rigs for ships. There is a wide choice of various rigs that can be used for hull and superstructure configurations, making comparisons difficult; however, when considering wind-assisted motor cargo ships, options are more limited. The main groups to consider in this category are as follows. 1. Square Rig-This concept is often used to improve aerodynamics of sails and allows for clean lines through the use of cantilever masts, for, and aft stay-sails. This setup can be counted on during long voyages when the wind is fairly predictable. However, in this day and age, not as much cargo is shipped via long voyage as it was in historical times. Thus, a second application of this idea can be used for shorter routes where the wind is also not predictable. The fore and aft sails can be modified so that they can sail close to the wind. Soft sails can also be used at sea and are fairly cheap as well, although keeping them up to date can cost the company (Clayton 57). 2.

The true impact racism has on people in our society Essay Example for Free

The true impact racism has on people in our society Essay The blacks are considered by the white society as worthless slaves who have no choice but to be a housemaid or slave. Racism has been a popular issue for many years, and has caused many blacks to suffer because of their outward appearance. Aibileen faces as a victim to racial comments in the movie â€Å"The Help† directed by Tate Taylor which took place in the 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi. Aibileen is a maid. African American housemaid who has just experienced the loss of her son and has raised about 17 children as a maid. Blacks did not have the equal rights like the white society caused many to have education for money. This essay will show to a large extent the struggles Aibileen goes through, and through camera angles, dialogue, it will provide in detail why Tate Taylor used Aibileen to communicate to the viewers the problem of racism has on our society. Racism has caused blacks to differ from the white society. The impact of racism back in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi provides the struggle of an individual name Aibileen an African American house maid through a white society. Aibileen in scene one talks about how she lost her only son and was left laying dead in front of a white hospital. As a mother their responsibility is to protect and ensure the child’s safety is their first priority. Tate Taylor uses a point of view shot on the wall in scene one which sows the picture of her son and a frame of Jesus Christ to enable the viewers to see how severe the issue about racism can lead to. The blacks are treated unfairly and the white society takes advantage of the situation by ensuring blacks would be their maid to do their dirty work. In scene two you see a mid and long shot was used on Aibileen and Mae Mobley. It allows the viewers to see the foreshadow between scene one and scene two when she loses her son, and comforting the baby girl she looks after. Tate Taylor suggests by using a lo ng shot on them shows the sense of loss Aibileen has experienced ascertain the idea of sympathy towards Aibileen. When problems become piled up one by one you start to realize the only way through it is standing up for yourself. In the get together party in scene three a few girls all had a reunion which we see Skeeter joining in. Hilly makes a racist remark on black people carrying  diseases which Aibileen can clearly hear from a distance. A point of view shot was used from Skeeter to Aibileen to see her reaction towards Hilly’s comment. This camera angle was used clearly to express the disappointment on Aibileen’s face and how racism can hurt others mentally and emotionally. As the scene went on the maids are at first reluctant to talk to Skeeter because the result of them losing their jobs and violence can affect their families. Aibileen was first to tell her stories which foreshadowed their way out to starting a new life. By the end of the film when Skeeter books are finally published, Aibileen loses her job and walks off. Tate Taylor uses an establishing shot while Aibileen walks off to indicate to the viewers that while she is leaving she is also starting a new life. This angle was used effectively to deliberately allow the viewers to see that a fresh new start is what Aibileen really needs. Dialogue gives the viewers a vital idea of decisions made by Aibileen. Dialogue is crucial because it provides us with tension and suspense to what is going to happen. Aibileen from the beginning in scene one knew she would become a maid. She saws â€Å"my mama was a maid; my grandmamma was a house slave†. Back in 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi the blacks ever want was fair treatment towards their society. Skeeter is used by Tate Taylor to provide the viewers the perspective of Aibileen as a black house maid. For many, blacks are afraid to stand up for what they believe in but Aibileen says to Hilly â€Å"All you do scare and lie to dry and get what you want: Hilly is used by the director to be the antagonist of the film and this quote by Aibileen shows the tension and anger that was bottled up inside Aibileen. â€Å"I aint never had no white person in my house† shows the contrast between both the white and the black society. Dialogue is very crucial for communication which allows the viewers to understand and critically know the situation in the film â€Å"The Help†. At the last scene of the film Hilly persuades Elizabeth to fire Aibileen as her housemaid. The quotes â€Å"My boy Trelaw said we gonna have a writer in the family on day, I guess it’s gonna be me† This establishes the struggles of Aibileen and portrays the idea that maybe one day she could retell the painful she experience she encountered as a housemaid. Dialogues show many views and angles and establish conflict and tension to effectively show a critical issue between Aibileen and the white society that surrounds her. In conclusion: Racism is an issue that still happens to this very day and is  something most people all have witnessed. Like the Film â€Å"The Help† racism has a big influence on people in our society we live in today and through dialogue and camera techniques, Tate Taylor uses it effectively to help communicate the struggles of Aibileen as an individual but with support and faith she overcomes the obstacles that society throws at her.

Frogs :: essays research papers fc

Frogs are needed for everyday life. They are part of pond life. Each animal is important because even in the pond, there is a food chain. Frogs are amphibians, animals that spend half of their lives under water, and remainder on land. The first frog appeared in the early Jurassic period about 200 million years ago.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Frogs live on every continent except Antarctica, but tropical regions have the largest amount. Like all amphibians, frogs spend half their lives near water because they must return to the water to lay their eggs. Frogs live underwater mostly when the are growing up to be an adult frog and when they are laying their eggs. When they hatch under water they are tadpoles and the breath with gills and swim using a tail. As they mature they loose their tail and they develop to be able to breathe air. During an extensive period of heat, a drought, frogs can enter a period of damancy similar to hibernation called starvation. Most of the frogs live in tropical and semitropical regions, most species of frogs breed in the spring or in early summer. Although the different species my vary in size and color, mostly all frogs have basic body structure. They have large hind legs, short front legs and flat head and body with no neck.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most frogs have teeth only on their upper jaw. Toads swallow their prey in one piece. To aid in the swallowing process, the frog’s eyes sink through the openings in the skull and force the food down its throat. Frogs eat insects, catching them with their long sticky tongue. They also eat small fish and worms. They also absorb concentrate to make them stronger, and toxins (poisonous substances) in their fatty tissues.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since the 1980’s scientists have noted the decline of many frog species. People do not know for certain what has caused these declines. A possible factor is pollution, disease, habitat destruction, and acid rain. Another factor may be the thinning of the earth’s protective ozone layer, which allows more harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun to reach the earth. Because frogs have thin, moist skin and an aquatic tadpole stage, they are easily affected by pollution and changes in the environment.