Teaching Students How to Write Essay -- English Writing Teacher Studen

Experience shapes us, randomness shapes us, the stars and weather, our own accommodations and rebellions, above all, the social order around us. Adrienne Rich, "Of a Women Born" My four-year old daughter now has the yearning to learn how to write. She scribbles illegible swirls, which she says is her story about a princess. She prints her name "Olivia" on books, magazines, and on her drawings. When she has a pen or crayon in hand she has an immediate urgency to write her name and where ever there is a flat surface she prints her name incorrectly. When I tell her there are not two "I"s in her name and attempt to show her the correct spelling, she throws her crayon in the air. What is essential and what I must remind myself is that at the moment, in her world, the spelling of her name is Oliia. When I hover over her shoulder as she scribbles, she stops writing. She feels inhibited, so now I resist teaching her writing. This is how I imagine many teachers feel when faced with a pile of essays written by high school students, which are streamed with grammatical errors and incoherent sentences. They feel apathy, as do many students, about writing. After reading t exts required for our composition theory class, I sympathize with students', teachers' and my daughter's frustration. Time is spent on error identification and what constitutes a finished piece, rather than on the potential of a piece of writing and the process of completing that piece. Time is not spent on how to create a "good" piece, or as Donald Murray describes, "rehearsal, drafting, revision and connecting." In a sense I could say Olivia is rehearsing the spelling of her name. It is no wonder she is throwing her crayon in the air, because I am correcting her versus ... ...se for Conflict." Contending with Words. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1991. 105-124. Kirsch, Jesa E. Ritcie, Joy S, "Beyond the Personal: Theorizing a Politics of Location in Composition Research." College Compositon and Communciation 46 (Feb. 1995):7-19. Murray, Donald M. A writer teaches writing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1968. Rich, Adrienne. Of Woman Born. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.1986. Royster, Jacqueline Jones. "When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own." College Composition and Communication 47.1(Feb.1996): 29-40. Welch, Nancy, "Revising a Writer's Identity:Reading and "Re-Modeling" in a Composition Classroom." College Composition and Communication. 47(Feb 1996):41-27. Zawacki, Terry Myers. "Recomposing as a Woman-An Essay in Different Voices." College Composition and Comunication 43(Feb.1992):32-38.

The Merchant Of Venice: Portias Suitors :: essays research papers

Compare and contrast Portia’s three suitors, examining their characters Shakespeare highlights three of Portia’s suitors, the Prince of Morocco, the Prince of Arragon and Bassanio. He does this to heighten dramatic tension, as these three men are the most important candidates to win Portia’s hand in marriage. They reveal the contents of the three caskets and their different characters as exposed as being proud, vain and humble. They also emphasise the racial prejudices of Venice a place where many races clash. Their attitudes towards the caskets and their choices indicate what their character is like. This essay will compare and contrast the three suitors and will explore how Shakespeare influences the audience’s attitudes towards the three men. The Prince of Morocco is the first suitor of the three suitors we are introduced to. His first line is, ‘Mislike me not for my complexion’ (Act II Scene i) He is anxious to compensate for the colour of his skin. He shows himself to be ashamed and insecure. However his character is proud because after he remarks on his skin colour he proceeds to defend it and boasts about himself, ‘ ...this aspect of mine/ Hath fear’d the valiant†¦The best regarded virgins of our clime/Have lov’d it too...’ (Act II Scene i) He challenges Portia to compare his blood with the whitest of men to see whose is the reddest. ‘Bring me the fairest creature†¦And let us make incision for your love/ To prove whose blood is reddest, or mine.’ (Act II Scene i) This would be a way to suggest that Morocco was as noble as any white man was because red blood signified courage and virility. A lot of emphasis is placed on Morocco’s skin colour. His long-winded speeches full of false and extravagant praise makes him sound insincere, ‘†¦all the world desires her; /From all corners of the earth they come,/ To kiss this shrine, this mortal breathing saint:’ (Act II Scene vii) In contrast his exit is short and dignified, in total disparity to his entrance and long speeches before choosing a casket. ‘†¦I have too griev’d a heart /To take a tedious leave: leave losers part.’ (Act II Scene vii) This indicates he does not easily accept defeat. He explains his thoughts on each of the caskets as he reads the inscriptions on them. He says the lead casket is not worth hazarding everything for and quickly dismisses it. When he comes to the silver casket he comments, The Merchant Of Venice: Portias Suitors :: essays research papers Compare and contrast Portia’s three suitors, examining their characters Shakespeare highlights three of Portia’s suitors, the Prince of Morocco, the Prince of Arragon and Bassanio. He does this to heighten dramatic tension, as these three men are the most important candidates to win Portia’s hand in marriage. They reveal the contents of the three caskets and their different characters as exposed as being proud, vain and humble. They also emphasise the racial prejudices of Venice a place where many races clash. Their attitudes towards the caskets and their choices indicate what their character is like. This essay will compare and contrast the three suitors and will explore how Shakespeare influences the audience’s attitudes towards the three men. The Prince of Morocco is the first suitor of the three suitors we are introduced to. His first line is, ‘Mislike me not for my complexion’ (Act II Scene i) He is anxious to compensate for the colour of his skin. He shows himself to be ashamed and insecure. However his character is proud because after he remarks on his skin colour he proceeds to defend it and boasts about himself, ‘ ...this aspect of mine/ Hath fear’d the valiant†¦The best regarded virgins of our clime/Have lov’d it too...’ (Act II Scene i) He challenges Portia to compare his blood with the whitest of men to see whose is the reddest. ‘Bring me the fairest creature†¦And let us make incision for your love/ To prove whose blood is reddest, or mine.’ (Act II Scene i) This would be a way to suggest that Morocco was as noble as any white man was because red blood signified courage and virility. A lot of emphasis is placed on Morocco’s skin colour. His long-winded speeches full of false and extravagant praise makes him sound insincere, ‘†¦all the world desires her; /From all corners of the earth they come,/ To kiss this shrine, this mortal breathing saint:’ (Act II Scene vii) In contrast his exit is short and dignified, in total disparity to his entrance and long speeches before choosing a casket. ‘†¦I have too griev’d a heart /To take a tedious leave: leave losers part.’ (Act II Scene vii) This indicates he does not easily accept defeat. He explains his thoughts on each of the caskets as he reads the inscriptions on them. He says the lead casket is not worth hazarding everything for and quickly dismisses it. When he comes to the silver casket he comments,

Smartphone Competition

Sizable market: Nowadays, more and more people tend to spend more time on telephone, from exhibit 1 we can see that each person almost spend 14 minutes on smart phones for playing games (Shane Richmond, 2012). What is more, 33% of people are playing games via smart phone and 25% people are playing games via handled devices (esa, 2012). These data indicates that more people prefer to play games on smart phones than other devices, and people are willing to spend more time on smart phones to play games.Especially, from the survey we can know that all respondents they hold smart phones, which means this market is extremely sizable based on the large users. What is more, Phantom Company is small company, which means that they do not have enough funds to create games on diverse devices, and they do not have sufficient resources and experts to create games on diverse devices. Therefore, smartphones can be the proper platform for Phantom Company to create games. Opportunistic market: Further more, if the company can focus on creating games on smart phones in Canada, the market size will be attractive.That’s because there are 10. 5 million smart phone users in Canada, the number of users may increase to 16. 4 million by 2016 (Innovation Report 2012 Trend Watch, 2012), and 60% of smart phone adults users prefer using cell phones to play games, which means that all of these user can be the potential target customers for Phantom Company. Especially, all of them are adults, they have purchasing power for the game apps, if the company can attract these people, and they can have lucrative market in the smart phone game industry. Profitable market:Based on the survey we can see that most respondents are willing to pay more money on quality games, especially most of them has purchasing power, therefore, as long as the games are attractive for these people, this smart phone market can be profitable. Competition: The smart phone game market is good news for customers, becau se it creats convenience, flexibility, and more entertainments for life. However, the fierce competition will put pressures on companies. Firstly, which brand Phantom should launch their phones. There are divers brands of phones in the arket, these brands possess diverse kinds of games on their phones, for example, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, HTC, Apple, Motorola, and RIM. The highest market share smartphone is Samsung, which is 26. 0%, and LG’s is 17. 7%, Apple occupy 17. 5%, Motorola is 10. 9% and HTC is 6. 2%( Eric Abent, 2012). This fact shows that Phantom should choose carefully for which brand to launch their games in order to game more people to play and have profitable market in the future. Secondly, the video game competition in Canada is fierce. There are currently 348 video game companies operating in Canada.The average Canadian Video Game Company employs 45 people, and there are more game companies in Ontario than other provinces, which mean that all of t hese companies are Phantoms’ direct competitors (Matt Hartley, 2011). Especially, there are lots of famous companies in Montreal, which means it will be tough for Phantom to compete with these mature video companies based on its scarcity of expert resources and innovation capabilities, and brand recognitions. Competitions during the industry: There are diverse competitors in the video game industry in Canada.There are three famous video game companies, where were listed top 10 video game companies in 2012. These companies are Toronto’s XMG Studio, Montreal’s Gamerizon, and Toronto’s Capybara Games (Knowlton Thomas, 2012). These companies are well-known companies that lead to high reliability and loyalty in the market. What is more, famous and big companies posse sufficient expert sources and innovation capabilities, which are the key successful factors for the video game companies. Especially, these companies have sophisticated experiences on developing m obile games in the past.Subsequently, these company posse diverse advantages, which Phantom needs and lacks. In addition, more and small companies are established these days in Canada, they are also competing with Phantom now. They may have similar capabilities with Phantom, or they may have more funds than Phantom to develop more innovative games than Phantom. These companies also threaten to Phantom’s future. Appendixes: Exhibit 1: Source: Shane Richmond, 2012 http://www. telegraph. co. uk/technology/mobile-phones/9365085/Smartphones-hardly-used-for-calls. html References Shane Richmond, June 29, 2012.Smartphones hardly used for calls. Retrieve on November 8, 2012 from: http://www. telegraph. co. uk/technology/mobile-phones/9365085/Smartphones-hardly-used-for-calls. html esa, 2012. Game player data. Retrieve on November 8, 2012 from: http://www. theesa. com/facts/gameplayer. asp Innovation Report 2012 Trend Watch, August 2012. Retrieve on November 18, 2012 from: http://www. newmediatrendwatch. com/markets-by-country/11-long-haul/45-canada? start=2 Eric Abent, November 2012. Comscore deliver mobile market share report for September 2012. Retrieve on November 8, 2012 from: http://androidcommunity. om/comscore-delivers-mobile-market-share-report-for-september-2012-20121102/ Matt Hartley, May, 2011. Canada’s gaming industry is kicking  butt. Retrieve on November 18, 2012 from: http://business. financialpost. com/2011/05/30/canadas-home-grown-video-game-industry-shines-on-international-stage/ Knowlton Thomas, March 30, 2012. Three Canadian Companies Named in Worldwide List of Top 10 Mobile Game Developers to Watch in 2012. Retrieve on November 18, 2012 from: http://www. techvibes. com/blog/three-canadian-companies-named-in-worldwide-list-of-top-10-mobile-game-developers-to-watch-in-2012-2012-03-01

Fiction and Brother Leon Brought Essay

A Wife  is a story written by  Manuel Arguilla  about a man who comes home to his province to introduce his wife from the city to his family. This short story won first prize in the Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940. Baldo  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ younger brother of Leon, fetched Leon and Maria from the road to Nagrebcan * Leon (or Noel)  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ older brother of Baldo who studied in Manila where he met his wife * Maria  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the beautiful and stunning wife of Leon from Manila * Labang  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the bull whom Baldo considers as his â€Å"pet† * Norman Tabios  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Maria’s ex-boyfriend who happened to be a loro * Gagambino  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Leon’s favorite fictional character who gave him lots of guts to study in Manila * Churita  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Labang’s girlfriend/fiance Baldo and his older brother Leon were both waiting for the arrival of their visitor riding the carretela. Seeing his brother’s wife, Baldo was easily taken away by the beauty of the woman from city as he narrates their journey to Nagrebcan. The idea of meeting with Leon’s parents for the first time made Maria a bit anxious. But along their way home, Maria discovered the peculiarities of the life in Nagrebcan as opposed to their life in the city where she met and fell in love with Leon. Summary: Exposition: Maria was the first one introduced in the story – the wife of the main character Leon. She first noticed Baldo, the brother of Leon; then Labang was introduced, the family bull. Complication: On the way, Maria expressed her fear – that their father might not like her. Conflict: Leon explained to Maria that their father is the mildest-tempered, gentlest man he knew. Climax: When they got home, their father did not welcome them. He was said to be in his room; â€Å"his leg is bothering him again. † Baldo saw his mother and sister Aurelia and Maria in the kitchen who seemed like crying. His father removed the roll of tobacco in his mouth when he saw Baldo and started†¦ [continues] â€Å"How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife,† is a short story written by the highly acclaimed Filipino writer Manuel Arguilla. This award-winning story is a long-standing favorite in Philippine literature. To examine this piece, the author’s background must first be considered. Formalistic, historical, and sociological approaches can also be utilized to analyze the story further. Prominent symbols and their interpretations will also be discussed. About Manuel Arguilla Manuel Arguilla was born to Crisanto Arguilla and Margarita Estabillo in Barrio Nagrebcan in Bauang, La Union on June 17, 1911. The Arguillas were a humble, hard-working family who farmed the small piece of land they owned to make a living. In school, Manuel was a sharp student who showed promise of being a brilliant writer at an early age. He graduated as salutatorian of his high school and then left La Union to study at the University of Philippines, where he would eventually earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Education. Around the same time, he married fellow writer, Lydia Villanueva, and moved to Ermita, Manila. After college, he worked at the Bureau of Public Welfare and taught at the University of Manila. After working at the bureau for a few years, Arguilla was selected   to be the managing editor of The Welfare Advocate, the business’ newsletter. He served at the Bureau until 1943, when he was appointed to the Board of Censors. During this time, he was working at a Japanese propaganda agency and also as an agent of the Markings’ Guerillas, an anti-Japanese rebel movement. In 1944, the Japanese discovered Arguilla’s disloyalty and arrested him.

Lithuanian Footwear Manufacturing Industry Analysis According to Porter‘S Five Forces

Lithuanian Footwear Manufacturing Industry Analysis According to Porter‘s Five Forces Introduction For all times footwear has been a basic necessity and just recently it has become a matter of fashion and prestige, thus making huge changes in footwear industry: it expanded and became well differentiated. Therefore, in order to perform and compete effectively, companies have to analyze their external environment. This paper will concentrate on Porter’s five forces that shape competition in Lithuanian footwear com/chapter-practice/">manufacturing industry. Rivalry A decade ago there were much more footwear manufacturers in Lithuania.However, right after Lithuania joined the European Union, footwear imports from China to the European Union increased eight times. It caused huge profit losses for Lithuania’s footwear manufacturers and many of them withdrew from the market. Today there are two main footwear manufacturers UAB â€Å"Sabalin† and UAB â€Å"Lituanic a†, a few smaller manufacturers such as UAB â€Å"Paliutis† and UAB â€Å"Evenida† and there are also some individual businesses which do not mass-produce but manufacture shoes just for individual orders. As we can see there are not many Lithuanian companies but their competition creates the rivalry a positive sum.The largest companies UAB â€Å"Sabalin† and UAB â€Å"Lituanica† produce leather shoes for the whole family and export most of their production to other European countries, especially to Great Britain, Latvia and Finland (http://www. lituanica. info/m93-1. html, http://www. visalietuva. lt/imones/info/sabalin-uab). Smaller manufacturers concentrate on specific footwear production such as boots and working shoes or take orders from Lithuania’s companies and produce big quantities of specific safety shoes or shoes which are part of employees’ uniform.Footwear manufacturing usually is not their only scope so when they have hard times in shoes manufacturing, they concentrate on other fields. For example UAB â€Å"Paliutis† produces not only boots but also other rubber and plastic production (http://avalyne. paliutis. lt/index. php), UAB â€Å"Arnesima† produces safety working shoes and, in addition, they offer safety gloves, waterproof clothes and etc (http://www. arnesima. lt/). Individual businesses do not have a great demand because Lithuanians prefer custom boots just for ery important occasions, for example, weddings or when the foot is not standard and they cannot find suitable shoes in shoe stores. However, the main competitors for footwear manufacturers in Lithuania are Chinese footwear producers. According to UAB â€Å"Lituanica† director D. Keltuva, just the leather they use for a pair of shoes costs the same as the finished Chinese pair of shoes. To become more competitive, Lithuanian manufacturers cut their prices; however, it was impossible to become equivalent competitors because Chinese labor force was far and away cheaper.Besides, young to middle-age Lithuanians are concerned about fashion and prestige so Lithuanian manufacturers are unable to compete with designers’ shoes or well known brands. UAB â€Å"Sabalin† director Regina Arcisauskaite claims that her manufactory orients to segments from middle to high prices and to middle class people; however, this company does not aim for luxurious or fashionable products’ segment. New entrants Recently not a single bigger footwear manufacturing business has been started. The main reason is the economic recession, which has caused the decrease in footwear sales.Another reason is still huge competition from China. However, today shoe shops â€Å"Lietuviska avalyne† and â€Å"Dolita† report that sales in Lithuania are constantly increasing and people, especially elder ones, prefer more expensive, but quality Lithuanian shoes from natural leather and fur. Besides, Lithuani ans have turned back to small boutique shops and prefer shopping in places which offer unique products and comfortable surroundings. This probably will cause an increase in number of small shops, run by small businesses owners or new entrants who will be willing to fill this niche.Lithuania’s government policy is favorable to new entrants and offers a lot of ways to start a new company. The main requirements for new business entrants are quite high government taxes and the initial capital in some cases. However, new entrants face one huge barrier to entry. Most Lithuanians do not trust Lithuanian production; they do not think about the quality and price and choose fashionable foreign footwear. Moreover, incumbents have already survived through Chinese invasion and recession so they have a lot of experience.As soon as the newcomers face the first difficulties they might get lost and go bankrupt just like many other Lithuanian footwear manufacturers did five years ago. This mig ht discourage them from entering this market. One more important barrier is that in order to open a new footwear manufactory a huge amount of initial capital is needed. New entrants need new premises, inventories and qualified employees. This may also deter a lot of newcomers from entering this market. Substitutes Shoe market in Lithuania is tremendous.You can see shoe shops everywhere and shoes in various styles, colors, designs and prices are brought there from a lot of different countries. There are a lot of other shoe stores which offer quality footwear. These shops gain advantage because customers are exposed to a great choice, meanwhile people can merely see Lithuanian shoe shops in shopping centers or in the streets. Moreover, Lithuania’s youth tends to wear mainly sports shoes and frequently replace them with new ones. They wear them both in summer and in winter, so they are not looking for quality and long lasting shoes which are rather expensive.In this age of new t echnologies another substitute is available for everyone – online shops or eBay. Lithuanians find it cheaper to order something from overseas than to buy it in local shops. This phenomenon is also applicable to footwear. Most of the online shops have return policies so people are not afraid to buy and, if it is necessary, to change the item. Finally, parents tend to buy footwear for their children in second-hand shops. They see no need to spend huge amounts on shoes when their child’s feet are constantly growing. The same trend is seen among elder people.Pensions in Lithuania are relatively low so the pensioners cannot afford new quality shoes. Therefore, they go to second-hand shops where they can find almost new and really quality foreign footwear; they even can find branded shoes in very good condition. Since the price is still a very important factor in choosing shoes, nowadays most Lithuanians try to find substitutes which could offer suitable quality and price ra tio. Power of suppliers Today Lithuanian footwear manufacturers buy raw materials mainly from Lithuanian companies, for example, leather processing companies AB â€Å"Siauliu Stumbras† and UAB â€Å"Naturali oda. There is a great variety of available leather and other raw material suppliers in Europe so footwear manufacturers are not dramatically dependent on their suppliers and can easily switch their suppliers since switching costs are low. However, leather processing companies depend on economic situation and cattle ranches. The manager of leather processing company â€Å"TDL Oda† Vidmantas Simkus explains that when economic crisis occurred, the demand for meat decreased thus the number of grown cattle also decreased.It resulted in lack of raw leather material last year and was the reason for double increase in price. Respectively, Lithuanian footwear manufacturers had to buy more expensive raw materials, their product prices increased and they became less competit ive in shoes market. Besides, footwear manufacturers are not the only ones who use leather for their production. Coats, gloves, hats, handbags and some bijouterie are made from leather so leather processing companies have some power to choose whom to sell their production to and in this way to raise the prices. Power of buyersFootwear is necessary for every person so they cannot avoid buying shoes. However, they can choose where and what kind of shoes to buy. Generally, in footwear industry buyers do not have a lot of power, but in Lithuania their power is significant. Since there is great variety of imported shoes and just a few Lithuanian footwear shops, the buyers’ choices determine which shoe shops (and thus which manufacturers) will survive. There are very few shops in Lithuania which sell both foreign and Lithuanian footwear; Lithuanian footwear is sold mostly in special stores.Since Lithuanians do not trust Lithuanian production, their preference might cause bankruptcy for some shops. It would mean that Lithuanian footwear would be sold just outside the country. Individual businesses owners are greatly dependent on the buyers because they are their main customers and if they are not willing to pay for original custom shoes, these businesses are sure to face a lot of difficulties. On the other hand, Lithuanian footwear in export countries has a lot of loyal customers who recognize products’ quality and reasonable price.UAB â€Å"Lituanica† director Kestuts Deltuva says that their sales abroad are constantly increasing and they have a lot of new orders and now they are having a very busy season. Conclusion All things considered, Lithuanian footwear manufacturing industry is full of opportunities. Rivalry among Lithuanian footwear producers is rather weak. Since they do not intensively compete in Lithuania’s shoes market, it creates some opportunities for new entrants. This industry is open for new entrants who should consider d ifferent strategic plans and try to meet the demand for both quality and fashionable footwear in Lithuania.The main problem that Lithuanian footwear manufacturers face is a great variety of substitutes: shoes of different brands, styles and origin are easily accessible, and also different places and ways of acquisition are available. Suppliers do not have significant power; however, buyers are the main force which determines which companies will survive in Lithuanian footwear manufacturing industry. References June 27, 2005. Avalynes gamintojai siekia ES apsaugos. Retrieved from http://www. zebra. lt/lt/naujienos/verslas/avalynes-gamintojai-siekia-es-apsaugos-72238. html June 2010.Footwear Industry Profile: Europe. Industry overview. Retrieved from Business Source Complete Inciuriene, Sigita. November, 2010. Vidmantas Simkus: Man geriausia Siauliuose. Retrieved from http://lics-siauliai. lt/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Mes-Siaulieciai-Nr61. pdf August 29, 2005. Kinu batsiuviai verzia kilpa Lietuvos avalynes gamintojams. Retrieved from http://www. verslobanga. lt/lt/spaudai. full/4312ada8d1f1a October 18, 2010. Lietuvos batsiuviai be batu nelieka. Retrieved from http://www. verslozinios. lt/index. php? act=mprasa&sub=article&id=26957

Should You Explain a Bad Grade When Applying to College?

As most college-bound students know, the college application is a space for showing off. You want to put your absolute best foot forward to wow those college admissions committees. Sometimes, though, there are less than flattering aspects of your application that you simply can’t avoid. If you have received a less than stellar grade, you might be wondering how you should address it on your college application. If it’s on your transcript, it’s something that you definitely can’t hide. So, what should you do? In this post we’ll discuss the various scenarios in which you might explain a bad grade, and how you can go about doing so. If you’re wondering what to do about a blemish on your transcript, don’t miss our advice. It’s appropriate to address a bad grade on your transcript in a few different scenarios, but the common thread in each is that there is a perfectly good explanation for your bad grade. You may be a conscientious, hard working, intelligent student, but even the most perfect student might sometimes get a bad grade under extenuating circumstances. For example, if you went through significant personal changes, a family emergency, or another unavoidable event that had an impact on your academic work, you will definitely want to explain what happened. This includes things like a serious illness, the death of a family member, moving to a new school, or a similar, unavoidable event. Keep in mind that if you want to explain a bad grade and have your explanation bear any weight, it needs to be significantly different from your normal performance. If you have received a series of grades in the range of B- and C+, explaining a C or a C- won’t affect your application much. Instead, the bad grade or grades need to significantly differ from the grades you normally achieve. Explaining a C or C- will be much easier if you normally pull a perfect GPA. At the same time, the grades you’re explaining need to be an isolated event. If you get perfect grades during freshman year and then get sick during your sophomore year and get all Cs during the second semester, you’ll only be able to explain them if your grades go back up after your illness passes. If your blemish falls towards the end of your transcript and you don’t have time for it to reflect an improvement, you might even explain that you are now back on track and that the admissions committee can expect to see improvement on your second semester grades. If your grades suffer significantly due to an unavoidable event, and you are able to recover afterwards, there is a good chance that an admissions committee will be sympathetic to your explanation. Estimating your chance of getting into a college is not easy in today’s competitive environment. Thankfully, with our state-of-the-art software and data, we can analyze your academic and extracurricular profile and estimate your chances. Our profile analysis tool can also help you identify the improvement you need to make to enter your dream school. It’s important to remember that admissions committees literally see thousands of applications and they are familiar with a broad variety of personal circumstances. If your circumstances are not likely to stand out as extenuating or unusual, there’s no need to explain a bad grade. Sometimes they just happen, and trying to explain it as though it’s not your fault may come off as an unwillingness to accept personal responsibility. For example, if you normally receive grades in the B-range but during your junior year you fell in with the wrong crowd, put less time into studying, and got some grades in the lower-C range, you don’t have a very good excuse for the blemish on your transcript. Rather than trying to explain it, you should let your performance speak for itself and work extra hard to hit higher grades during your senior year. Similarly, there’s no reason to explain grades that aren’t significantly different from your normal achievements. If you are used to getting all Bs, but then get the flu and get an B- in geometry your sophomore year, the admissions committee probably doesn’t need to hear about it. After all, the grade is not much different from your usual performance, and getting the flu isn’t exactly a unique scenario to face in high school. If you are wondering if you should explain a bad grade on your transcript, ask yourself these questions first: If the answer to any of these questions is no, think carefully before explaining the blemish on your transcript. You may want to discuss your decision with a guidance counselor or teacher first to gain some more perspective. Don’t use your personal essay to explain a bad grade unless there is another reason for doing so. For example, if you experienced a traumatic car accident during your junior year and your grades suffered because of it, you should only discuss it in your personal statement if it was also personally significant in other ways. If you grew as a person, learned about yourself, or developed new perspective, you might address the accident in your personal essay. Then, your discussion of its impact on your grades has more context in the bigger picture. On the other hand, if the only reason you are addressing the accident on your application is because of its impact on your grades, you should include this elsewhere. There are probably more important things you could discuss in your personal statement. Instead, it’s usually best to address the extenuating circumstances behind a poor grade in the â€Å"Additional Information† part of your application.

Censorship and Shock Jocks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Censorship and Shock Jocks - Essay Example Howard Stern has said, "It is pretty shocking that governmental interference into our rights and free speech takes place in the U.S., ... It's hard to reconcile this with the 'land of the free' and the 'home of the brave.' "2 Apparently many times callers have tried to get Howard Stern's show censored by the FCC. According to the FCC, "[callers who complain] stating only that the objectionable programming 'discussed sex' or had a 'disgusting discussion of sex' is not sufficient. Moreover, the FCC must know the context when analyzing whether specific, isolated words or images are obscene, indecent, or profane."3 Many times, Howard Stern has had people on his show who are on the fringes of society, including porn stars, hookers, wrestling personalities, politicians, and all kinds of people from various sectors of the American landscape. He prides himself on his show being one of the most controversial there is. Howard Stern's language has apparently not only been a bane to the FCC in the past, but also in the present. The FCC has long challenged many of Howard Stern's statements as being profane or obscene or indecent in nature. Truly, these kinds of shows are not meant to offend intentionally-or, perhaps they are. But the basic point of these kinds of shows is that they force people to think and reevaluate their concepts and notions of right and wrong. Radio persIn that regard, Howard Stern continues to push the envelope as a shock jock. He continually makes comments that are rude, crass, and otherwise disgusting-all in the name of entertainment. Howard Stern does this mainly to entertain-and shock-his listeners. He is known for saying outrageous things. Howard Stern flies in the face of modern radio broadcasting. His foul mouth, his daring attitude, and not-so-subtle displays of affection on his show have shocked and offended many, perhaps. However, what makes Howard Stern appealing as an artist is the very fact that he does shock his listeners. If it weren't for that added touch, he wouldn't be as special as other radio personalities. Radio personalities such as Howard Stern should not be censored because their