Writing for Professional Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Writing for Professional Practice - Essay Example This has resulted in the development of media and scientific literacies. While in the globalized world technologies spread at rapid pace, there are still over 860 million adults that are illiterate. Additionally, nearly 100 million lack access to school. The importance of literacy within contemporary society has not gone unnoticed. The United Nations has declared 2003-2012 the decade of Literacy as Freedom. The notion of literacy is witnessed in a variety of ways. This essay considers the various freedoms literacy offers in a globalized society. Analysis Considered from an overarching perspective literacy has been recognized as contributing to freedom in a variety of ways. An examination of literature on the subject of literacy freedom demonstrates thematic nodes. Many theorists have focused on literacy in terms of empowerment, including women’s right freedoms or emerging nations (Freire 2000; Freire 2005; Dighe 1994). Still, it’s clear that literacy extends to freedoms that relate to all elements of society. One freedom literacy affords individuals and populations is security. Indeed, insecurity has been prominently linked to illiteracy. This term is extended to insecurity in a variety of avenues. Not being able to read and write is a tremendously anxiety producing experience, as individuals fear social stigmatization, ridicule, or a variety of other conditions. While there is the potential that something awful may happen to an individual that is illiterate, Knobel (1999, p. 20) indicates that the very state of being illiterate is indicative of something terrible having happened. In many ways this perspective on literacy as granting the individual the freedom of mental and emotional help is not restricted to populations in Western societies, but can be extended globally, particularly in the emerging world. Bhasin (1984, p. 37) examined literacy in India. Specifically, she examined the construction and development of an educational institute named the Pratichi Trust. The study revealed that over time the girl’s that were admitted to the institute quickly gained the literacy skills of their male counterparts; in this way literacy afforded the freedom of gender equality. Gender equality, however, wasn’t the only freedom gained through this literacy. The study notes that soon the parents became involved and it encouraged a greater degree of community involvement and harmony. In Development As Freedom, Amartya Sen advances a framework that considers the relation between literacy and freedom (Sen 2000). The consideration of this framework reveals a number of prominent ways that literacy offers freedom in a globalized society. One of the central thorough-puts of Sen’s framework is the recognition that literacy often contributes to opportunities and options. The consideration in this way is that literacy must be considered in terms of development. This development extends to personal and professional modes and comprehensively influences the individual’s existence. Rather than specifically considering the way that literacy contributes to freedoms or the avoidance of unfreedoms, there is an emphasis on the social structures that the individual must navigate. The argument then is that development in literacy allows the individual the skills necessary for this navigation. Sen (2000, p. 284) writesn, â€Å"A child who is denied the opportunity of elementary schooling is not only deprived as a youngster, but also handicapped all through life (as a person unable to do certain basic things that rely on reading, writ- ing and arithmetic).† While Sen recognizes there are considerable freedoms that are achieved through literacy, perhaps even more important is the recognitio

Argument 3 History of 1650 - 1850 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Argument 3 History of 1650 - 1850 - Essay Example As history has it, she went through a period of struggles and hardships before she became a sovereign state which could conduct its business at its own bidding. This paper spans the history of America between 1650 and 1850. This period was marked by United States of America’s worst and best of times. The American Indians, sometimes referred to as the Red Indians, were the indigenous inhabitants of the present United States of America. The term Red Indians comes from their culture of painting their faces red when they were going for war. The Indians were a peaceful people, who cherished their family ties. They were also very prayerful and creative. Their life was led in solitude, like they belonged in their own world. Nature was foremost in their priority since they revered it and saw it as a gift from their gods. In the period between 1539 and 1542, the Spaniards attacked the Indians. There were about 600 Spaniards led by Hernando de Soto. They went about the south eastern par t of what is known today as the United States of America, killing, raping and making slaves of the Indians. There were a lot of retaliatory attacks from the Indians who were always suspicious of the Spaniards’ visits. ... Twenty two of their men died and scores others sustained arrow wounds which were fatal. Not spared in the conflict were their horses which either died or were injured such that they were no longer useful in combat. Some Indians even resorted to hanging themselves instead of falling into the hands of the Spaniards. The coming of the Europeans brought with it a lot of upheavals in the calm Indians’ way of life. The discovery of America opened the Pandora’s Box which led to the invasion of America. This invasion paved way for the forced relocation of the America Indians. The American Indians were a people who were so passionate about their culture and way of life. Therefore, they did not take the European’s actions kindly. Wars were fought and blood was shed in a bid to defend their heritage. Most of them died in these battles as they were attacked with all manner of weapons, even biological. Small pox, measles and other virus were released among them and this incre ased their death them toll. A number of them eventually sided with the Europeans but others chose to relocate to the West of the country. This was especially driven by Andrew Jackson’s Removal Act of 1830. The American Indians eventually gained the respect and recognition that had for along time been denied to them. Museums have since been constructed to preserve their history and as tribute to a great people who first rebelled against foreign occupation. The American Indian struggle is just the first of many more struggles for freedom that were to follow throughout the American history. America’s walk to freedom was never an easy one right from these old times. The Indians were dominated upon, they were made to suffer before the final freedom was achieved.