Everything your American history textbook got wrong Essay

During my period of time that I had to read this very persuasive book into believing that you’re casual every day period of History class is basically nothing but a waste of time if not taught in the correct context. Which would include the good, the bad, and the all in between of the subject of that person or situation in history that would be important enough for generations to come to know and remember about in all its entirety. This book also includes how Americans have lost their touch with their history, and in this thought-stimulating book, James Loewen shows just why. After surveying twelve leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one of them does a decent or even good enough job of making history interesting or memorable. Flawed by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless hopefulness, upright misinformation, and outright lies, these books leave out almost all the uncertainty, passion, conflict, and drama from our past. In ten powerful chapters, Loewen reveals that: Surely textbooks should include some people based on not only what they achieved but also on the distance they traversed to achieve it, as written in page 9 of chapter 1. Also in chapter one mainly in page 17, Woodrow Wilson, known as a progressive leader, was in fact a white supremacist who personally vetoed a clause on racial equality in the Covenant of the League of Nations. James also had written that â€Å"Woodrow Wilson’s administration was openly hostile to black people†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Wilson was not only anti-black†. To the history in chapter 4 page 116, about the truth of native Americans, â€Å" Six of the twelve histories I studies avoid this clichà © of Indian naitives about land ownership†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦several of them even point out that the problem lay in whites not abiding by accepting concepts of land ownership.† From the truth about Columbus’s historical voyages to an honest evaluation of our national leaders in chapter 8 page 230, Loewen revives our history, restoring to it the vitality and relevance it truly possesses. In the book, Loewen covers: faulty heroic personification of false heroes vs. th e lowering worth of America’s real heroes; the need to reference primary sources; our country’s forward moving belief which tends to ignore historical foreshadowing; the importance of students to think for themselves and question important events in history; and the ruin that the textbook industry has turned into. As you can see, there is a lot covered here, and this isn’t any of the lies. As I said, there is a lot explained in this book about why each historic lie was established. There is a point in the book where Loewen refers to a passage from 1984. In 1984, George Orwell says, â€Å"†¦he who controls the present controls the past.† When Loewen refers to this quote, he is referring to the upper class and whites controlling the educational system and textbook publishing. I believe there could’ve been a better use for this quote. While it may be true that most history textbooks bend or throw shade history in favor of the upper class or whites, I am deciding to use this particular quote in another fashion. â€Å"Who controls the present controls the past.† That, my friends, should be a charge; a mission directed at all those in the history teaching profession. Take control of the knowledge dispersed in your classrooms (the present) and teach the correct past. Discard the provided textbooks (not really ofcourse) and teach what you know should be taught. Allow yourself to step out of your teaching comfort zone. I have a teacher (not going to say anyone’s name) that likes to grill his students to push their knowledge on all that pertaining to the subject that we speak on, that teacher was never afraid to put his neck out to stir up discussion in the classroom. Worst case scenario, a question would arise that the teacher did not know the answer to and he would simply say, â€Å"I will look into it.† He wasn’t afraid to show he wasn’t all-knowing. Loewen’s book has a great underlying theme: that children should be taught that history is not restricted, and that possibilities should be discussed to further rational skills and to promote an understanding of our nation’s history. But I wish he had gone the extra step and challenged history teachers. I would recommend this book to anyone who like to read history and more on going in dept. While an appreciation for history would certainly make this book more enjoyable, it is an optional read either way. For real this book criticizes the way history is presented in current textbooks, and suggests a fresh and more accurate approach to teaching American history. This is a real eye-opener to anyone who thinks they learned about U.S. history in high school. Loewen spent eleven years reviewing the 12 most commonly-used U.S. history textbooks and found all to be seriously wanting. Textbook publishers want to avoid controversy (so, apparently, do many school systems), so they feed students a white-washed, non- controversial, over-simplified version of this country’s history and its most important historical parts. To make his point, Loewen emphasizes the â€Å"dark side† of U.S. history, because that’s the part that’s missing from our education system. So, for example, we never learned that Woodrow Wilson ran one of the most racist administrations in history and helped to set back progress in race relations that had begun after the Civil War. Helen Keller’s socialist leanings and political views are over-looked and we only learn that she overcame blindness and deafness. John Brown is portrayed as a wild-eyed nut who ran amok until he was caught and hanged, rather than an eloquent and dedicated abolitionist who uttered many of the same words and thoughts that Lincoln later expressed. Loewen’s book vividly illustrates the maxim that â€Å"those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.† Ignorance of our real history also renders us incapable of fully understanding the present and coming to grips with the issues of our time. For example, from the Civil War until around 1890, real racial progress was underway in the United States and civil rights laws were Federally enforced in the South. The military was integrated and former slaves had the right to vote, serve on juries and as witnesses in trials, own property and operate businesses. They also received mandatory public education, which was automatically extended to white children for the first time in the south. But, between 1890 and 1920, the Feds gradually disengaged and allowed southern racist governments to strip these rights from blacks and relegate them to virtual non-citizenship. Only within the last half-century has that policy been gradually reversed, again through Federal intervention. This history casts current racial attitudes and issues in a different light than most of our high school students are likely to see unless they are taught the complete history of their country. It is clear that Loewen is not out to bash the United States or offer up an equally one-sided, negative version of its history. He gives a balanced account of many of the figures whose weaknesses he exposes. Thus, we learn that, although Columbus was an unimaginative fortune hunter, a racist tyrant and slave trader, he (and Spain) were not much different than most people at the time. He points out that all societies, including Native Americans and Africans, kept slaves and that it is unfair to single out Columbus as singularly evil. The problem is that kids never learn both sides of these stories, so history becomes a bland repetition of non-opposing â€Å"events† that appear to have or had no vague causes. Historical events are not related to issues that people disputed or serious conflicts that placed them at irreversible odds with one another, the very stuff that drives history. No wonder kids are bored and uninterested. They are left with the distorted impression that, down deep, the United States always means well and, in the end, is always â€Å"right.† Loewen has presented fair accounts of key events in our history and indicated why our high school students know and care so little about it. He also suggests ways to correct this serious shortcoming that every American should give a round of applause to.

Individual Case Analysis FunTime Snacks, Inc Study

Individual Analysis FunTime Snacks, Inc - Case Study Example As things stand, the management confusedly uses e-mail, internal memo, and the company newsletter for any form of communication. In addition, the company faces uniform pricing and procurement issues which have led to some branches being profitable while others are struggling to remain in business (Crase, OKeefe and Dollery 427). And in an attempt to improve its competitive edge, Albanese and her team of executives have not properly handled the change management process. As the result, the real obstacles to change are from within the organization. After analyzing the potential positive impacts of a centralized financial reporting system, Albanese proposed functional centralization of decision-making process whereby the subsidiaries would remain in their decentralized, working locations but seek approvals from the head office when making major business decisions. For instance, significant changes of commodity prices by more than 5% and any supplies exceeding $10,000 required such reporting. On the one hand, Albanese sought to: a) limit unnecessary procurement costs and poor pricing by standardizing the processes; b) create uniformity in the business processes and uplift poorly performing branches; c) enforce a culture of personal leadership of the Chief Executive, the Chief Financial Officer and the Corporate Director of Supplier-Retailer Relationships; d) create flexibility in the organization’s business activities; e) improve quality of services by steering the company out of illegal survival tactics by some of its branches, and; lastly, f) better coordination between the headquarters and the branches in order to facilitate faster responses to market changes due to inflation and stiff competition from market rivals. Despite these brilliant centralization ideas, Fun Time Snacks would face the following challenges; a) delay in 60% of business processes whose

Kernel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Kernel - Essay Example omposed of four basic elements which include; a scheduler which functions to sharing and processing time of various computer processes; a supervisor which grants permission to every process as it is scheduled; interrupt handler for handling of requests from computer hard disk components and memory manager for allocating system space Kernel’s services. Most five popular distributions of Kernel Linux include; Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Debian and Linux Mint. Subsequently, there are numerous shell distributions that are available for kernel, among this include, sh, bash and tcsh. (Bovet & Cesati, 2005) For every command that has been entered in the shell, the fork mechanism searches the computer’s directories using the search path within the computer’s PATH location, after which it is loaded and executed. For fast command entry, bash shell has three features, history, filename completion and aliases. The alias feature shortens lengthy commands, for instance When using several commands in bash, it is essential that alias definitions be made permanent so that the user’s source file will be executed by all login shells. This requires one to replace alias definitions in $HOME/.bash_alias with

Financial Analysis on Nokia from 2008 to 2009 Research Paper

Financial Analysis on Nokia from 2008 to 2009 - Research Paper Example The Working Capital ratios indicate how well the company is able to manage its working capital. "The asset management ratios are also known as working capital ratios or the efficiency ratios. The aim is to measure how effectively the firm is managing its assets." (Netcom, n.d.)The following are some of the working capital ratios which indicate the efficiency of the company in managing its working capital. Liquidity ratio is defined "as a class of financial metrics that are used to determine a company's ability to pay off its short-term debts obligations.Generally, the higher the value of the ratio, the larger is the margin of safety that the company possesses to cover short-term debts." (Investopedia, 2009) The above table indicates that the company has efficiently managed its working capital during the year ending September 2009 as compared to the year 2008. Nokia is maintaining a comfortable current ratio and the current ratio of 1.5 implies that the company has sufficient current assets situation which will enable the company to meet its current liabilities without any problem. However, the company has increased its long-term debts during the year 2009 with the result that there is an increase in this ratio. This implies that the company will incur additional interest costs on borrowed funds. The cash flow to debts situation has therefore moved to an adverse situation in 2009 as co mpared to the earlier year. In 2008 the cash flow position of the company was comfortable enough to settle the short-term and long-term debts in just 7 months. Whereas, with the increase in long-term debts and the cash flow from operations it would take approximately 3.8 years for the company to settle the debts. This is not a good position from the equity shareholders' point of view. However, the purpose for which the long-term funds were mobilized is to be ascertained for a proper justification for the increase in debts. The number of days sales outstanding is another working capital ratio that indicates the efficiency of the working capital management of the company. This ratio has changed from the previous year figure of 70 days to 83 days. This implies that the company has not been able to collect the outstanding accounts receivable as efficiently as it was doing in 2008. However, the increase in credit sales might be another reason for the change in this ratio. When the company has offered more liberal credit terms to its distributors and dealers in order to boost its sales, that situation might have resulted in increased debtors and the consequent increase in the number of days sales outstanding. A weaker sales environment is indicated by the increase in the number of days inventory expressed as a ratio to the cost of goods sold. There is an accumulation of inventory due to lower sales which is indicated by the change in this ratio. Â  

Land Power Versus Sea Power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Land Power Versus Sea Power - Essay Example This dichotomy has not been limited to the perspectives of the Anglo-Americans on hegemonic power. Alexander Dugin, the geopolitical theorist from Russia, argued that this was core to international conflict, contending that these positions are the basis of cultural differences that will be in conflict all the time. This paper aims to discuss the two concepts and show whether they are relevant or obsolete in international relations. Mahan’s idea contends that the potency of a nation is dependent on unobstructed access to the sea in order to conduct trade. His interpretation of sea power was the total of factors and forces, geographical circumstances and tools, operated to attain sea command and secure it from enemies (Gray, 2009). In Mahan’s formulation, sea power included colonies, shipping, and domestic production. America, he said, had to build and maintain a massive combat navy to be fuelled by coal stations in the colonies. His argument was on the basis that the Uni ted States should become internationally competitive for the protection of itself. Mahan articulated ideas on sea power importance and the desire to see an expansionist philosophy for the American nation. Mackinder, on the other hand, extended his land power theory. He said the land surface could be subdivided into various parts. One was the world island that included Africa, Asia, and Europe interlinked together. This combination was the richest, most populous, and largest of them all (Kennedy, 2004). Another part was the offshore islands which included the Japanese and British Islands. Finally, he identified the outlying islands such as Australia, South America, and North America. It was the heartland which he saw as lying at the centre of the island of the world, extending from the arctic to the Himalayas and from the Yangtze to the Volga. During his era, the heartland was that controlled by the empire of Russia, later by the Soviets without the Vladivostok and the area around it . Mackinder predicted that the rimlands, as he called them, would become less relevant as industrialization caught on in the heartlands and as the inland became more accessible by the railway system. This would make land an asset rather than a barrier to communication. Eventually, Russia would tap the massive natural resources and manpower it had and overshadow its fellow powers in the west. Mahan’s theory remains relevant to date especially as far as its logic goes. America’s power in the sea has now turned on the ability of the navy to preserve access to the Eastern part of Asia, as well as the Middle East, which are the theatres of American maritime operations. The strategic gaze of the Americans now lies on Asia as its maritime target. However, costs for such projects are increasing while budget acquisition becomes stagnant. This, in turn, has led to downward pressure on the fleet size of the American Navy. The ability of the Sea Services to carry out the maritime strategy of 2007 is now becoming a doubt. The Chinese Navy, on the other hand, is on a quite different trajectory (Gilboy & Higginbotham, 2012). It now has new aircraft, submarines, and new ships. While these assets may not be equal to the American assets, their fleet is more focused on Asia. With the US placing more focus on a global scale, they could not apply adequate force at a theatre. An ASBM under construction

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited Essay

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all - Essay Example Knowledge is power and without knowledge we cannot progress as a human. Knowledge is what distinguished an ignorant person from a man of intelligence. The power of knowledge cannot be ignored in any society. On the other hand, imagination is the mother of all knowledge. Imagination is what enables us to form a mental of something that cannot be comprehended through the senses. It is what enables men to stumble upon great inventions and the ability to build a mental sense for great achievements. Imagination is more important than knowledge because without imagination, men cannot achieve new things. Imagination is what empowers us to dream of things that can be achieved which eventually lead to knowledge. â€Å"Knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution" (Einstein). Therefore, I completely agree with Einstein’s quote that imagination is more important than knowledge as imagination goes beyond limit wherea s, knowledge has its limitations. According to the Cambridge dictionary, knowledge is defined as â€Å"understanding of or information about a subject which a person gets by experience or study, and which is either in a persons mind or known by people generally† (Knowledge n.d.). Knowledge is gained through experiences, skills and personal abilities. The main sources of knowledge can be traced to instinct, reason and intuitions. In order to compete in a highly competitive world, knowledge is essential. Knowledge is what makes a man powerful and it also enables him to compete with others. Knowledge is man’s ability to develop concepts and materialize them into reality through manipulations and calculations. It also enables a person to make the right judgments which are pivotal for every human being. â€Å"Knowledge concerns itself with what is present to the senses, but is also a stored and shared repository of publicly acceptable thoughts, many frozen into physical

Ecology of Public Administration, Bureaucracy, and the understanding Essay

Ecology of Public Administration, Bureaucracy, and the understanding of the relationship between democracy and publi administration - Essay Example This is because an administrator is attached to a set of systematic rules that must be followed while politician is entitled to popular rule. The public also plays a significant role in the conduct of administration but not in politics. Richard Stillman also believes that the Constitution was primarily created for the people court, foreign affairs, defense, money and trade relations (Stillman, 2009). This implies that a Constitution shares some fundamental principles with Public Administration because they all follow systematic rules. Therefore, it is difficult to incorporate popular rule, democracy, into the constitution just like Wilson suggested. Therefore, Administration should particularly focus on teaching people the kind of a government system or rule they demand or desire, and how to achieve it. John Gaus had perceived a bright light in applied social science. Through an ecological measure to Public Administration, Gaus believed that new or renewed patterns, in the public administration or institutions, could be achieved from individual people living in the dynamic times (Stillman, 2009). Ecology, in Public Administration, is a significant tool for directing, comprehending and modulating shocks of change, in the current dynamic world. Ecology, in actual sense, means an area or environment of numerous organisms that co-exist in a noble point of natural equilibrium (Stillman, 2009). Ecology is a broad idea in the sense that it deals with the large existence of interrelations of all the living organisms with their environment. Ecology entails balance and existence of nature in a vicious circle that one thing results into another and creates a point of balance. These ecological elements include climate, soil, people, plants and many other things in the ecosystem. Therefore, acc ording to Gaus, ecology is a vital complex analogy that explains the complex Public Administration system (Stillman, 2009). Gaus explains that a