The Rights and Responsibilities of Green Card Holders

A green card or lawful permanent residency is the immigration status of a foreign national who comes to the United States and is authorized to live and work in the United States permanently.  A person must maintain permanent resident status if he chooses to become a citizen, or naturalized, in the future.  A green card holder has legal rights and responsibilities as enumerated by the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency. U.S. permanent residency is known informally as a green card because of its green design, first introduced in 1946. Legal Rights of U.S. Permanent Residents U.S legal permanent residents have the right to live permanently in the United States provided the resident does not commit any actions that would make the person removable under immigration law U.S. permanent residents have the right to work in the United States at any legal work of the residents qualification and choosing. Some jobs, like federal positions, may be limited to U.S. citizens for security reasons. U.S. permanent residents have the right to be protected by all laws of the United States, the state of residence and local jurisdictions, and can travel freely throughout the U.S. A permanent resident can own property in the U.S., attend public school, apply for a drivers license, and if eligible, receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicare benefits. Permanent residents can request visas for a spouse and unmarried children to live in the U.S. and can leave and return to the U.S. under certain conditions. Responsibilities of U.S. Permanent Residents U.S. permanent residents are required to obey all laws of the United States, the states, and localities, and must file income tax returns and report income to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and state taxing authorities. U.S. permanent residents are expected to support the democratic form of government and not change the government through illegal means. U.S. permanent residents must maintain immigration status over time, carry proof of permanent resident status at all times and notify USCIS of change of address within 10 days of relocation.  Males age 18 up to age 26 are required to register with the U.S. Selective Service. Health Insurance Requirement In June 2012, the Affordable Care Act was enacted that mandated all U.S. citizens and permanent residents must be enrolled in health care insurance by 2014. U.S. permanent residents are able to obtain insurance through the state health care exchanges. Legal immigrants whose income falls below federal poverty levels are eligible to receive government subsidies to help pay for the coverage. Most permanent residents are not allowed to enroll in Medicaid,  a social health program for individuals with limited resources until they have lived in the United States for at least five years. Consequences  of Criminal Behavior A U.S. permanent resident could be removed from the country, refused re-entry into the United States, lose permanent resident status, and, in certain circumstances, lose eligibility for U.S. citizenship for engaging in criminal activity or being convicted of a crime. Other serious infractions that could affect permanent residency status include falsifying information to get immigration benefits or public benefits, claiming to be a U.S. citizen when not, voting in a federal election, habitual drug or alcohol use, engaging in multiple marriages at one time, failure to support family in the U.S., failure to file tax returns and willfully failing to register for Selective Service if required.

Human Rights And The Declaration Of Independence - 942 Words

When an individual is born, they are automatically given human rights. Human rights are rights that are entitled to every human regardless of sex, race, ethnic origin, or status. Within our Nation, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were very important documents that changed how we lived. These documents were established on the foundation of human rights because of how essential every man was in the country. Human rights play a major role within our life but not everyone is aware of them. These documents made it clear that human rights allow us to be who we are as an individual and led us to a more equal lifestyle. The Declaration of Independence was created with human rights in mind. In the Declaration of Independence, they explained why the colonies chose to overthrow their ruler and become independent and be separate nation in the world. Within this document there are four parts. The beginning, also known as the preamble is the most essential part. The preamble justifies the rights of the citizens of America. It reads, â€Å"we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.† When Thomas Jefferson states that â€Å"all men are created equal† he means that all citizens are of equal worth and value in the eyes of god. This is basically what human rights are. The pursuit of happiness is allowing anShow MoreRelatedThe Declaration Of Independence : A Vital Part Of The Global Human Rights Regime Essay1258 Words   |  6 Page s The Declaration of Independence states â€Å"that all men are created equal†. In practice, this has not always been the case, even in the United States. Since the end of World War II and the founding of the United Nations though, the global community has walked together down the path to make it a reality. As the world has walked this path, the scope has expanded beyond just men to include women and children as well. The together part of the journey must be stressed, because no one country is capableRead MoreInfluence Of The Magna Carta789 Words   |  4 Pageshere. The Magna Carta influenced many ideas of English justice and law. These same ideas in the Magna Carta influenced the Amendments to our US Constitution. The amendments to the US Constitution incorporated the same protections found in the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta. One of these protections are seen in Clause 1 of the Magna Carta which involves the freedom of the Church of England. This same provision is s een in our 1st Amendment to our US Constitution which outlines our freedom of religionRead MoreThe Declaration Of Independence And The Treaty Of The Rights Of Man933 Words   |  4 Pagescraft a better future. They inspire new ,, and sometimes even revolution. 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Declaration of Independence Common Sense written by Thomas Paine in January of 1776, enlightened its readers and ignited the colonists towards the American Revolution. Common Sense was the first document that established a suggestion towards a constitutional form of government. The foundation of the main points in Common Sense were the upbringing of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson in July of 1776 approximately 7 monthsRead MoreThe Last Utopia By Samuel Moyn Essay951 Words   |  4 Pagesanticolonial movement was not a human rights struggle, writing, â€Å"If anticolonialism generally spurned human rights, one might say, it was because it was a rights of man movement, with all the prior fidelity to the state that concept implied in modern history.† Moyn’s emphasis on the state here is telling. Because the rights that a nation could provide were particular to its citizens, not international, they could not be human rights. The †Å"rights of man† were not the rights of all. Further, Moyn viewsRead MoreCritical Analysis Of The Declaration Of Independence960 Words   |  4 PagesThe Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. The document announced that the colonies regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states no longer under British rule. The writers of the Declaration expressed ideals stating that men are created equal and that all men have basic human rights given to them by God. The purpose of a government, according to the Founding Fathers, was to protect the basic

Simmel, Marx, and Mead Free Essays

After reading the specified passage #8, pages 101-108, I sat back and thought about who and what we have studied this semester. The information in the passage connected with three of the five major sociological minds that we have studied: Simmel, Marx, and Mead. The beginning of the passage talks about immigrants starting a new life in a new place, and what we a Americans think about it, which reminds me of Georg Simmel. We will write a custom essay sample on Simmel, Marx, and Mead or any similar topic only for you Order Now A lot of the passage talks about how class and jobs relate to one another, which made me think of Karl Marx. One part of the passage discusses what Barbie is for little girls, which reminds of George Herbert Mead. I think that it is clear that these three sociological minds influenced parts of this section of Barbie Culture. Rogers gives the Statue of Liberty as an example of an icon. She talks about what it represents for Americans. To us it represents â€Å"political freedom and mass democracy (independence), this same icon has become a harbinger of a society supposedly open to â€Å"teeming masses† of needy, if not desperate, immigrants (dependence). Rogers goes on to say that Americans â€Å"see foreign-born newcomers as threats to their society. Fearful of the alien lifeways and multiple tongues of these international migrants, such Americans commonly invoke sentiments seemingly incompatible with this cherished icon† (Rogers: 101-102). Pampel talks a lot about how Simmel felt about the way he and other Jewish people were treated when they moved to Germany and into its big cities, and how most Germans tried to keep them from gaining any power or status. One example that Pampel gives is â€Å"universities placed limits on the number of Jewish professors they would promote: although about 12 percent of lecturers came from Jewish backgrounds, only about three percent reached he position of tenured professor† (Pampel: 131). Simmel was held back at almost everywhere he taught. Nearly everyone that heard his lectures like him and what he thought about things and how he broke things up and made sense out of them. He should have been tenured way before he finally was, but because of racist views of him he was not, no matter how brilliant he was. Pampel writes a lot about Marx and what he thought about the inhumane working conditions. Pampel tells us how Marx’s view on why things were the way they were. â€Å"Mattel’s hierarchy grows wider as one descends the ladder† (Rogers: 102). Marx knew that there were a lot more proletariat (workers) than there were bourgeoisie (owners of the capital). Everyone wanted as much money as they could get. Nobody really cared how the workers that were actually making the products lived or even felt. Marx felt that the key concept to all of that is social class. Society is both enabling and constraining. It enables few people to make a lot of money and the major decisions that affect everyone and constrains most people to just do as they are told. The workers had to work with low pay and in bad working conditions just to make enough money to survive. They really had no choice. Marx’s perspective is called conflict theory, and classes are always going to be in conflict with one another. Last but not least, Rogers talks about how or why Barbie came to be. Ruth and Elliot Handler were on vacation in Switzerland with their son, Ken, and their daughter, Barbara. They were out shopping when they came across the Lilli doll, which was a German doll that came from a cartoon strip and that was mostly marketed to men as a sex symbol. â€Å"Barbara Handler was fascinated with the doll, and Ruth Handler claims to have seen it as a perspective plaything for girls past the baby-doll stage† (Rogers: 103). Ruth must have thought that girls still needed a doll to play with so that they still had a sort of learning tool, even though they had out grown baby-dolls. Mead thought that toys/dolls could be used for role-playing, which really helped in the process of becoming one’s social self. Children could adopt the roles and attitudes of the doll. They act out and assume the roles of others in their imaginations. This role-playing helps â€Å"children develop a better sense of the meanings and attitudes held by other people† (Pampel: 194). Once children learn these things they can start forming their own opinions about things and really become and individual. Simmel taught us that the world is not fair. Even though he was a brilliant man and had a lot to offer the world, he was not able to because of racism and stupid people. Marx thought that society could be a great thing, but at the same time it could hold people back and make a lot of people miserable. Mead said that dolls play an important part in becoming a functioning member of society by helping children learn to develop their own attitudes and opinions as well as respect the attitudes and opinions of others. These three men contributed a lot to form the great sociological world that we have today. How to cite Simmel, Marx, and Mead, Essay examples

Some Makes Prototypes Future Generations †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Some Makes Prototypes Future Generations? Answer: Introducation The makers are those who incorporate innovation in real life. Makers are a group of people who make unique things with the application of technology (Katterfeldt, 2014). The meld of traditional things with modern technology and invent new things for next generation. The documentary, Maker Trailer projects a group of people who once were computer hacker now is into invention. The work technique is informal and concentrated on self-fulfillment. Making of innovative things have become a culture in America and formally known as Maker Culture (YouTube, 2017). This marketing Culture encourages people to think about new things, which are related to electronics, robotics, incorporating 3D printing in traditional art and craft. The documentary starts with the quote, I think of the maker movement as being the web generation meets the real world. Image: Maker Culture Source:https://www.businesskorea.co.kr/english/news/smestartups/11494-maker-movement-hardware-startups-are-key-creative-economy The technology used is the computer technology and it is incorporated in the wooden work, metalwork, art and crafts. The quote, world an idea that we want to hack this physical world in the way that we've been used to hacking computers from the documentary Maker Trailer clearly projects the fact that Maker Culture is derived from the hacker culture (YouTube, 2017). The makers are always on their toe to bring change in daily life. Makers are not ready to take the world as it is. This do it yourself culture includes several scientific equipments, clothes, scientific tools, musical instruments, furniture, vehicles. In making the innovative things computer technologies are used, CNC machines, laser cutter and 3D printers are also used. Another documentary What is a Maker says We use tools and we tell stories which means the makers are artist who create art by using technologies. The Maker Culture gives identity to many people who storms their brain and invent unique pieces (YouTube, 2017 ). The Maker Culture gave the world many entrepreneurs like Mark Dwight who was featured in the documentary, Maker Trailer who is the founder of rickshaw bag and SF. accounting to him that makers are not only hobbyists, some makes prototypes for the future generations. The Maker Culture initiated since 1970 with the revolution of microcomputers. To become a maker one does not need to have special school education because only a creative mind can make a maker (Katterfeldt, 2014). America now patronizes the maker culture. Washington hosts National Maker Faire every year several grant and prizes are offered to the promising makers. The vital technology used by the makers is computer numerical control by which robotics is designed (Stenvick, 2017). The machines are automated through this technology. The mechanical parts of any system is designed by CNC system, CAD which implies computer aided design and CAM or computer aided manufacturing. It is evident that makers are the revolutionists because they are justifying the advantage of being human by utilizing their brains. The success of the maker movement is that the maker are the ultimate source of innovation and their innovation helping the county`s economy to grow faster. The innovations are curtailing the expenses of many products. References Katterfeldt, E. S. (2014). Maker culture, digital tools and exploration support for FabLabs.FabLab: Of Machines, Makers and Inventors, 139-147. ouTube. (2017).Maker trailer - A documentary on the Maker management. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mklywR7TQxs [Accessed 14 Sep. 2017]. Stenvick, B. (2017).Maker culture in Beaverton, business. [online] https://joomlakave.com. Available at: https://pamplinmedia.com/ttt/91-features/372072-255365-maker-culture-in-beaverton-tigard [Accessed 14 Sep. 2017]. YouTube. (2017).What Is a Maker?. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUoZwuSDikY [Accessed 14 Sep. 2017].

Family and Young Boy Charley Essay Example

Family and Young Boy Charley Essay Book Report â€Å"For One More Day†, By Mitch Albom Made by: Kitti Kristanti, Sec 1d For One More Day â€Å"This is a story about a family, and as there is a ghost involved, you might call it a ghost story. But every family is a ghost story  . The dead sit at our tables long after they have gone. † This is a beautiful, haunting novel about the family we love and the chances we miss. It explores the question, â€Å"What would you do if you could spend one more day with the ones you love? †Ã‚   The story  covers a conversation  Charley Benetto has with a sports writer. Throughout the conversation he goes back and forth between  the one last day he had with his mother and the important  events in his life, sharing his feelings– both past and present– about them. I particularly enjoyed the   way he shared throughout the book little vignettes of the times his mother stood up for him and the times he didn’t stand up for her. As a mother myself, I couldn’t help wondering if someday my own children would be able to look back and see with clarity the sacrifices I have made for them. Throughout the book I ‘heard’ some of the same things from the young boy Charley that I hear from my own children. It was rewarding and brought hope to see him come to a realization of how his interpretation of the events had been inaccurate and skewed by emotions in the moment. Perhaps my children will also understand someday As a young boy Charley Benetto makes the choice to be a daddy’s boy and does everything his father asks him to. Then his father disappears, leaving a broken family and an embarrassing situation for the young Charley to endure. We will write a custom essay sample on Family and Young Boy Charley specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Family and Young Boy Charley specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Family and Young Boy Charley specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Being raised by a single mother has it’s challenges and plenty of embarrassment, many that Charley takes out on his mother. â€Å"So he chooses his father, and he worships him- right up to the day the man disappears. An eleven-year-old Charley must then turn to his mother, who bravely raises him on her own, despite Charley’s emabarrassment and yearning for a complete family. †   Ã¢â‚¬ Decade later, Charley is a broken man. His life has been crumbled by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits bottom after discovering his only daughter has shut him out of her wedding. And he decides to take his own life. † â€Å"He makes a midnight ride to his small home-town, with plans to do himself in. But upon failing to do that, he staggers back to his old house, only to make an astonishing discovery. His mother- who died eight years earlier- is still living there, and welcomes him home as if nothing had ever happened. † â€Å"What follows is the one ‘ordinary’ day so many of us yearn for, a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain family secrets, and to seek forgiveness. Somewhere between this life and the next, Charley learns the things he never knew about his mother and her sacrifices. And he tries, with her tender guidance, to put the crumbled pieces of his life back together. † I related to this story on many levels. As a single mother myself I could relate to many of the experiences described and gained insight into what my children may be experiencing as a result of events they have no control over. As a daughter  who has at times experienced a  strained relationship with my own mother,   I gained  valuable insights into my own childhood memories and interpretations and was  reminded, again, that there is much more to the story that I do not completely understand. And as always– the betrayal revealed in the end made the recent and  painful betrayal of my own life seem small and insignificant in comparison. This clever story, told in Mitch’s masterful storytelling style, has left me with a new appreciation and understanding for those I love and has motivated me to be more intentional in valuing and cherishing the relationships I enjoy with those I love so that I will not be left with regrets for the experiences and the love lost. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever been a part of a family, who has ever lived with regrets, and who has ever questionned the value of their very existence.

Nation States & Globalization essays

Nation States & Globalization essays Are multinational companies really taking power away from nation states in some sweeping processes of globalisation? The implications for the ability of nation states to exercise political and economic control over this trans-national economy are clear, they would be at the mercy of automated and uncontrollable, because global, market forces. www.workerspower.com It is a widespread belief, illustrated by the above quotation, that the process of globalisation is eroding the power and autonomy of nation states. According to this viewpoint multi-national companies, as trans-national organisations, are becoming more powerful than nation states, and as such are able, not only to defy them, but actually take at least some of their power away from them. Any investigation of this area must first start with a proper definition of globalisation, and ask the question whether globalisation is, as is often claimed, a new phenomenon. It must be born in mind that, in the words of Bradley, the significance of economic, social and cultural intercourse across and beyond the boundaries of individual states has long been recognised. (Bradley, 2000, p13). Economic activity has been conducted on an international basis for centuries. Profits from the Atlantic slave trade were crucial to the way in which capitalism developed in Western Europe. The American tobacco growing industry was crucial to Britains economy in the eighteenth century. Many of the old sandstone buildings in the West End of Glasgow were built with money made by capitalists operating in the American tobacco trade. Many commercial enterprises in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries operated out-with national boundaries. In fact the notion of a modern world system of economic activity on an international basis is as old as the fifteenth century. (Bradley, 2000, p14). So what is new or special about globalisati...

Hillingdon Electricals Ltd (a case study) Coursework

Hillingdon Electricals Ltd (a case study) - Coursework Example This has eventually helped the company in building an appreciative reputation for itself in the market. However, in the recent years, the company has failed to deliver its services as per expectations, which resulted in its declining market share further affecting its competitive advantage. Contextually, the top level management of the company has decided that each of its stores situated all over the UK market needs to have a particular sales target for its various categories of goods. The scenarios highlighted and discussed below therefore deals with certain situations that the company is dealing with, post its approach of enhancing its performance. Scenario A (Tony and Ursula) In this scenario, it has been noted that due to a manual error, price of certain products of the company were advertised in websites and newspaper at a much lesser price in comparison to the present market price for the same. Subsequently, a customer named Tony bought the same product from the company website in a usual procedure as per the advertised price. However, in the following day, the customer received a mail from the company stating that the website was in total error which depicted a false price of the product and hence, the product can only be sold at its original market price. However, the company offered certain discount as an effort to maintain goodwill with the customer. In this regard, Tony denied to pay the present market price and demanded the product at the committed price in website advertisement. Correspondingly in another case, Ursula went on to buy a product from a retail shop of the company in accordance to the price advertised in the newspaper. However, similar to the condition of Tony, the store manager her that the actual price of the product was more than the price disclosed in the advertisement in the newspaper. Ursula too refused to pay the extra amount and demanded the product in the advertised price. It is apparent from the above scenario that human error is mainly responsible for the false advertisement of the company, which can be assumed to be unintended on the grounds of good faith. Despite of such considerations, the case can be considered as breach of the UK tort law. A tort is a crime that involves the use of unfair means in conducting activities that harms or results in loss of others. The harm or injury, as per law is not limited to physical injuries; rather, it covers emotional and reputational injurious as well (Findlaw, 2012). Correspondingly, the approach of the company, despite of the fact that it was owing to human error can be considered as a tort against the customers and competitors. It can therefore be classified as a clear case of negligence of the company in its advertising, which is illegal under and punishable under the tort law (Lawskool, n.d.). Conceptually, the tort law in the UK is applicable for several activities, which primarily includes activities related to negligence and duty of care. In simple terms , negligence can be regarded as carelessness of people in their work, which results in unfavourable impacts on others. According to the tort law, individuals or a body of individuals (companies or organisations or associations) should not depict negligence attitude

Airline Planning and Management CW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Airline Planning and Management CW - Essay Example There are 3 major types of tickets: Booking one month ahead for the cheapest ticket, booking one week ahead and lastly booking the flexible ticket 2 days ahead. The prices in table 3 are given for the flexible tickets and for a day return trip on a weekday. These prices are used in order to simplify the calculations for the fares. Also holidays could not be excluded by presenting other ticket types, whereas the fares are significantly higher. Prices include taxes and charges for a roundtrip. Worth mentioning is that all fares are from London and it is assumed that the price is similar on the other direction. However, the denomination of pricing is different due to Euro/Pound rate differences between Porto and London, respectively. The airport of choice in London for the new airline is London City. Therefore, the new airline will serve the route London City (LCY) in London, UK to Francisco SÃ ¡ Carneiro Airport Porto (OPO) in Portugal. to date there is only one direct flight in each direction at the weekdays from London to OPO with several non-direct flights in addition. In table 3 (b), the airlines have been limited to only non-direct flights that do not fly longer than 5 hours. This means that non-direct flights flying longer than 5 hours are excluded. Following figure 1 demonstrates the short distance between LCY and OPO and the resulting benefits of establishing direct flights: Travellers will appreciate the short length of travel and direct flight option to and from OPO There is a number of factors that make the choice of LCY-OPO highly suitable. Main reason is the total number of carriers plying the route. Because of the availability of multiple airline carriers, there is much competition at the major airports, making travellers prefer LCY because of its size, reduced crowd numbers, fast check-in processes and reduces waiting times. Passengers are also guaranteed

Assignment 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Assignment 6 - Essay Example ond World War, and he declared his war against the â€Å"racial caste system† employed by contractors against soldiers in the United States during that time (653). Truman’s EO 8991 in 1948, or the executive order that created the Civil Rights Commission, paved the way for the â€Å"weaving together† of America in the 1950s. It is this particular executive order that offered equal treatment to Blacks and the cutting off of the sale of products that perpetuate the latter’s vices (653). Although Truman’s EO 8991 has not accomplished as much as Kennedy’s and Johnson’s policies, it paved the way for the â€Å"unraveling† of America in the 1960s, where the races and genders have more or less equaled. Fifteen years after Truman’s EO 8991, in 1963, certain changes in terms of social engineering activities have been implemented regarding racial and gender equality, particularly during the governance of Lyndon Johnson. One of which was the decision of the Department of Defense to prohibit soldiers from using segregated bus or rail facilities, thus whites and blacks could use transportation together (654). The greatest proof of â€Å"unraveling† of the United States in the 60s was the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, and this â€Å"prohibited racial discrimination in employment, institutions like hospitals and schools†¦restaurants, hotels, and theaters† ( 922). Moreover, in 1965, under the banner of â€Å"affirmative action† used by the Kennedy administration, Johnson reiterated his vision of racial equality (Levin 656). He defended Blacks in his speech and considered them equal to whites, and through EO 11246, he required all federal contract ors to treat any employee without any regard to his â€Å"race, creed, color or national origin† (656). So far, Johnson’s greatest achievement in 1965 was the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which granted suffrage to the black southerners ( 926). In 1967, Johnson included gender equality by adding â€Å"sex† to the

Semi-structured interviews | Analysis

Semi-structured interviews | Analysis An exploratory use of semi-structured interviews Introduction This essay reports my understandings of interview as a qualitative research method and the experience of an exploratory use of it. Considering the broad research area of my PhD study, learning and assessment, the key knowledge I am going to reveal will be learners own perceptions of their learning. Some data could probably be excavated from the products of their learning, such as learning logs, workbooks, or teachers feedbacks, that indicate their experiences and evaluations of their learn. If the data are insufficient, however, I have to carried out interviews to gather the data needed. As a result, I chose semi-structured interview as the method I would try out for this assignment. The usability of semi-structured interviews There are many types of interviews which are differentiated by how much the interviews are structured and how many participants are involved in one interview (Fontana Frey, 2000; Punch, 2005)à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚  . Although interviews are basically asking questions and receiving answers using the media of language, different types of interview are based on different assumptions (Punch, 2005, p. 169)à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚  . Mason (2002, pp. 63-66)à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚   points out that the choice of semi-structured interviews is probably an indicator to the following beliefs and reasons: Peoples understandings, feelings, perceptions and other inner thoughts as well as the interactions with other people are parts of the social reality. This reality could be revealed by representations and interpretations through language. What has been revealed is situational knowledge which will be more likely to be reconstructed under its due context. In appropriate design, the desired context could be brought into the interview conversations. Qualitative interviews do not aim to standardise but to achieve more in terms of depth, nuance, complexity, and roundedness of what is to be understood. Interviewing is a process of data generation and the interviewer plays an active and reflexive role in it. Interviewees should have more controls and freedoms throughout the interview interactions. Taking Masons view, if a research shares part or all of the above descriptions, it would find appropriate to employ semi-structured interviews as a data generation method. The exploratory inquiry I have carried out is exactly one of these cases. Conducting the interview After listening to me talking about my teaching experiences in and viewpoint on Taiwanese schools, a British fellow student, George (name changed) said he believes that there should be different types of schools. This response kindled my curiosity because he was the third British people who concluded our conversation in such idea that quickly transcends the dichotomy of good or bad. This rarely happened while I was involving in similar conversations in Taiwan. I wonder how his belief on education was formed. So I invited him to participant my interview, and he agreed. The themes and the participants I chose this theme and this participants to interview based on a pragmatic consideration. There are limited people conveniently available to be interviewed by me and there are also a few themes related to my research, but it will be a meaningful inquiry only if any of these people has something to say about any of those themes. When they are matched, the interview is more likely to be made enjoyable to the participant and, thus, will be more ethical, too (Mason, 2002)à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚  . My invitations of interview had been refused twice until I luckily identified the current participant matched with the current theme. Questions for the interview I then made a plan of interviewing consisting with three parts. At the beginning, I would remind George of our previous conversation by recapitulating it. After confirming that he remembered it, too, I would raise my initial question: what did you mean exactly by I believe there should be different kinds of schools in our previous conversation? I expected this question to bring back the context of our previous talk, and clarify his own interpretation of that expression. Secondly, I would explain that the key question of this interview is how do you think this belief was form? And I would ask further questions according to Georges responses explore more deeply until the answer satisfies me or noting a scent of Georges having nothing or not willing to go further on this topic. Finally, I would invite him to comment on one the Summerhill School, as well as to estimate how many British share similar beliefs with him by his own perception. I expected his commenting on one of the most extreme cases of schooling in England and self-positioning among others could help me revealing more of his stance of educational philosophy. Recording I have also considered the technique used to record the interview. The choice of recording method was subject to both the availability of equipment and the purpose which the interview would be analysed for. Considering that the interviewee would be reflecting on his comment on my previous talk from the aspects affected by my questions, the content of the interview conversation would probably not exist yet and I would be involved in the process of its generation. The value I hold prior to the interview would constrain my aspect to perceive the conversation and. Therefore, I need the spoken words and their sequences in the conversation to be recorded independently from my judgement. I thought a voice recorder would do the job well. Voice recording, like other recording method, could only partially record the interview (Mason, 2002; Silverman, 2001)à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚  , nevertheless, the voice record could be replayed as many times as I need and it also keeps the original sequences of conversation which set each single sentence into the context (Silverman, 2001)à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚  . That would enable me to analyse the conversation with perspectives that I was hardly to have while interviewing. Interviewing The interview was taken place in the ground floor at 35 Berkeley Squire with coffee and snacks during lunch time and lasted about 30 minutes. After some small talk, a common start of interviewing (Bogdan Biklen, 2003)à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚  , I turned on the voice recorder, shifted the topic to the conversation we had had and asked him to explain more about what he meant by I believe there should be different types of schools? His answers are firstly that no child is the same some child[ren] will do better in one sort of schools and secondly that if you got lots of schools, you got lots of experimentsassuming you can compare them then you can get some interesting findings. In the UK we have lots of different schools within our education, and that difference will not be necessarily a bad thing, that could be a good thing. Then, when I asked about how his belief was formed? He give me a general, rational description of the advantages of having various types of school. This though provided a deeper explain of his thought but still not sufficed what I was seeking for, so I asked him in another way that in what age you began to see education in this way? Instead of answering my question, George wondered whether I wanted to put his thoughts in the very personal context. After my affirmation, he then continued to tell me that he has followed his own way since quite early age. He chose to teach, which most graduate and also his family wont considered as a good job, in the UK and soon went to teach in a developing country. How early do you mean by quite early age? I asked. Probably sort of I went to secondary school, he said, its your education environment encourages sorts of ways of thinking. Are there any one else told you about this sort of ideas? I followed. I was in a boarding school and we had what we call house master I have quite lot of contact with this person, he [told us] not to accept what the state or other people said [without questions][this has ] the impact on me and other people] he answered. Since he mentioned the boarding school, I then jump and ask him about his opinions on Summerhill school which was in the third part of my original plan. Though he made it clear that I am not saying that Summerhill should be closed or any thing like that and I have not been to the Summerhill school so I cant comment on it, he maintained that I think children need to be systematically taught [if] children just be left too do what they want to do for children who have certain personality that could be generally quite good thing, for other children it could be absolutely disaster there is sort of children need quite lot of structure. I have sensed that George was making the judgement based on some tacit value which was slightly different from the articulated beliefs. This added more tense into our conversation and made it more meaningful to me. So I pointed this difference out and shared my experience of similar discussions in Taiwan. Responding to my comment, George raised a new topic. Despite many developing countries, probably including Taiwan, blindly copy the western education into theirs, there must be some good in theirs that worth the western educations to learn. We talked about this topic for a while ( that was very interesting, too) then I ask him the final question about his estimation of how many British share similar views with him. Experience of this interview My question has been answered satisfactorily by this interview in most extent, and there are several things I can learn from it. My experiences might be organised into the following two aspects. Preparations Carefully preparations in advance are helpful and essential. I found that to acquaint my self with the theme, including the plan of asking questions, the relevant cases such as the Summerhill school and my experiences in Taiwan, have indeed facilitated the management of the conversation to involve the participants as much as possible but still keep it focused. Voice recorder also need to be tested in advance. I found my voice recorder set in a wrong mode which ruined the first ten minutes of my recording and I had to interrupt to conversation and corrected it. Interviewing as a conversation Semi-structured interviews are not just data collection tools but data generation events. I assumed that my experiences in Taiwan and perhaps my attitude toward these experiences triggered our discussion on copying education from other countries. If I did not share these experiences, I would probably get different interview data. Apart from the interviewer, the interviewee has his own intention in the interview conversation. George wanted to know what these questions for (thus he confirmed my research context before answering) and he also has assumptions about how I might interpret his words (thus he maintained his scepticism over the uncritical appreciation of western education). In this point, I would agree what Bogdan and Biklen (2003)à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚   suggest on an effective and comfortable approach to do interviewing: explain to the interviewee all necessary information about myself and my inquiry like we might do to an expert. This will facilitate the understanding to the others of both participants, which is the centre part of interviews. and give the interviewee more control over how his view was understood, which could be seen clearly in my case. Conclusions From the exploratory interview and several interview related chapters (Bogdan Biklen, 2003; Fontana Frey, 2000; Mason, 2002; Punch, 2005; Silverman, 2001)à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚   , I found semi-structured interviews as a qualitative research method is good at a) revealing peoples knowledge, views, understandings, interpretations, [and] experiences (Mason, 2002, p. 63)à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚   , especially their situational aspects; b) giving interviewees opportunities to actively participate in and have some control over the interviews. However, when involving interviews, it is worth being cautious that a) the power (or other kinds of) relationship(s) between interviewer and interviewee have to be counted as part of the context which the interviews has been set in, otherwise, it might turn up with unexpected or even distorted result; b) one to one interviewing has some but limited ability to create a desirable context, particularly, in researches looking at peoples interactions or how people respond in social context, where group interviewing might be a more powerful approach. c) interviewees might just say what they want to let us know rather than what we intent to know; d) the represent-ability of any reality might be constrain by the capability of language of both interviewers and interviewees and, when looking at those past things, affected by the accuracy of interviewees memory. The complexity of the connection between language and reality is itself also an issue needs further inspections. e) method of interview has little validity over peoples behaviour which might more appropriately be gathered by observations or document analyses. REFERENCES: Bogdan, R. C., Biklen, S. K. (2003). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theories and methods. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc. Fontana, A., Frey, J. H. (2000). The interview: From structured questions to negotiated text. In N. K. Denzin Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 645-672). Mason, J. (2002). Qualitative researching. London: Sage. Punch, K. (2005). Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. London: Sage. Silverman, D. (2001). Interpreting qualitative data: methods for analysing talk, text and interaction. London: Sage.

Communicating Through Numbers in Toni Morrisons Beloved Essay

Communicating Through Numbers in Beloved      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Humanity uses numbers as a way to communicate beyond words, evoking ideas more readily than words alone are able to. All religions and cultures have significant numbers that communicate an essence or idea more quickly and completely than words can. It is in this manner that Toni Morrison uses numbers in Beloved. Significant numbers occur starting with the first symbols of the text and the words on the pages before the body of the text starts.    124. The first thing to appear, and we already have a significant number. Sethe has four children. The third one is dead. Numbers 1, 2, and 4 remain. Another number that stands alone in its significance is twenty-eight. Twenty-eight is the length of the menstrual cycle, the lunar month, and the duration of Sethe's happiness: "Sethe had had twenty-eight days - the travel of one whole moon - of unslaved life. From the pure clear stream of spit that the little girl dribbled into her face to her oily blood was twenty-eight days" (95). Sethe has lived twenty years of sorrow, for twenty-eight days of pleasure, and spends another eighteen suffering before Paul D and Beloved brighten her life again. "Those twenty-eight happy days were followed by eighteen years of disapproval and a solitary life....Was that the pattern? she wondered. Every eighteen or twenty years her unbelievable life would be interrupted by a short-lived glory?" (173). This symbol is significant, and twenty-eight appears o nly within this context.    Many numbers occur that are significant even though they are not recurring themes throughout the book. Howard and Buglar "[ran] away by the time they were thirteen years old" (3), the traditional age of manhood ... ...tion" (695). This seems precisely what is happening when Sixo dies.    As we see, numbers play an enormous role in Beloved. They communicate concepts in a sort of psychic shorthand, adding a deeper subtext to many events. The way in which the numbers are used is universal, using symbols common to all of humanity. It is universal comprehension like that which gives Beloved the power it has, its genius, and its beauty.    Works Cited Gaskell, G. A. Dictionary of All Scriptures and Myths. (New York: The Julian Press, 1960) p. 695 Herder Dictionary of Symbols. Trans. Boris Matthews. (Wilmette, Illinois: Chiron Publications, 1993) Mackey, Cameron. Interviews with. Haverford College, December 1995. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. (New York: Plume, 1988) Schimmel, Annemarie. The Mystery of Numbers. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993)  Ã‚