Critical Thinking Essay Essay

Critical thinking includes the component skills of analyzing arguments, making inferences using inductive or deductive reasoning, judging or evaluating, and making decisions or solving problems when evaluating academic content. Background knowledge is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for enabling critical thought within a given subject. Critical thinking involves both cognitive skills and dispositions. These dispositions, which can be seen as attitudes or habits of mind, include open- and fair-mindedness, inquisitiveness, flexibility, a propensity to seek reason, a desire to be well-informed, and a respect for and willingness to entertain diverse viewpoints. There are both general- and domain-specific aspects of critical thinking. Empirical research suggests that people begin developing critical thinking competencies at a very young age. Although adults often exhibit deficient reasoning, in theory all people can be taught to think critically. Instructors are urged to provide explicit instruction in critical thinking, to teach how to transfer to new contexts, and to use cooperative or collaborative learning methods and constructivist approaches that place students at the center of the learning process. In constructing assessments of critical thinking, educators should use open-ended tasks, real-world or â€Å"authentic† problem contexts, and ill-structured problems that require students to go beyond recalling or restating previously learned information. Such tasks should have more than one defensible solution and embed adequate collateral materials to support multiple perspectives. Finally, such assessment tasks should make student reasoning visible by requiring students to provide evidence or logical arguments in support of judgments, choices, claims, or assertions. Critical thinking is an important element of all professional fields and academic disciplines when evaluating academic content. Within the framework of scientific skepticism, the process of critical thinking involves the careful acquisition and interpretation of information and use of it to reach a well-justified conclusion. The concepts and principles of critical thinking can be applied to any context or case but only by reflecting upon the nature of that application. Critical thinking forms, therefore, a system of related, and overlapping, modes of thought such as anthropological  thinking, sociological thinking, historical thinking, political thinking, psychological thinking, philosophical thinking, mathematical thinking, chemical thinking, biological thinking, ecological thinking, legal thinking, ethical thinking, musical thinking, thinking like a painter, sculptor, engineer, business person, etc. In other words, though critical thinking principles are universal, their applicat ion to disciplines requires a process of reflective contextualization. Critical thinking is considered important in the academic fields because it enables one to analyze, evaluate, explain, and restructure their thinking, thereby decreasing the risk of adopting, acting on, or thinking with, a false belief. However, even with knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning, mistakes can happen due to a thinker’s inability to apply the methods or because of character traits such as egocentrism. Critical thinking includes identification of prejudice, bias, propaganda, self-deception, distortion, misinformation, etc. Given research in cognitive psychology, some educators believe that schools should focus on teaching their students critical thinking skills and cultivation of intellectual traits. Socratic method is defined as â€Å"a prolonged series of questions and answers which refutes a moral assertion by leading an opponent to draw a conclusion that contradicts his own viewpoint. Critical thinking skills through Socratic method taught in schools help create leaders. Instructors that promote critical thinking skills can benefit the students by increasing their confidence and creating a repeatable thought process to question and confidently approach a solution. Students also accomplish follower-ship skills that can be used to probe the leader’s foundations. Critical thinking skills through Socratic method serve to produce professionals that are self-governing. However, Socratic method for critical thinking skills can become confusing if an instructor or leader uses the method too rigidly, the student may not know what the instructor or leader wants from him. An instructor or leader may disillusion the students if he uses particular style of questioning. Instructors must reveal their reasoning behind the questions in order to guide the students in the right direction. â€Å"Socratic method can serve twenty-first-century leaders to instruct students, mentor protà ©gà ©s, motivate followers, advise other leaders, and influence peers. In conclusion, â€Å"critical thinking is the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best  thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances when evaluating academic content. The general goal of thinking is to figure out some situation, solve some problems, answer some questions, or resolve some issue It also is a process in which a person pursuits reliable and pertinent information about the world. Critical thinking is often described as reasonable, ruminative, trustworthy, and a well practiced form of thinking that assists people with deciding what they should believe in and what actions should be taken. A practiced critical thinker will ask good questions, collects pertinent data, categorizes common characteristics, logically reasons with the new data and then he or she will come to a trustworthy and dependable conclusion. Critical thinking makes use of many processes and procedures. Some processes include but is not limited to asking questions, making judgments, and identifying assumptions.

Spirit Bound Chapter Seventeen

THE ENTIRE ROOM SEEMED to hold its breath. Yet even in the face of miracles, guardians–or Strigoi, for that matter–were hard to distract. Fights that had paused now resumed with just as much fury. The guardians had the upper hand, and those of them who weren't engaged with the last surviving Strigoi suddenly leapt toward Lissa, trying to pull her away from Dimitri. To everyone's surprise, she held on to him tightly and made a few feeble attempts to fight off those crowding around her. She was fierce and protective, again putting me in mind of a mother defending her child. Dimitri was holding on to her just as intently, but both he and Lissa were outmatched. The guardians finally pried them apart. There were confused shouts as guardians tried to determine whether they should kill Dimitri. It wouldn't have been hard. He was helpless now. He could barely stand when they jerked him to his feet. That woke me up. I'd simply been staring, frozen and dumbstruck. Shaking off my daze, I sprang forward, though I wasn't sure who I was going for: Lissa or Dimitri. â€Å"No! Don't!† I yelled, seeing some of the guardians move in with stakes. â€Å"He's not what you think! He's not Strigoi! Look at him!† Lissa and Christian were shouting similar things. Someone grabbed me and pulled me back, telling me to let the others handle this. Without even thinking, I turned and punched my captor in the face, discovering too late it was Hans. He fell back a little, seeming more surprised than offended. Attacking him was enough to attract the attention of others, however, and soon I had my own group of guardians to fight off. My efforts didn't do any good, partially because I was outnumbered and partially because I couldn't take them on the same way I'd attacked Strigoi. As the guardians hauled me out, I noticed then that Lissa and Dimitri had already been removed from the room. I demanded to know where they were, yelling that I had to see them. No one listened to me. They dragged me away, out of the warehouse, passing a disturbing amount of bodies. Most were Strigoi, but I recognized a few faces from the guardian regiment at the Court. I grimaced, even though I hadn't known them well. The battle was over, and our side had won–but at a great cost. The surviving guardians would be doing cleanup now. I wouldn't have been surprised if Alchemists showed up, but at the moment, none of that was my concern. â€Å"Where's Lissa?† I kept demanding as I was shoved inside one of the SUVs. Two guardians slid in with me, one sitting on each side. I didn't know either of them. â€Å"Where's Dimitri?† â€Å"The princess has been taken to safety,† one of the guardians said crisply. He and the other guy stared straight ahead, and I realized neither was going to acknowledge the question about Dimitri. He might as well not exist for any of them. â€Å"Where's Dimitri?† I repeated, speaking more loudly in the hopes that might get an answer. â€Å"Is he with Lissa?† That got a reaction. â€Å"Of course not,† said the guardian who'd spoken before. â€Å"Is he†¦ is he alive?† It was one of the hardest questions I'd ever asked, but I had to know. I hated to admit it, but if I were in Hans's place, I wouldn't have been looking for miracles. I would have been exterminating anything I perceived as a threat. â€Å"Yes,† said the driver at last. â€Å"He†¦ it†¦ is alive.† And that was all I could get out of them, no matter how much I argued and demanded to be released from the car–and believe me, I did a lot of that. Their ability to ignore me was pretty impressive, really. To be fair, I'm not even sure that they knew what had happened. Everything had occurred so fast. The only thing these two knew was that they'd been ordered to escort me out of the building. I kept hoping someone I knew might join us in our SUV. Nope. Only more unknown guardians. No Christian or Tasha. Not even Hans–of course, that was understandable. He was probably afraid I'd accidentally punch him again. When we were loaded up and on the road, I finally gave up my badgering and sank back into the seat. Other SUVs had left with ours, but I had no clue whether my friends were in them. The bond between Lissa and me was still numb. After that initial shock where I'd felt nothing, I'd slowly regained a slight sense of her, telling me we were still connected and that she was alive. That was about it. With all that power that had blasted through her, it was almost like the bond had been temporarily fried. The magic between us was fragile. Each time I tried to use the bond to check on her, it was as though I'd stared too brightly at something and was still blinded. I just had to assume it would reestablish itself soon because I needed her insight on what had happened. No, scratch insight. I needed to know what had happened, period. I was still in a bit of shock, and the long ride back to Court allowed me time to process what few facts I had access to. I immediately wanted to jump to Dimitri but needed to start at the beginning if I really wanted to analyze all that had occurred. First: Lissa had charmed a stake and withheld the info from me. When? Before her college trip? At Lehigh? While captive? It didn't matter. Second, in spite of her failed pillow attempts, she had gotten the stake into Dimitri's heart. It had been a struggle, but Christian's fire had made it possible. I winced, recalling the burns Lissa had suffered during that ordeal. I'd felt the pain of those before the bond blanked out, and I'd also seen the marks on her. Adrian wasn't the world's best healer, but hopefully his magic would be enough to take care of her injuries. The third and final fact here†¦ well†¦ was it a fact? Lissa had stabbed Dimitri and used the same magic she would for a healing†¦ and then? That was the big question. What had happened, aside from what felt like a nuclear explosion of magic through our bond? Had I really seen what I thought I'd seen? Dimitri had†¦ changed. He was no longer a Strigoi. I felt it in my heart, even though I'd only had that brief glimpse of him. It had been enough to allow me to see the truth. The Strigoi features were gone. Lissa had done everything Robert had sworn she needed to do to restore a Strigoi, and certainly after all that magic†¦ well, it was easy to believe anything was possible. That image of Dimitri came back to me, clinging to Lissa with tears running down his face. I'd never seen him so vulnerable. Somehow, I didn't believe Strigoi cried. Something in my heart twisted painfully, and I blinked rapidly to stop from crying too. Glancing around, I tuned back into my surroundings. Outside the car, the sky was lightening. It was nearly sunrise. The guardians with me had signs of weariness on their faces, yet the alert expressions in their eyes never faltered. I'd lost track of the time, but my internal clock told me we'd been on the road for a while. We had to almost be back at Court. Tentatively, I touched the bond and found it was back but still fragile. It was like it flickered in and out, still reestablishing itself. That was enough to put me at ease, and I breathed a sigh of relief. When the bond had first come about years ago, it had been so strange†¦ surreal. Now I'd accepted it as part of my life. Its absence today had felt unnatural. Looking through Lissa's eyes, at the SUV she rode in, I immediately hoped I'd see Dimitri with her. That one glimpse at the warehouse hadn't been enough. I needed to see him again, needed to see if this miracle had truly happened. I wanted to drink in those features, to gaze at the Dimitri from so long ago. The Dimitri I loved. But he wasn't with Lissa. Christian was there, however, and he glanced over at her as she stirred. She'd been asleep and still felt groggy. That, combined with the aftereffect of that searing power earlier, kept our connection a little hazy. Things shifted out of focus for me off and on, but overall, I could follow what was happening. â€Å"How do you feel?† asked Christian. His voice and his eyes as he peered at her were filled with so much affection that it seemed impossible she didn't notice. But then, she was a little preoccupied right now. â€Å"Tired. Worn out. Like†¦ I don't know. Like I've been thrown around in a hurricane. Or run over by a car. Pick something horrible, and that's what I feel like.† He gave her a small smile and gently touched her cheek. Opening myself to her senses more, I felt the pain of her burns and that he was tracing the skin near one, though being careful to keep away from it. â€Å"Is it awful?† she asked him. â€Å"Is all my skin melted off? Do I look like some alien?† â€Å"No,† he said, with a small laugh. â€Å"There's not that much. You're beautiful, like always. It would take a lot for that to change.† The throbbing pain she felt made her think that there was more damage than he was admitting to, but the compliment and the way he'd said it went a long way to soothe her. For a moment, her whole existence focused on his face and the way the rising sun was starting to light it up. Then the rest of her world came crashing down on her. â€Å"Dimitri! I need to see Dimitri!† There were guardians in the car, and she glanced around at them as she spoke. As with me, no one seemed willing to acknowledge him or what had happened. â€Å"Why can't I see him? Why'd you take him away?† This was directed to anyone who would answer, and at last, Christian did. â€Å"Because they think he's dangerous.† â€Å"He's not. He's just†¦ He needs me. He's hurting inside.† Christian's eyes suddenly went wide, his face filling with panic. â€Å"He's not†¦ You aren't bonded to him, are you?† I guessed by the look on his face that Christian was recalling Avery and how bonding with multiple people had pushed her over the edge. Christian hadn't been there for Robert's explanation of the soul going to the world of the dead and how restored Strigoi didn't get bonded. Lissa shook her head slowly. â€Å"No†¦ I just know. When I†¦ when I healed him, we had this connection, and I felt it. What I had to do†¦ I can't explain it.† She ran a hand through her hair, frustrated that she couldn't put her magic into words. Weariness was starting to overtake her. â€Å"It was like I had to do surgery on his soul,† she said at last. â€Å"They think he's dangerous,† repeated Christian gently. â€Å"He's not!† Lissa glared around at the rest of the car's occupants, all of whom were looking somewhere else. â€Å"He's not Strigoi anymore.† â€Å"Princess,† began one of the guardians uneasily, â€Å"no one really knows what happened. You can't be sure that–â€Å" â€Å"I am sure!† she said, voice too loud for the small space. There was a regal, commanding air to it. â€Å"I know. I saved him. I brought him back. I know with every single part of me that he's no longer Strigoi!† The guardians looked uncomfortable, again not speaking. I think they were just confused, and really, how could they not be? There was no precedent for this. â€Å"Shh,† said Christian, putting his hand on hers. â€Å"There's nothing you can do until we're back at Court. You're still hurt and exhausted–it's written all over you.† Lissa knew he was right. She was hurt, and she was exhausted. That magic had ripped her apart. At the same time, what she had done for Dimitri had created a bond to him–not a magical one, but a psychological one. She really was like a mother. She felt desperately protective and concerned. â€Å"I need to see him,† she said. She did? What about me? â€Å"You will,† said Christian, sounding more certain than I suspected he was. â€Å"But just try to rest now.† â€Å"I can't,† she said, even while stifling a yawn. That smile flickered back across his lips, and he slipped his arm around her, pulling her as close as the seat belts would allow. â€Å"Try,† he told her. She rested her head against his chest, and his closeness was a type of healing in and of itself. Worry and concern for Dimitri still coursed through her, but her body's needs were stronger for the moment. At last, she drifted into sleep in Christian's embrace, just barely hearing him murmur, â€Å"Happy birthday.† Twenty minutes later, our convoy arrived back at Court. I thought this meant instant freedom, but my guardians took their time in getting out, waiting for some signal or directions that no one had bothered to tell me about. It turned out they were waiting for Hans. â€Å"No,† he said, firmly putting a hand on my shoulder as I shot out of the car and tried to race away to†¦ well, I wasn't sure where. Wherever Dimitri was. â€Å"Hold on.† â€Å"I have to see him!† I exclaimed, trying to push past. Hans was like a brick wall. Considering he'd actually fought a lot more Strigoi than me tonight, you'd have thought he'd be tired. â€Å"You have to tell me where he is.† To my surprise, Hans did. â€Å"Locked away. Far, far out of your reach. Or anyone else's. I know he used to be your teacher, but it's better if he's kept away for now.† My brain, weary from the night's activities and overwrought with emotion, took a moment to process this. Christian's words came back to me. â€Å"He's not dangerous,† I said. â€Å"He's not a Strigoi anymore.† â€Å"How can you be so certain?† The same question Lissa had been asked. How could we really answer that? We knew because we'd gone to incredible pains to find out how to transform a Strigoi, and when we'd completed those steps, there'd been an atom bomb of magic. Wasn't that enough proof for anyone? Hadn't Dimitri's appearance been enough? Instead, my answer was like Lissa's. â€Å"I just know.† Hans shook his head, and now I could see he actually was exhausted. â€Å"No one knows what's going on with Belikov. Those of us that were there†¦ well, I'm not sure what I saw. All I do know is that he was leading Strigoi a little while ago, and now he's out in the sun. It doesn't make any sense. No one knows what he is.† â€Å"He's a dhampir.† â€Å"And until we do,† he continued, ignoring my comment, â€Å"Belikov has to stay locked up while we examine him.† Examine? I didn't like the sound of that. It made Dimitri seem like a lab animal. It made my temper flare, and I nearly started yelling at Hans. A moment later, I got myself under control. â€Å"Then I need to see Lissa.† â€Å"She's been taken to the medical center for treatment–which she needs very badly. You can't go there,† he added, anticipating my next response. â€Å"Half the guardians are there. It's chaos, and you'd be in the way.† â€Å"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?† â€Å"Go get some sleep.† He gave me a wry look. â€Å"I still think you've got a bad attitude, but after what I saw back there†¦ well, I'll say this. You know how to fight. We need you–probably for more than paperwork. Now go take care of yourself.† And that was that. The dismissal in his voice was clear, and as the guardians hurried around, it was like I didn't exist. Whatever trouble I'd been in before seemed long forgotten. No more filing in the wake of this. But what was I supposed to do? Was Hans crazy? How could I sleep? I had to do something. I had to see Dimitri–but I didn't know where they'd taken him. Probably the same jail Victor had been kept in, which was inaccessible to me. I also needed to see Lissa–but she was deep in the medical center. I had no power here. I needed to appeal to someone with influence. Adrian! If I went to Adrian, maybe he could pull some strings. He had his royal connections. Hell, the queen loved him, in spite of his slacker ways. As much as it killed me to accept, I was realizing that getting in to see Dimitri right away was going to be nearly impossible. But the medical center? Adrian might be able to get me in to see Lissa, even if it was crowded and chaotic. The bond was still blurry, and talking to her directly would allow me to score faster answers about Dimitri. Plus, I wanted to see for myself that she was all right. Yet when I reached the housing Adrian stayed in at Court, I was informed by the doorman that Adrian had already left a little while ago to–ironically enough–go to the medical center. I groaned. Of course he'd already be there. With his healing abilities, they would have summoned him out of bed. Weak or not, he could definitely help. â€Å"Were you there?† the doorman asked me as I started to turn away. â€Å"What?† For a minute I thought he was talking about the medical center. â€Å"The battle with the Strigoi! The rescue. We've been hearing all sorts of things.† â€Å"Already? What did you hear?† The guy's eyes were wide and excited. â€Å"They say almost every guardian died. But that you captured a Strigoi and brought him back.† â€Å"No, no†¦ there were more injuries than deaths. And the other†¦Ã¢â‚¬  For a moment, I couldn't breathe. What had happened? What had really happened with Dimitri? â€Å"A Strigoi was changed back to a dhampir.† The doorman stared. â€Å"Were you hit on the head?† â€Å"I'm telling the truth! Vasilisa Dragomir did it. With her spirit power. Spread that around.† I left him with his mouth hanging open. And like that, I had no more options, no one else to get information from. I went back to my room feeling defeated but far too keyed up to sleep. At least, that's what I initially thought. After some pacing, I sat on the bed to try to come up with a plan. Yet before long, I felt myself falling into a heavy sleep. I awoke with a start, confused and aching in parts of my body that I hadn't realized had taken hits in the fight. I peered at the clock, astonished at how long I'd slept. In vampire time, it was late morning. Within five minutes, I had showered and put on non-torn, non-bloody clothes. Just like that, I was out the door. People were out and about their daily business, yet every couple or group I passed seemed to be talking about the battle at the warehouse–and about Dimitri. â€Å"You know she can heal,† I heard one Moroi guy say to his wife. â€Å"Why not Strigoi? Why not the dead?† â€Å"It's insane,† the woman countered. â€Å"I've never believed in this spirit thing anyway. It's a lie to cover up the fact that the Dragomir girl never specialized.† I didn't hear the rest of their conversation, but others I passed had similar themes. People were either convinced the whole thing was a scam or were regarding Lissa as a saint already. Every so often, I'd heard something weird, like that the guardians had captured a bunch of Strigoi to experiment on. In all the speculation, though, I never heard Dimitri's name come up or knew what was really happening to him. I followed the only plan I had: Go to the guardian building that held the Court's jail, though I was unsure what I'd actually do when I got there. I wasn't even entirely sure that was where Dimitri still was, but it seemed the most likely place. When I passed a guardian along the way, it took me several seconds to realize I knew him. I came to a halt and turned. â€Å"Mikhail!† He glanced back and, seeing me, walked over. â€Å"What's going on?† I asked, relieved to see a friendly face. â€Å"Have they let Dimitri out?† He shook his head. â€Å"No, they're still trying to figure out what happened. Everyone's confused, even though the princess still swore up and down after she saw him that he's not Strigoi anymore.† There was a wonder in Mikhail's voice–and wistfulness too. He was hoping that it was true, that there might be a chance for his beloved to be saved. My heart ached for him. I hoped he and Sonya could have a happy ending just like– â€Å"Wait. What did you say?† His words drew my romantic musings to a halt. â€Å"Did you say Lissa saw him? You mean after the fight?† I immediately reached for the bond. It was gradually growing clearer–but Lissa was asleep, so I learned nothing. â€Å"He asked for her,† Mikhail explained. â€Å"So they let her in–guarded, of course.† I stared, my jaw nearly dropping to the ground. Dimitri was seeing visitors. They were actually letting him see visitors. The knowledge lit up the dark mood that had been building in me. I turned away. â€Å"Thanks, Mikhail.† â€Å"Wait, Rose–â€Å" But I didn't stop. I ran to the guardians' holding building at a full-out sprint, oblivious to the looks I got. I was too excited, too invigorated with this new info. I could see Dimitri. I could finally be with him, back the way he was supposed to be. â€Å"You can't see him.† I literally came to a halt when the guardian on duty in the front reception area stopped me. â€Å"Wh-what? I need to see Dimitri.† â€Å"No visitors.† â€Å"But Lissa–er, Vasilisa Dragomir got to see him.† â€Å"He asked for her.† I stared incredulously. â€Å"He must have asked for me too.† The guardian shrugged. â€Å"If he did, no one's told me.† The anger I'd kept back last night finally awoke. â€Å"Then go find someone who knows! Dimitri wants to see me. You have to let me in. Who's your boss?† The guardian scowled at me. â€Å"I'm not going anywhere until my shift is over. If you've got clearance, someone will let you know. Until then, no one without special permission is allowed to go down there.† After taking out a fair portion of Tarasov's security, I felt pretty confident I could easily dispatch this guy. However, I felt equally confident that once I got to the depths of the jail cells, I'd run into a lot more guardians. For a second, taking them out seemed very reasonable. It was Dimitri. I would do anything for him. A slight stirring in the bond made me see reason. Lissa had just woken up. â€Å"Fine,† I said. I lifted my chin and gave him a haughty look. â€Å"Thanks for the ‘help.'† I didn't need this loser. I'd go to Lissa. She was staying at almost the opposite end of the Court's grounds from the holding area, and I covered the distance at a light jog. When I finally reached her and she opened the door to her room, I saw that she'd gotten ready almost as quickly as I had. In fact, I could feel that she'd been pretty close to leaving. Studying her face and hands, I was relieved to see that almost all of the burns were gone. A few red spots lingered on her fingers, but that was it. Adrian's handiwork. No doctor could have made that happen. In a pale blue tank top, with her blond hair pulled back, she didn't look at all like anyone who'd been through such a major ordeal less than twenty-four hours ago. â€Å"Are you okay?† she asked. In spite of everything else that had happened, she'd never stopped worrying about me. â€Å"Yeah, fine.† Physically, at least. â€Å"You?† She nodded. â€Å"Fine.† â€Å"You look good,† I said. â€Å"Last night†¦ I mean, I was pretty scared. With the fire†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I couldn't quite finish. â€Å"Yeah,† she said, looking away from me. She seemed nervous and uncomfortable. â€Å"Adrian's been pretty great healing people.† â€Å"Is that where you're going?† There was agitation and restlessness in the bond. It would make sense if she wanted to hurry over to the medical center and help out too. Except†¦ further probing gave me the startling truth. â€Å"You're going to see Dimitri!† â€Å"Rose–â€Å" â€Å"No,† I said eagerly. â€Å"It's perfect. I'll go with you. I was just over there, and they wouldn't let me in.† â€Å"Rose–† Lissa looked very uncomfortable now. â€Å"They gave me some bullshit about how he'd asked for you and not me and that that's why they couldn't let me in. But if you're going, they'll have to let me.† â€Å"Rose,† she said firmly, finally breaking through my chatter. â€Å"You can't go.† â€Å"I–what?† I replayed her words, just in case I'd misheard them. â€Å"Of course I can. I need to see him. You know I do. And he needs to see me.† She slowly shook her head, still looking nervous–but also sympathetic. â€Å"That guardian was right,† she said. â€Å"Dimitri hasn't been asking for you. Only me.† All my eagerness, all that fire, froze up. I was dumbstruck, confused more than anything. â€Å"Well†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I recalled how he'd clung to her last night, that desperate look on his face. I hated to admit it, but it kind of made sense why he would have asked for her first. â€Å"Of course he'd want to see you. Everything's so new and strange, and you're the one who saved him. Once he comes around more, he'll want to see me too.† â€Å"Rose, you can't go.† This time the sadness in Lissa's voice was mirrored through the bond, flooding into me. â€Å"It's not just that Dimitri didn't ask to see you. He asked specifically not to see you.†

Anticancer Efficacy of Curcumin Analysis

Anticancer Efficacy of Curcumin Analysis Nuclear factor-ÃŽ ºB (NF-ÃŽ ºB) is a transcription factor that is essential in the regulation of immune and inflammatory responses. 1 It influences a diverse target of gene expressions that regulate apoptosis, facilitate cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation. 1,2 Before cell stimulation, NF-ÃŽ ºB dimers that are located in the cytoplasm are inactive. 3 Prior to activation, NF-ÃŽ ºB dimers consisting of RelA, c-REL, and p50 are held in the cytoplasm by inhibitory ÃŽ ºB (IÃŽ ºB) proteins. 3,8 The IÃŽ ºB kinase (IKK) complex is activated by various extracellular signals such as proinflammatory cytokines and viral infections. 3,4 This IKK complex phosphorylates two conserved serine residues and targets NF-ÃŽ ºB-bound IÃŽ ºBs, which results in ubiquitin-mediated dissociation of IÃŽ ºB from NF-ÃŽ ºB, thus leading to translocation of activated NF-ÃŽ ºB into the nucleus. 2,7 The activation of NF-ÃŽ ºB promotes tumor invasion, metastasis, and allows malignant cells to escap e apoptosis. Consequently, many chemotherapeutic drugs have been found to activate NF-ÃŽ ºB, thus contributing to chemoresistance and chemotherapy failure. 3 Increasing evidence suggests that, the inhibition of NF-ÃŽ ºB activation can reduce chemoresistance and improve the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic agents. 3 Among the compounds that have been reported, curcumin was found to inhibit the activation of NF-ÃŽ ºB and thus, induce apoptosis in tumor cells. 6 Unfortunately, its clinical applications remains limited due to its poor bioavailability and low potency 6 , these prompted researchers to chemically modify curcumin in order to increase its potency against NF-ÃŽ ºB and cancerous cells. 8 In this issue, Qui et al . 8 reports progress in the synthesis and identification of new 4-arylidene curcumin analogues as a potential chemotherapeutic agent. Different kinds of 4-arylidene curcumin analogues were synthesized by coupling 1, 3-diketones curcumin analogues with various aro matic aldehydes in toluene with acetic acid, using piperidine as a catalyst (figure 1). The chemotherapeutic activities of the synthesized compounds were tested on the growth of A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells with curcumin used as control. The authors reported that majority of the 4-arylidene curcumin analogues exhibited potent anticancer activities against A549 growth with GI 50 in the range of 0.23 – 0.93 ÃŽ ¼M, while very poor antiproliferation activities of curcumin was observed at 15.23 ÃŽ ¼M. This shows a 10- to 60-fold increase in the potency of 4-arylidene curcumin analogues over the parent compound, curcumin. Remarkably, the cytotoxic activities of these newly designed curcumin analogues were not limited to A549 cells. The growth of other carcinoma cells H1944, squamous cells H157, and large carcinoma cells H460, were effectively inhibited by selected 4-acrylidene curcumin analogues, with GI 50 values at micromolar concentrations low to 0.07 ÃŽ ¼M. Likewise, in a r elated study, Zambre et al. 9 reported that copper(II) conjugates of Knoevenagel condensates of curcumin analogue showed inhibitory activities against human leukemic KBM-5 cells. Taken together, these two forms of curcumin analogues offer new possibilities at both ends as potential anticancer agents. One of the key curcumin targets that is important for the survival of cancer is IÃŽ ºB kinase (IKK), which regulates NF-ÃŽ ºB activation. 6 Activated NF-ÃŽ ºB is situated in the nucleus to promote transcription that is triggered by tumor-necrosis factor (TNFÃŽ ±). 1,5 Thus, Qiu et al. 8 used nuclear translocation of NF-ÃŽ ºB in response to TNFÃŽ ± as the main indicator to examine the mode of action of curcumin in comparison to 4-arylidene curcumin analogue. A549 cells were treated in a 384-well plate format with curcumin and its new analogue respectively, before the addition of TNFÃŽ ± to trigger nuclear translocation of NF-ÃŽ ºB p65 subunit. As a result, curcumin inhibited TNFÃŽ ± -induced nuclear translocation of NF-ÃŽ ºB with a mean IC 50 of 9.5 ÃŽ ¼M, which is consistent with the work of Kasinski et al . 4 Interestingly, most of the synthesized 4-arylidene curcumin analogue showed improved inhibitory activities against NF-ÃŽ ºB translocation with mean IC 50 values in the range of 1.0 – 4.9 ÃŽ ¼ÃŽÅ". This finding proved the superiority of the newly designed curcumin analogue over curcumin in blocking nuclear translocation of NF-ÃŽ ºB. Consequently, in a related paper, Zambre et al. 9 developed novel curcumin analogues that were synthesized using Knoevenagel condensation to convert enolic diketones of curcumin into non-enolizable ones. The synthesized compounds were examined for their potential in blocking TNFÃŽ ±-induced NF-ÃŽ ºB activation. It was reported that copper(II) conjugates of Knoevenagel condensates of curcumin showed greater potentials in blocking TNFÃŽ ±-induced NF-ÃŽ ºB activation than curcumin, confirming the potency superiority of curcumin analogues over the parental curcumin.

K pop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

K pop - Essay Example This suggests that there are versions of Asian elements that they have retained in their Western style. At some point, it gets fuzzy whether they are modifying their Asian style or articulating Western elements to fit into traditional Asian performances. The Growl song has Western beats but it is performed in Mandarin and Korean languages. In this sense, the song is similar to K-pop’s songs that the band composes in Korean but it stages in Hip Hop style (Seabrook 1). This sums up the idea of cultural technology. The Asian entertainment industry is refurbishing its outlook in order that it attracts the whole world. In order to attract the whole world the entertainers have to curve way of reaching audiences. YouTube is an essential platform that singers employ to share their songs. The songs have electric performances and vigor that easily enthuses audiences. However, in as much as the songs adopt Western elements, the performers maintain raw Asian elements that make such music

Major Tax Structure Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

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DENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION AND ORAL HYGIENE INSTRUCTION TO A SMOKER Essay

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Robert W Baird Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Robert W Baird - Essay Example Today, the company has a special place in all the businesses in America, and the Fortune magazine has included the company in a prestigious list of 100 best places to work. Robert W. Baird & Co is an asset management company. Its special focus is on middle market investments, capital markets investment, fixed income investments and provision of a broad range of other services to its clients such as Private Wealth Management, Mutual Funds and a company’s own special fund. The company performed extremely well in the fiscal year ending 2010. It earned $847 million in revenues, a figure which is 18 percent more than in the previous year. The principal competitors of Robert W. Baird & Co are all the investment firms operating in America. The major rivals of the company are Jefferies Group, Inc, Piper Jaffaries Company Inc. and Raymond James Financial. However, RWB&CO has outsmarted its competition in the last few years, and especially in 2010. While other companies downsized and contracted, RWB managed to grow by an impressive figure of eighteen percent. Robert W. Baird & Co does not only have strong presence in the entire United States but is also present in other countries around the world. The company operates extensively in the UK, Greece and India. In these countries, it is involved in the development of risk-averse portfolios and making investments throughout the world. The greatness of the company lies in the fact that despite strong recessionary pressures, the company has managed to grow and within a few years, it has doubled in size in terms of revenue. This achievement puts RWB ahead of its competition. The company is currently an employee- owned business, meaning that the largest shareholders of the company are people working for the organization. It has a flexible structure. Each unit works independently and is controlled by the head of the department. Project teams are developed to sense

Patriot Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Patriot Act - Essay Example Hence, to weed out terrorism / breeding grounds of terrorism wherever it is found around the world so that such ugly situation may not engulf the United of States of America or other allies in the world. The mentioned act was approved by both the houses of peoples representatives i.e. Senate and the House of Representative on 26th October, 2001 (Whitehead & Aden, 2002). The previously mentioned act empowered law enforcement agencies / intelligence agencies to track out terrorist net work aims at to gather maximum information about their activities. This enables cited agencies to deal with the terrorist with iron hands. The concerned authorities of USA taking into account the increasing terrorist activities reviewed and amended the money-laundering act accordingly to stop flow of funds to such organization who promotes terrorism to accomplish their nefarious designs. So far, the action taken by the United States of America is to ban such organization as well as freezing of their funds in connivance with the countries that are in league with America against war on terror (Whitehead & Aden, 2002). The strict American Laws make it impossible for a suspected terrorist to enter in the US for sabotaging the national assets / endangering the life of common citizens. The new act enhanced the capability of law enforcement / intelligence agencies to fight terrorism in an effective manner (Whitehead & Aden, 2002). The patriot act in fact provides protection to American people against domestic and foreign terrorism. It describes the official version of domestic terrorism. According to which any person who have ill intention to harm human life falls under the ambit of above act. Hence, by virtue of this act, law enforcement and intelligence agencies may obtain search warrant from federal judge wherever terror related activities are found on the surface. This is an easy way to investigate the matter by streamlining and exchanging communication between agencies (Ball, 2004). H owever, the act in question specifically focuses on the surveillance of terrorism activities in order to prevent international terrorism. In case terrorist caught red handed, an exemplary punishment should be awarded to him to deter others. He / she should be tried in a competent court of law for punishment in accordance with law. The use of modern gadgets in promoting domestic / international terrorism cannot be ignored (Doyle, 2001). The policy makers while drafting policy must take into account the rights of citizens that have conferred to them by the constitution and the bills of rights. American policy makers must respect the Constitution to protect American rights. It protects the rights of every citizen irrespective of their cost, creed and profession, whether he / she are a part timer or full time policy makers who enjoy the benefits of given rights even in the war time (Ball, 2004). After the act of terrorism on the mentioned date of the year 2001, Mr. Bush sought unbridled power as president of USA to summon reserve forces to face the war like situation. As a result of this act, liberties of American people have been taken away to meet the eventualities and to fight terrorism. By enactment of this act, power of law enforcement agencies / intelligence agencies gave unchecked powers to investigate the suspected terrorist in a brutal manner, which amounts to flagrant violation of human rights (Doyle, 2001). The

Compare and contrast Shakespeare's portrayal of women in Hamlet and A Essay

Compare and contrast Shakespeare's portrayal of women in Hamlet and A Midsummer's Night Dream - Essay Example She seems powerless and innocent and this can be compared to real life chauvinist society in which women are seen to be dependent on the males. Other characters use her as a tool to reach their goals and this can be witnessed in Act II when Polonius uses Ophelia as a spy to find out the reasons behind Hamlet’s peculiar and curious behavior. Ophelia is loved by her father, Polonius and her brother, Laertes to an extent that keeps her unaware of the bitter realities of life. Her innocence is justified by her unawareness about the state matters and childlike desires of gathering flowers. This innocence can again be compared to the real life women who are considered to be innocent in comparison to the male counterparts. She is loyal and is ready to return the love she receives by any means. Her loyalty and obedience to her father can be witnessed in the scene when her father stops her from seeing Hamlet. At this particular scene she replies â€Å"I shall obey my Lord† (1.4. 10). Ophelia portrays the picture of an impeccable and frail woman of that era. "Her whole character is that of simple unselfish affection" (Bradley 130). On the other hand, Hippolyta, one of the leading characters of ‘A Midsummer’s night dream’ depicts a rather strong, determined and powerful character. She contradicts the situations and character traits of Ophelia. Hippolyta exposes the characteristics of a fighting leader and portrays a completely different picture about a woman. Her different sense of judgment is observed with her decision to marry Theseus who has defeated her in a battle. Unlike Ophelia, she chooses to marry a person who was against her. Ophelia chose to follow her father and brother owing to their compassion and affection towards her. Theseus explains Hippolyta’s choice of marrying him in the following lines: Hippolyta, I woo?d thee with my sword, And won thy love doing thee injuries (Act I, scene I 16-17) Hippolyta’s characte r appears in the starting of the play with Theseus discussing ther wedding. Hippolyta is less expressive in the play and appears only with Theseus throughout the course of the story (Bloom & Marson 2008, p. 18). Love plays a major role in Shakespeare’s novels. His female characters portray their love towards their counterparts in one way or the other. Ophelia is one of the Shakespeare’s characters who are true, genuine and devoted to their feelings of love. She is weak, dependent and obedient to her father and brother’s will. Yet, her feelings towards Hamlet were honest, true and strong but she still stopped seeing him after she was ordered so. Hippolyta on the other hand was a bold character who would have acted in a different way in a situation which Ophelia went through. Like the women of that era, Ophelia however was forced and obliged to obey her family. She, thus, disregards any further relationship or communication with Hamlet (Jameson 1967, p. 161). Hipp olyta and Theseus have contradictory nature and views as seen in the opening scene when they are discussing about the imaginations and lovers’ story. Hippolyta appears quite, calm and passive throughout the play. Her calm nature in the play rejects the misconceptions about the Amazonian women, which in the Elizabethan age were known as strong opponents against men. Theseus’s love towards Hippolyta is much obvious by his speeches than Hippolyta’s expressionism. She reserves her comments and feelings yet her acceptance of

International businesse in emerging market Assignment - 1

International businesse in emerging market - Assignment Example The emerging market accelerated growth of its international business, which were up 4% LFL. In June 2014, the company planned to invest $20 billion in a gas-fired power complex in Vietnam. In its planning, the company recognized the need to create a partnership with a host well-known company in Vietnam in an attempt to sell its products in this emerging market. It, therefore, collaborated with Vietnam’s state-owned petrol Vietnam. It erected two power plants with a capacity to produce between 6000 and 6500 megawatts of power. In this perspective, the company focuses on capturing the gas and oil market in Vietnam through provision of cheaper prices and diversified oil and gas brands (Regester & Larkin, 2014). It proposed to position its operation in 700 locations and several retail operations. In addition, the strategy aims to present its brands closer to consumers and therefore making its brand most accessible products in Vietnam. Vietnam is one of the top five developing nations in Asia. It has a robust middle class, a crucial driver of economic expansion in a developing country. It is valid to argue that middle class mainly supports the policy change significantly to the success of the country and in supporting capitalist democracy. The country has the fastest-growing middle class in the whole Southeast Asia and is expected to double in size from 12 million (2014) to 32 million by 2020. Generally, Exxon Mobil was experiencing various impending challenges in Vietnam such as complex foreign investment laws, corruption in infrastructure projects, lack of comprehensive and transparent legal system and restricted land usage rights (Plunkett, 2014). However, Vietnam is currently undergoing trade liberalization through negotiations toward a free agreement with the European Union (Van Dyke, et al., 2014). The negotiation presents viable market to Exxon Mobil since its

SFAS 116 and SFAS 117 Essay Example for Free

SFAS 116 and SFAS 117 Essay SFAS 116 and SFAS 117 were created to improve accountability among not-for-profit and government entities. These improvements should simplify the structure of financial statements by making them understandable to both the financial and non-financial audience. SFAS 116 establishes the accounting standards for contributions made and received. All entities that make or receive contributions are required to report the contributions received at fair market value as revenue in the period in which they were received. Likewise, any contributions made must be recognized at fair market value but as expenses in the period in which they were made. It further requires that not-for-profit organizations classify contributions that increase net assets as either permanently restricted, temporarily restricted, or unrestricted (FASB, 1993). SFAS 117 concentrates on the external financial statements for not-for-profit organizations. The purpose is to enhance the relevance, understandability, and comparability of financial statements issued by those organizations (FASB, 1993) and requires that all not-for-profit organizations provide a statement of financial position, statement of activities, and statement of cash flows (FASB, 1993). NFPs are required to report net assets broken down as permanently restricted, temporarily restricted, or unrestricted in the statement of financial position. The amounts of change for each classification also must be broken down in the statement of activities. The statement of cash flows must also now contain donor-restricted cash that is used for long-term purposes as being derived from financing activities. Any welfare and voluntary health organizations must report on the statement of functional expenses the function and natural classifications of those expenses (FASB, 1993). All not-for-profit and government organizations must follow these statements. While the individual accounting processes may be complicated, they will help to promote financial accountability and  transparency within those organizations. References FASB. (1993, June). Statement of financial accounting standards no. 116. Retrieved from http://www.fasb.org/cs/BlobServer?blobkey=idblobwhere=1175820922799blobheader=application%2Fpdfblobcol=urldatablobtable=MungoBlobs FASB. (1993, June). Statement of financial accounting standards no. 117. Retrieved from http://www.fasb.org/cs/BlobServer?blobkey=idblobwhere=1175820923228blobheader=application%2Fpdfblobcol=urldatablobtable=MungoBlobs CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify that the attached paper is my original work. I am familiar with, and acknowledge my responsibilities which are part of, the University of Phoenix Student Code of Academic Integrity. I affirm that any section of the paper which has been submitted previously is attributed and cited as such, and that this paper has not been submitted by anyone else. I have identified the sources of all information whether quoted verbatim or paraphrased, all images, and all quotations with citations and reference listings. Along with citations and reference listings, I have used quotation marks to identify quotations of fewer than 40 words and have used block indentation for quotations of 40 or more words. Nothing in this assignment violates copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property laws. I further agree that my name typed on the line below is intended to have, and shall have, the same validity as my handwritten signature.

Ebonics and Education Essay Example for Free

Ebonics and Education Essay A Persuasive Research Paper on the Why Education Should Pave Way for Ebonics All a person needs to do is turn on the television or browse the Internet to see the proof that there are very important changes in the society. Among those changes is how the use of language increased and how its forms have greatly grown. With much slang, dialects and language transformation and combinations, the number of languages all over the world and not just in the United States, have significantly grown larger and bigger. However, the question of whether this continuous dynamic change in languages is for the better remains to be seen. This is because, though languages have changed and grown, problems caused by miscommunication and misunderstandings are still rampant and present. Although language and all its combinations with other languages aimed to bridge the gap between nations and cultures, different people with different origins and speech are still unable to bridge that gap. There are still many issues concerning the cropping up and usage of new languages. Most common among those is the problem that languages which are combined or which undergo a linguistic blend tends to be disruptive of formal, correct and grammatical language. A simple example would be those music videos which feature artists that combine and contract structure of words to make the song more likeable or even more attuned to the rhythm of the song. However, this has a negative effect as people, most especially young adults and children, become familiar with such language usage to the point that they begin to emulate them. Such debate has long been the topic in educational boards and institutions of whether they should correct and put stop to such language usage or encourage such exchange of words since clearly, the young are affected. In fact, Ebonics or Black English or African American English has become such a heated topic when it was quite obvious that there is a problem among the academics of African American students because they have such low grades and low performance levels that could be attributed to the usage of Ebonics. Many people sided against and for the encouragement of Ebonics. Study after study ensued to prove that Ebonics was an important and integral part of the many pupils and students since that is the language they actually use while others also discouraged its usage. Through this paper, it can be argued that Ebonics is not a mere slang which African American students can do without and that it is not something which should be corrected just because it is seen as ungrammatical. Instead, what the educational boards and institutions should do is cater to their learners and use Ebonics to implement knowledge transfer among their pupils and students and eventually make them learn and use Standard English. Ebonics is formally known as African American English or AAE according to the Center for Applied Linguistics (n. p. ). It is a kind of sociolect or social dialect where it is often used by people who are of African American origins in particular surroundings or situations. The difference of Ebonics with American English is its structure wherein African dialects and sounds are combined, blended, mixed with American English. American English is also sometimes contracted with African dialects or sounds to be inserted within the contractions. Such example is presented by John R. Rickford in his discussion of Ebonics as presented in the Website of the Stanford University. In the example, Rickford uses a simple sentence which is grammatically correct: â€Å"I asked Alvin if he could go† (n. p. ). He then conveys the example to a student known to use Ebonics and the student gives his own version of the sentence: â€Å"I as Alvin could hecould he go† (Rickford, n. p. ). Ebonics is not the mere transformation of structure of words to ungrammatically correct versions. In fact, though not completely grammatically acceptable, Ebonics is still considered a structured and coherent dialect. As what the Center for Applied Linguistics or CAL states, â€Å"AAE (or Ebonics) is a regular, systematic language variety that contrasts with other dialects in terms of its grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary† (n. p. ). Thus, Ebonics is not wrong or incorrect, it is merely different and a contradiction with other languages, in this case, the language of American English or Standard English. The origin of Ebonics is unclear but the origins of why it became a topic of heated arguments and debate is quite known. Because nations cater to other nations, and migration and immigration (and even simple leisure travel) are inevitable, it is also natural that the language which people of different cultures use would also be transferred and assimilated by other people with other languages. According to Ladonna Lewis Rush’s argumentative paper on the Ebonics debate titled The Ebonics Debate, the origins of Ebonics can be explained by Smitherman who wrote in Talking and Testifyin: Black English and the Black Experience that: Black English contains elements of Standard English, elements of West African languages, and elements unique to African-Americans. The structure of speech in Ebonics can be analyzed and related to African language structures as well as to the black experience in America. (as cited by Rush, n. p. ) Thus, Ebonic came about because the African Americans needed the language which they could adapt to and use while in America who used American English for their communication. Like what the CAL stated, Smitherman and Rush also believe that Ebonics is not mere slang which is featured and used by African American music artists but it is considered as a distinct dialect all on its own. The concept of Ebonics must have been unknown to most people before the year 1996 but because of a certain state in America, Ebonics and everything related to the dialect and term suddenly exploded to the point that it became a topic of debate. According to Tracey L. Weldon in her write up titled Reflections on the Ebonics Controversy which appeared in American Speech, the Oakland Unified School District in California passed a resolution on the month of December year 2006 that â€Å"recognized the legitimacy of Ebonics† and it called â€Å"for teachers in the district to be better educated about the rules governing the variety (Ebonics)† with the aim that the teachers would be able to improve â€Å"the teaching of standard English to Ebonics speakers† (275). The issue sparked up debate after debate because linguists approved the resolution stating it was correct and adequate while Ebonics speakers and family members of African American origins complained that it was an obvious tactic of discrimination and identification of who were the students that does not have the ability to speak the â€Å"proper English† (Weldon 276). Ebonics and the usage of the dialect is quite obvious in the society as it can be heard from people in most social gatherings, informal meetings and even in the media. According to Rickford, many terms and structures in Ebonics are used by common people because of what they have learned from â€Å"rap, hip hop† and other means of â€Å"popular Black culture† (n. p. ). As what Rickford uses to describe this massive usage of Ebonics in popular Black culture, it becomes â€Å"an icon of youth culture itself† wherein young African Americans are immediately identified as being users of Ebonics. Since Ebonics is a mere means of communication among African Americans, then it should not be a great deal of a problem. However, unfortunately, the usage of the sociolect has become increasingly an issue most especially in educational institutions wherein grammatically correct and linguistically sound structure and vocabulary should be used and encouraged. Rush points out the case why Ebonics has become a problem among pupils and students in schools and this is because they manage to have poor academic standing and it was revealed that because of this dialect that the students have such appalling results. Rush writes in her paper that â€Å"language skills are directly related to success in academics† (n. p. ). This is obviously true since language is used to communicate and interact with other people. Poor language skills or inability to produce and understand the language would make it for one’s self and for other people to have a clear conversation and communication. It is also Rush who pointed out that African American students have a high rate of being suspended (around 80%) and that the students are â€Å"lagging behind in measures of academic success† (n. p. ). There was also an article which appeared on NEA Today that interviewed Lisa Delpit who is a professor an author that focused on Ebonics. In the interview, Delpit mentioned the reason why Ebonics is important and why the resolution passed by the school district was commendable: Most of the African-American children in Oakland were performing miserably. But one school, the Prescott School, consistently performed near the top of the district. Its students were all low-income African-American children. And it adopted a program called the Standard English Proficiency, which uses the childrens home language and culture to teach them Standard English. (17). If Ebonics will be used to relate to the students and slowly pave their learning for Standard English, then there is a high possibility that African Americans’ percentage of academically challenged students would significantly decrease. The question then is how does one go on solving such problem to ensure a fool proof way of solving the issue? This of course lies with the educational board and teachers. Teachers in formal schools teach Standard English because it something which society and the rest of the English speakers use. There is no problem with using Ebonics if it is outside professional and academic grounds; it is after all part of the African American culture. However, Standard English should be the language that is encouraged by the teachers to be used by their students because it would help them in the long run. Based on different discussions on the resolution passed by the school district of Oakland, the debate on whether Ebonics should be studied by the district’s teachers and used to pave the way to teach Standard English should not even be a topic of debate. This is because the debate started because of a mere misunderstanding about the resolution, another proof that language does not only bridge gaps it also creates them, when people saw Standard English as the only form of English that linguists identified as â€Å"proper English†. Linguistically speaking, there is indeed a Standard English as what Weldon has stated but the term â€Å"proper English† is incorrect since there is no wrong or right English. If it can be remembered, Ebonics is even identified as being a dialect that is structured thus, it is very much acceptable. In conclusion, the issue that Ebonics be used to gap and slowly push the learners toward Standard English (as aimed by the resolution) is created by the definition and need of the Standard English. Standard English is not the only English nor is it the only form of the language which is encouraged to be used; instead, Standard English is something which is needed to make all forms of English languages coherent and uniform in the sense that there would be no linguistically and communicatively wrongly structured words. It is the same case of having a one school uniform designated to students of a school to identify who are the members of that school or the generally approved legal age for drinking or voting or driving. There is a common factor which envelopes the entities of a school, a state or a nation. Standard English therefore is needed by the Ebonics speakers if they are desirous of being successful in society which is also the language used by the many. Ebonics is not slang, wrong nor should it be discouraged. However, the Ebonics speakers should be able to understand that learning the Standard English is important since it would make them socially adept at communicating with other people. With all the turmoil and misunderstandings that society is currently under, it needs all the unity and harmony it can get—even if it just comes from having a language they can all understand and speak. Works Cited A New Take on Ebonics and Teaching. NEA Today 17. 2 (1998): 17. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 26 July 2010. Center for Applied Linguistics. 2010. â€Å"Dialects – African American English†. Cal. org. Web. 26 July 2010. Rickford, John R. 1996. â€Å"Ebonics Notes and Discussion†. Stanford. edu. Web. 26 July 2010. Rush, Ladonna Lewis. â€Å"The Ebonics Debate†. Princeton. edu. College of Wooster. 1997. Web. 26 July 2010. Weldon, Tracey L. â€Å"Reflections on the Ebonics Controversy†. American Speech 75. 3 ( 2000): 275-277. Project MUSE. Web. 26 July 2010.

Broken Windows Theory Analysis

Broken Windows Theory Analysis Assessing the theory of Broken Windows Wicked people exist. Nothing avails except to set them apart from innocent peopleWe have trifled with the wicked, made sport of the innocent, and encouraged the calculators. Justice suffers, and so do we all James Wilson The basic idea for the Broken Windows theory is that any kind of urban blight – a broken window, graffitied walls, rubbish on the streets, etc. – does no harm to a neighbourhood if it is immediately remedied. However, if left untended, it signifies a lack of care in the community, the kind of environment in which it is acceptable for residents to relinquish any notions of concern. And while the initial damage and disrepair is physical, the next stage is psychological. That is, if it becomes acceptable for people to litter and vandalise at will, why not walk around drunk, or beg for money, or mug others for it? Why not even kill for it? Why follow any kind of rules at all? In sum, the Broken Windows theory postulates that the smallest symptoms can lead to the greatest crimes. This paper will examine the effectiveness of this idea. The Broken Windows theory first became widely known in 1982, when James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling published an article in the Atlantic Monthly called Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety. The article articulated the reasons why minor neighbourhood slights should not be ignored: A piece of property is abandoned, weeds grow up, a window is smashed. Adults stop scolding rowdy children; the children, emboldened, become more rowdy. Families move out, unattached adults move in. Teenagers gather in front of the corner store. The merchant asks them to move; they refuse. Fights occur. Litter accumulates. People start drinking in front of the grocery; in time, an inebriate slumps to the sidewalk and is allowed to sleep it off. Pedestrians are approached by panhandlers (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). On the surface, this idea, that small acts of antisocial behaviour can act as catalysts for others, and that a broken window sends a signal to criminals that it okay to break the law, seems perfectly reasonable and logical. The notion that once people begin disregarding the norms that keep order in a community, both order and community unravel, even follows the concept of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics (systems naturally progress from a state of order to disorder). And almost from its inception, the idea took hold. While the Wilson/Kelling article did the most to publicise the theory, there were some precedents, namely Philip Zimbardos 1969 experiment, in which he left two identical 1959 Oldsmobiles in different neighbourhoods, one near the Bronx campus of New York University and one near the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California. The license plates of both cars were removed and the hoods opened to provide the necessary releaser signals (Zimbardo, 1969). In the Bronx, within ten minutes, the car was vandalised, and by the end of the day was stripped bare. In Palo Alto, the car remained untouched for a week, until Zimbardo himself broke one of its windows with a sledgehammer, at which point others joined in. Within a few hours, the car was completely destroyed. (Gladwell, 1996). Zimbardos focus was on the psychological aspects of authority and anonymity, and his experiment aimed to understand what factors and to what extent human behaviour was governed by environmental and physiological stimuli, a process known as deindividuation: a series of antecedent social conditions lead to a change in perception of self and others, and thereby to a lowered threshold of normally restrained behavior (Zimbardo, 1969). Wilson and Kellings article, however, was more prescriptive, and was focused on applying the Broken Windows theory to law enforcement procedures. And it is in this way that politicians and police have regarded the theory over the past twenty-five years, paving the way for a slate of reforms aimed at promoting deterrence through arrests, imprisonment and harsh sentencing, with a heavy reliance on the criminal justice system to impart severe and swift penalties (Conklin, 1992). Within the article, the authors discuss the historical function of police work, which they describe as maintaining public order: From the earliest days of the nation, the police function was seen primarily as that of a night watchman: to maintain order against the chief threats to order – fire, wild animals, and disreputable behavior. Solving crimes was viewed not as a police responsibility but as a private one (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). However, this eventually changed, and detective work (solving crimes) took on a greater role, a shift that the authors feel should be reversed: A great deal was accomplished during this transition, as both police chiefs and outside experts emphasized the crime-fighting function in their plans, in the allocation of resources, and in deployment of personnel. The police may well have become better crime-fighters as a result. And doubtless they remained aware of their responsibility for order. But the link between order-maintenance and crime-prevention, so obvious to earlier generations, was forgotten (ibid). Another criticism felled by Wilson and Kelling was the lack of community policing, or the beat officer on foot, patrolling the neighbourhood. Instead, there had been a steady shift towards keeping the officers in their squad cards, in which case they were isolated, removed from the people of the neighbourhood and the life on the street, whereas what foot-patrol officers did was to elevate, to the extent that they could, the level of public order in these neighborhoods (ibid). In short, the officer on foot was not only more accessible, and thus a part of the community; he was better able to understand it and serve it. The majority of the theory, however, has to do with a new focus on smaller crimes – beggars, drunks, teenagers, litter, etc. – rather than big ones. These so-called gateway crimes are where the real offenses take root; eliminate these, and the major crimes will be stopped before they have a chance to foster and spread: The citizen who fears the ill-smelling drunk, the rowdy teenager, or the importuning beggar is not merely expressing his distaste for unseemly behavior; he is also giving voice to a bit of folk wisdom that happens to be a correct generalization – namely that serious street crime flourishes in areas in which disorderly behavior goes unchecked. The unchecked panhandler is, in effect, the first broken window (ibid). But does the theory work? As of yet, there has been no scientific evidence proving it does. Even Wilson himself a few years ago admitted: People have not understood that this was a speculation (Hurley, 2004). It should be noted that on the very first page of the Atlantic Monthly article, where the authors were giving a history of community policing in Newark, NJ, they mentioned a study by the Police Foundation that discovered that while foot patrol had not reduced crime rates, residents seemed to feel more secure than persons in other areas (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). On the surface, this seems pretty straightforward – because foot patrols did not lead to a drop in crime rates, they didnt do anything to make neighbourhoods safer. However, Wilson and Kelling use the residents testimony to argue that, in fact, the community is safer, because disorder itself is something to be feared: We understand what most often frightens people in public places. Many citizens, of course, are primarily frightened by crime, especially crime involving a sudden, violent attack by a stranger. This risk is very real, in Newark as in many large cities. But we tend to overlook another source of fearthe fear of being bothered by disorderly people (ibid). This is all very well and good, that people appreciate not having to deal with aggressive and disorderly people. But how then is safety being measured, if not by crime rates? The authors certainly arent implying that it can be measured by residents feelings of safety? Regardless, the rest of the article makes no mention of this issue, and concentrates primarily on perceived dangers (how to curb a communitys fears of being bothered by disorderly persons), rather than actual ones (curbing crime rates themselves). The theory had its first test in the early 90s, when the Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, implemented his own version of it to target the citys high crime rate. This didnt happen simply by chance; George Kelling was a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute, and was one of Giulianis advisors (DePalma, 2002). The term that was used to describe the new initiative was the no tolerance policy. This phrase, along with another that soon followed (quality of life), acted as the cornerstones for Giulianis mayorship. He aimed to aggressively target even minor infractions (no tolerance) in order to clean up the city and make New York a safe place to live (improved quality of life). Police were given powers that they never before had, and were encouraged to hand out tickets and arrests for anything and everything. For the cops, Chief of Police William Bratton commented, they were a bonanza. Every arrest was like opening a box of Cracker Jacks. What kind of toy am I going to get? Got a gun? Got a knife? Got a warrant? Do we have a murderer here? Each cop wanted to be the one who came up with the big collar. It was exhilarating for the cops and demoralizing for the crooks (Bratton, 1998). In addition to the usual list of offenders – drunks, panhandlers, juvenile delinquents – were added jaywalkers and squeegee men, those homeless men and women who aggressively and without asking would clean a cars windshield while the driver was stuck in traffic, and then demand payment. The effect of the new procedures was instant and irrevocable: crime dropped to its lowest figures in four decades, and stayed there. At the present moment, New York City is the safest big city in America. However, whether this decline can solely or even partially be attributed to Broken Windows is up for debate. At the same time the police were implementing harsh no tolerance crackdowns, the crack cocaine market bottomed out, which resulted in less drug deals, fewer addicts on the street and a reduction in violent turf wars, all of which at one time were responsible for numerous muggings and murders (Harcourt, 2002). In addition, over the same time period, there were dramatic improvement s in emergency response capabilities and medical care, which ended up saving the lives of countless people who previously would have died (Lizza, 2002). There were also important changes at the New York Police department during this time that could have explained the drop in crime, including a significant increase in the number of police officers. In 1992, Giulianis predecessor, David Dinkins, hired over two thousand new officers under the Safe Streets, Safe City project, and Giuliani himself hired another four thousand, and merged another six thousand Transit and Housing Authority officers into the ranks of the New York Police Department (Harcourt, 2002). Because of this, the department increased from 26,856 in 1991 to 39,779 in 2000, giving New York the largest police force in the country, with the highest ratio of officers to civilians of any major city (U.S. Department of Justice, 1992). Another argument against the success of Broken Windows is that the 1990s were generally a boom time. The stock market, employment and wages were all at record highs throughout the United States, and crime rates are usually more prevalent when times are hard. For example, crime fell in many large cities – San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston, Boston and others – at exactly the same time, and in some cases in an even more dramatic fashion: One study found that New York Citys drop in homicides, though impressive, is neither unparalleled nor unprecedented. Houstons drop in homicides of 59 percent between 1991 and 1996 outpaced New York Citys 51 percent decline over the same period. Another study looked at the rates of decline in homicides in the seventeen largest U.S. cities from 1976 to 1998 and found that New York Citys recent decline, though above average, was the fifth largest, behind San Diego, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, and Houston (Joanes, 1999). And many of these cities did not implement the kind of order-maintenance procedures that New York did. For example, the San Diego police department instilled a model based on community-police relations. Their strategy was one of sharing the responsibility of identifying and solving crimes with neighbourhood residents. Because of this, San Diego not saw a marked decrease in crime, but experienced a 15 percent drop in arrests, and an 8 percent drop in complaints of police misconduct (Greene, 1999). In addition, San Francisco made community involvement a priority, and felony incarcerations dropped from 2,136 in 1993 to 703 in 1998, and rape, robbery, aggravated assault and total violent crime decreased more than the rate in New York over the same period (Khaled and Macallair, 2002). Other cities, including Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, also experienced significant decreases in crime without adopting as coherent a policing strategy as New York or San Diego. The fact is that there was a remarkable drop in crime in many major cities in the United States during the 1990s, many of which used a variety of different strategies. To attribute New Yorks declining crime rates to merely their implementation of more aggressive initiatives is overly simplistic. However, New Yorks success got the most publicity, and much of the country wanted to learn from Giuliani and to implement their own no tolerance policies. And its popularity in the U.S. was only matched by its appeal abroad. In 1998, representatives from over 150 police departments from around the world visited New York to learn about order-maintenance policing, and in 2000, another 235 police departments, the vast majority from overseas, followed suit (Gootman, 2000). However, even if the Broken Windows theory is correct, it has still never been fully explained as to how it works. It could be argued that those who choose to commit crimes, denied the signals they would normally receive from low-grade disorder, move on to different locales. But where do they go? And if such places existed, couldnt they implement their own Broken Windows initiatives? One possible answer comes from writer and social theorist Malcolm Gladwell, who suggests that crime actually does increase or decrease much like an epidemic, and at certain thresholds will turn, rather than rise and fall in a typical linear fashion (Gladwell, 1996). Wilson and Kelling for their part fail to talk much about the specifics by which public disorder turns into crime. They simply say it does, as do most of the theorys supporters. However, some seem to have taken the idea to illogical extremes, such as a Lancaster, Pennsylvania reporter commenting on the citys new quality of life initiatives: If you put a couch out in a backyard, somebody could get raped on that couch (Van Nguyan, 2001). Bernard Harcourt, who has written extensively on the issue, believes that the aggressive prosecution of disorderly behaviour has had little effect on crime rates dropping. His argument is that the increased number of arrests, searchers, surveillance, and police officers on the streets has had the fairly straightforward effect of bringing more small offenses to light, and that no provable connection has ever made between disorder and crime (Harcourt, 2002). His worry is that this sets a dangerous precedent, and that the unfounded power of the police will only lead to more drastic action against less drastic offenses, especially minorities: Incidents like the NYPDs alleged torture of a Haitian naturally reinforce minority citizens distrust of the police. This mistrust has been boosted of late by numerous television videotapes showing police officers beating up unresisting citizens. In most cases, the cops were white and those on the receiving end of their clubs were black or Latino (McNamara, 1997). However, this is exactly in line with what Wilson and Kelling argue for, this bygone era of policing: The police in this earlier period assisted in that reassertion of authority by acting, sometimes violently, on behalf of the community. Young toughs were roughed up, people were arrested on suspicion or for vagrancy, and prostitutes and petty thieves were routed. Rights were something enjoyed by decent folk, and perhaps also by the serious professional criminal, who avoided violence and could afford a lawyer (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). Kelling himself spent some time accompanying an officer (Kelly) on his beat, the experience of which again illustrates a strange tolerance for lawlessness on the part of the police: Sometimes what Kelly did could be described as enforcing the law, but just as often it involved taking informal or extralegal steps to help protect what the neighborhood had decided was the appropriate level of public order. Some of the things he did probably would not withstand a legal challenge (ibid). After all, what can extralegal possibly mean other than illegal? It seems odd that this is the sort of behaviour the authors advocate, one in which officers are allowed to take the law into their own hands, but anyone who commits even the smallest of trespasses – jaywalking, littering, urinating in public – needs to be several punished. It certainly doesnt put much faith in the fairness of the model. And, in fact, the Broken Windows model is far from fair. One of its constant critiques is that the kinds of offenses it targets are primarily those carried out by the poor. There is no mention of embezzlement, crooked accountants, insurance scams, loan sharks or slumlords, crimes typical of the wealthy. And these offenses, certainly, can have just as detrimental effect on a community as a host of unsightly behaviours, if not more so. The broken windows metaphor is interesting in that it is actually up to landlords to fix real-life broken windows, while it is often those who are not in a position to do so, the community, who are held responsible for the damage. Aside from more people being arrested and subsequently incarcerated, the theory doesnt actually do much to aid a neighbourhood. If the aim is improved public order, couldnt that be achieved with homeless shelters, urban renewal projects and social workers? (Harcourt, 2002). In many ways, the philosophy behind it is almost out of sight, out of mind. And, in fact, this seems to be the view expressed by Kelling and his wife Catherine Coles in Fixing Broken Windows, a book-length exploration of the policing strategies first advocated in 1982: Kelling and Coles take a tough-minded view of who the street denizens we frequently label the homeless really are and what they are doing, sidestepping the politically constructed images of claimants like the homeless that little resemble the aggressive, conniving, often drug-crazed schemers that Kelling and Coles see populating the streets (Skogan, 1997). Skogan, in fact, is so skeptical of the motives of the poor that he cannot even use the word homeless without quotation marks, as if they all have houses somewhere. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it leads to a dangerous two worlds model, where people are either decent and respectable or disingenuous and no good. And, naturally, all the problems in neighbourhoods arise from the actions of the latter. This kind of precedent was set down by Wilson as far back as 1968: The teenager hanging out on a street corner late at night, especially one dressed in an eccentric manner, a Negro wearing a conk rag (a piece of cloth tied around the head to hold flat hair being processed – that is, straightened), girls in short skirts and boys in long hair parked in a flashy car talking loudly to friends on the curb, or interracial couples – all of these are seen by many police officers as persons displaying unconventional and improper behavior (Wilson, 1968). If the police are allowed to restore public order according to their own beliefs and judgments, what is to stop them from carrying out whatever action they deem necessary against the unconventional and improper, including using extralegal measures? Unfortunately, cultural hegemony is nothing new, and many neighbourhoods have enforced rules that govern the actions and abodes of its residents. In every community there is a house that doesnt conform to the aesthetic principles of the rest, a lawn that is never tended or strewn with toys or trash, a derelict car that doesnt meet environmental standards, all of which raise resident ire. But should these things be dealt with under the Broken Windows theory? For example, the town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, adopted Broken Windows measures in the late 90s, and in 2002, the local newspaper received this letter: This being almost mid-April, shouldnt homeowners have had sufficient time to remove their December holiday decorations? Icicle lights hung year round give the impression of a homeowner with an aversion to work and negatively impacts on neighborhoods (Kelly, 2002). While there are obvious differences between public drunks and icicle lights, in other cases the line is much finer, and the potential for abuse is obvious. Wilson and Kelling, for their part, are aware of the problem, and speak out against it: The concern about equity is more serious. We might agree that certain behavior makes one person more undesirable than another but how do we ensure that age or skin color or national origin or harmless mannerisms will not also become the basis for distinguishing the undesirable from the desirable? How do we ensure, in short, that the police do not become the agents of neighborhood bigotry? We can offer no wholly satisfactory answer to this important question. We are not confident that there is a satisfactory answer except to hope that by their selection, training, and supervision, the police will be inculcated with a clear sense of the outer limit of their discretionary authority. That limit, roughly, is this the police exist to help regulate behavior, not to maintain the racial or ethnic purity of a neighborhood (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). Unfortunately, their only solution is to again have the community put its faith in the integrity and judgment of the law enforcement officer, a notion that does little to quell the doubts of those who might be wrongly typecast as criminal because of their race, age or class. In such a subjective atmosphere, with so much at stake, it seems dubious to give one party the last word, or the ability to render judgment (especially if that party is the one with the gun). By taking the focus off the community, and putting it on the individual, a dangerous precedent is being set. However, not everyone agrees with this line of thinking. In fact, many people, including police officers, understand that the only way for Broken Windows or any other community enforcement project to succeed is by people working together: Without the full cooperation of the community, local government and the courts community policing will not work (police officer Daniel Jenkins, 2002). Unfortunately, the authors themselves dont focus too much on this notion of working together, and, if anything, since the Atlantic Monthly article, have gone even further to highlight the vast differences between people. For example, in 1985, Wilson co-authored with Richard Herrnstein a book called Crime and Human Nature, which describes the various traits by which to classify and identify criminals. The book deals not only with age, class and race but body types, painstakingly sorting and measuring these and other attributes into definable composites of law-abiders and law-breakers. The authors conclusions are fairly predictable, describing those prone to commit crimes as an: Unattached, young, most often racialized other. The youth or young adult, threatening, defiant, suspicious, often black, wearing distinctive designer-label clothes. Or the down-and-out street person in a dirty oversized coat. Or the squeegee man, the panhandler, the homeless person, the turnstile jumper, the public drunk (Harcourt, 2002). In stark opposition to this are the ideas of Felton Earls and his colleagues, who conducted a large-scale study of street crime in Chicago in 1997. The studys main focus was on collective efficacy, which was defined as social cohesion among neighbors and their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good (Sampson, Raudenbush and Earls, 1997). The concept, according to the study, is the greatest predictor of street crime, and not Broken Windows or any form of disorder: Testing broken windows was not the point of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, the study planned and conducted by Dr. Earls and colleagues to unravel the social, familial, educational and personal threads that weave together into lives of crime and violenceNonetheless the data gathered for it, with a precision rarely seen in social science, directly contradicted Dr. Wilsons notions (Hurley, 2004). Thus, the seemingly obvious and incontestable connection between crime and disorder may, in fact, not exist at all. Community presence and action may actually be what ultimately fells crime. According to Earls: Its not so much that broken glass or disarray in neighborhoods is the source or root of crime, its really in the social relationships that exist among neighbors, among people who work in neighborhoods, among services and so forth, that the social conditions are there to engage or not to engage citizens, neighbors in watching out for crime or crime-related activity in the neighborhoods (Earls, 2004). And in another no less extensive study two years later, Sampson and Raudenbush found that  disorder and predatory crime were moderately related, but that, when antecedent characteristics were added (such as poverty and neighbourhood trust), the connection between the two vanished in four out of five tests – including homicide, arguably our best measure of violence (Sampson and Raudenbush, 1999). In addition, they discovered that while disorder may have indirect effects on crime by influencing migration patterns, investment by businesses, and overall neighborhood viabilityattacking public order through tough police tactics was politically popular but an analytically weak strategy to reduce crime (ibid). In short, the central tenets of Broken Windows – that disorder leads to crime, and that said crimes are generally carried out by individuals belonging to a criminal class – are questionable. This is not to say that the entire theory is at fault; certainly the notion that a safe neighbourhood is one in which the residents feel secure enough to participate in its defense still holds water. In addition, Wilson and Kelling are correct in urging the community to work with police, and for police to become a part of the community. What they seem to have missed is that the focus of this kind of relationship should rest on there being a real and active presence in the community, and not on crime and disorder. One related irony is that, in the use of Broken Windows policing in New York, for all their effectiveness in cracking down on a wide range of antisocial behaviors, the New York City police never repaired a single broken window, fixed up a single house, or cleaned one vacant lot (Grogan and Proscio, 2000). Furthermore, because of the new aggressive tactics, the city experienced illegal strip searches, extensive sums lost to police misconduct charges, clogged courts and countless traumatic encounters for innocent, ordinary individuals (Harcourt, 2002). In addition, the implementation of a policy of arrest may have had unintended consequences: Someone arrested for turnstile jumping may be fired for missing work; and strained police-civilian relations can create friction between the community and the police force that may be detrimental to solving crimes (ibid). However, this has not stopped cities across the world from emulating Broken Windows procedures, or, for that matter, Giuliani and the Manhattan Institute from exporting their policing philosophies to places like Latin America (despite reservations that what worked in an economic boom in the U.S. may not do as well in extremely poor cities undergoing violent crime and corrupt police) (Village Voice, 2002). The truth of the matter is that Broken Windows is not applicable everywhere, and even within the theory itself there are vagaries, namely the categories of disorder and the disorderly. The concepts are not well-defined; while we identify certain acts as disorderly – panhandling, public drunkenness, litter, prostitution – others – police brutality, tax evasion, accounting fraud – we do not. In addition, the acts themselves are sometimes ambiguous. For example, while people loitering on a buildings front steps or the presence graffiti may signify that a community is disorderly, it is only if they are seen as such. In some neighbourhoods, people loitering may represent strong community bonds, and graffiti may be seen as an art form, or as political or social commentary. The darker truth about Broken Windows is that it attempts to enforce an aesthetically sterile and safe environment, in which one community looks like the next looks like the next. While no one can argue that panhandlers, prostitutes and homeless people, along with litter, dirt and broken windows themselves are not eyesores, their removal is not necessarily a sign of progress. And for those subject to countless and unnecessary searches, acts of intimidation, arrests, imprisonments and the like, it is anything but. Bibliography Bratton, William J. Turnaround: How Americas Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic. New York: Random House, 1998. Conklin, John E. Criminology. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. DePalma, Anthony. The Americas Court: a Group That Changed New York. The New York Times, Nov. 11, 2002. Felton, Earls. National Public Radio, Weekend Edition. Jan. 17, 2004. Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point. The New Yorker, June 3, 1996. Gootman, Elissa. A Police Departments Growing Allure: Crime Fighters From Around World Visit for Tips. The New York Times, Oct. 24, 2000. Greene, Judith A. Zero-Tolerance: A Case Study of Police Policies and Practices in New York City. Crime and Delinquency 45, 1999. Grogan, Paul, and Proscio, Tony. Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revival. Boulder: Westview Press, 2000. Harcourt, Bernard. Policing Disorder: Can We Reduce Serious Crime by Punishing Petty Offenses? Boston Review, April/May, 2002. Hurley, Dan. Scientist at Work – Felton Earls: On Crime as Science (A Neighbor at a Time). The New York Times, Jan. 6, 2004. Jenkins, Daniel. Community Policing Problems: Most People Dont Want to Become Involved. The Sunday News, June 30, 2002. Joanes, Ana. Does the New York City Police Department Deserve Credit for the Decline in New York Citys Homicide Rates? A Cross-City Comparison of Policing Strategies and Homicide Rates. Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems, 33, 1999. Kelling, George L. and Coles, Catherine M. Fixing Broken Windows. New York: The Free Press, 199