Children's Literature - instruction through delight Essay

Children's Literature - instruction through delight - Essay Example And hope that they’d tell their parents†¦which is what happened† (In Beckett, 2008:118). Interestingly, in the UK, Northern Lights was marketed for children however it was marketed for both adult and child markets in the US. It was only when the book received outstanding reviews in the US that it attracted adult readership in the UK. As a result â€Å"many critics feel that Pullman’s work can lay better claim to the crossover label because it is much more sophisticated, complex and multi-layered† (Beckett, 2008:117). Moreover, in considering the crossover phenomenon, a British journalist in 1999 commented that â€Å"the real barrier to overcome is not one of the possibilities of the genre but the judges reluctance to value something that could also be valued by a child, believing that if a child could like it, it must be childish for an adult to like it† (In Beckett: 2008:118). To this end, Pullman’s books clearly challenged orthodox attitudes towards children and adult fiction and further forced the literary establishment to acknowledge that â€Å"books published for children are literary works worthy of attention of adults† (In Beckett, 2008:119). However, in turn, this changing shape of children’s literature has fuelled academic debate as to whether Pullman’s dystopian work can correctly be viewed as a children’s book as it confounds the archetypal format of children’s literature that focus on fairytales, utopian ideals and happy endings (Silvey, 2002: 341). Appurtenant to this debate is the contention as to whether the growing phenomenon of such crossover fiction is anti-educational as a result of the instruction through delight paradigm. The focus of this paper is to critically evaluate this debate with contextual reference to Pullman’s â€Å"Northern Lights†, which is the first book in the Dark Materials Trilogy. It is

Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Art - Essay Example Terre Haute, Indiana is a goldmine for such historical architectural creations. In these regards, the city contains such seminal buildings as the Condit House, the Terminal Arcade, and the Paul Dresser birthplace. Still, perhaps the most historic of Terre Haute buildings is the State Bank of Indiana. This essay examines this building’s Greek Revival architectural style through an examination of its historical, architectural, and aesthetic elements. Analysis While the Terre Haute branch of the State Bank of Indiana officially ended operation in 1859, the bank has remained a prominent piece of local architecture. The branch itself was first formed in 1834. Fig. 1 contains a current image of the bank. As the image depicts, the bank is Fig. 1 State Bank of Indiana currently occupied by Kesler & Kesler law offices. The bank implements Greek revival architecture. One considers that this form of architecture was also prominently implemented in the construction of Federal banking stru ctures at the time. This architectural style was not only reminiscent of the Terre Haute bank, but also thematic among much 19th century American and European architecture. The Greek Revival movement was a significant movement in both the United States and Europe. In large part this movement emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries following a rediscovery of many of the architectural and cultural elements that pervaded ancient Greek society. Prior to this period relatively little was known about this Greek culture, outside of what was known from literary sources. In the mid-1750s, however, serious archeological expeditions began into ancient Greece. Perhaps the most prominent of these expeditions were those conducted by James Stuart. Following many of Stuart’s discoveries European elite society assumed a new interest in Greek culture. It was not long before many architectural projects were undertaken, all of them working to emulate the Greek style. Within European so ciety the construction of these building was interpreted as a cultural shift towards a new level of sobriety and restraint and eventually as a means of asserting a new level of nationalism. It was not long before such design principles moved from European society to the United States. In this way Thomas Jefferson was one of the most seminal figures, as he is noted for owning a copy of the book Antiquities of Athens. While Jefferson himself was not an architect he perhaps made the greatest contribution to popularizing the style within the United States, as he hired Benjamin Henry Latrobe as the official surveyor for the country. Latrobe would go on to design a number of buildings in the Greek Revival school of architecture. Among the most prominent of these constructions are the Bank of Pennsylvania and the Supreme Court interior. Towards the 1830s a second Greek Revival movement emerged in the United States. During this period the Latrobe designed the Second Bank of the United State s. There is the recognition then that this bank not only held a conceptual linkage to the Terre Haute building, but also a structural similarity. While a branch of the State Bank of Indiana is located in Terre Haute, Indiana, there were additionally a number of state banks created during the same time. In

Medicating kids with add and adhd disorder Essay

Medicating kids with add and adhd disorder - Essay Example It is complex syndrome of impairments related to the development of brain cognitive management systems or executive functions. It affects a person’s organization skills, concentration, focus and prolonged attention on a task, processing speed, short-term working memory and access recall, sustained motivation to work and the appropriate management of emotions (Brown: 14) In analyzing the human brain, the frontal part of the cortex is responsible for thinking, problem-solving decision-making and behavior control. This area is affected in individuals with ADHD (Hammerness: 52). Their impairment is related to problems in the release and reloading of two crucial neurotransmitter chemicals made in the brain: dopamine and norepinephrine. Such chemicals facilitate the communication within neural networks that control one’s thinking (Brown:15). Because of their impulsive and inattentive nature, it is important to come up with interventions that can help people with ADHD to be mo re in control of their behaviours. On one hand, the option of giving them medication to augment their brain function deficits is a sensible way to help them manage their disorder. On the other hand, some people, especially educators, do not recommend medicating individuals, especially children, diagnosed with ADHD and instead, recommend non-medicated intervention alternatives. In terms of medicated interventions, Brown (16) contends that certain medications have been manufactured to compensate for the inefficient release and reloading of essential neurotransmitters at countless synaptic connections in the brain. Individuals with the ADHD disorder have experienced remarkable improvement in their functioning when they are treated with appropriate doses of such medications. These medications alleviate symptoms only for the time when the medication is active in the brain, thus helping the individual in most self-management tasks. Hammerness (55) reports that stimulant medications such a s Ritalin which is a methylphenidate are effective helping children with ADHD to be calm and focused. These stimulants increase the neurotransmitter messages from one neuron to another. For example, if the brain cells in the area responsible for attention are not getting enough messages between them then the brain does not function well and does not direct the individual’s attention to focus on his assigned task. When the individual takes the medication, it gets absorbed into the bloodstream then travels to the brain where it works to improve attention deficits. Stimulant medications have been proven to improve ADHD symptoms of 65-75% of children who take them (Hammerness: 55). Such medications provide children with more control of their bodies, their speech and their focus. They need to be part of the team deciding about the use of medication for their condition because when they grow up, they have to make their own decisions about their own treatment. The use of medication in helping individuals with ADHD manage their condition has been greatly welcomed when a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in November, 1990, reported that ADHD is a neurologically based behavioural disorder that is best treated by stimulants (Mayes & Erkulwater: 315). In general, vast research provide evidence that ADHD medication are safe especially when administered over short-term use. On the other hand, some camps are against the use of medic

Rennaisance Humanist Movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Rennaisance Humanist Movement - Essay Example Therefore, this paper analyzes the difference between their ideologies on liberty and their earlier views about the Catholic Church. Martin Luther started his protests about the protestant reformation through his first essays by attacking the Catholic Church. These assertions may not be the truth as Martin Luther started his mission in 1511 to Rome as a delegate to protest about the Straupitz improvements. He was enlightened with the catholic knowledge due to his earlier knowledge as a monk and a priest. Luther was able to see deceptive and corruptions in the Catholic Church. He was in a position to develop views about the church and God after he became close to the church. Earlier in his life, he had limited faith in God but he based his beliefs on personal experiences he had with God. He further believed that God had deserted him and thus he punished himself through starvation. Starvation could act as a cleansing mechanism to remove all the impurities, which God refuted. According to Luther, man’s relationship with God was through purification that all things could together, praise, and love God. Other people could not find peace with God due to personal conflict. He spread his understanding of the bible to save the oppressed to overcome the battle with the church. Luther maintained that salvation was not just through laws or works, but also through God’s work. This is a biblical allusion where salvation also demands God’s glory and righteousness that man has done and by his mercy and the work of his grace which we have believed. According to Luther, a person who believed in God and his personal relationship with Him meant that the church had no mandate to condemn that believer because he could not afford to pay the taxes or attend the church proceedings each Sunday. Furthermore, the church had no mandate to control people’s personal life and their God’s beliefs. People had the right to elect their own pastors to resolve the corruption cases. This was after the new understanding about the new relationship between God and man. Therefore, God’s word should arise from people with similar views as others. In this regard, the new free cities could not elude this, which relived them from paying taxes. Through his theological views, church powers were contained in its own state. Several towns launched complains about the powers and high influence that the church had. This proved that the church possessed too many powers over the city-states. Machiavelli had different views from what Luther earlier asserted. He asserted that the key quality in any true person is the value of the word he has. In the prince, the author expresses his deep feelings about the person in the story of one prince. He values integrity for he wishes that the prince keeps his word. In our daily live, all princes who have successfully accomplished great deeds have cared less about keeping their valued promises and have good knowledg e on handling men in a shrewd manner. Machiavelli posits that people were in a position to do things that are more important but they may be interfered by laziness, which hinders them from accomplishing their tasks. Furthermore, the individuals may be too manipulative to allow their efforts go unrewarded. He likened this to the princes whose skills aided them acquire the principles with some difficult but they easily hold on and the growth of the

Affirmative Action Racism And Discrimination Essay Example for Free

Affirmative Action Racism And Discrimination Essay America is called â€Å"the land of opportunity† however, most of the countries citizens are not able to enjoy the benefits that the title provides. Being able to accomplish scholastic goals, attend a four-year college, and to have an influential career, are not obtainable for many, even though they work hard. Our nation has long been plagued by an ugly occurrence. An occurrence that finds its origins at the very core of our society. It is a problem familiar in some ways to all of us regardless of which side of the argument we find ourselves, and yet it remains unsolved. To verify that a problem exists, as Beverly, Tatum explains, we must first understand, racism as a system of advantage based on race, and white privilege as unjust enrichment through racial oppression,(Tatum,pg 10, 115). Next we must look at the steps taken to level the playing field of advanced racial groups. In America racism and discrimination is a cruel reality. For centuries now, local, state, and federal governments have been proactive in protecting or expanding the system of racial discrimination. White government officials and programs have often favored the racial and political-economic interests of white Americans. Government programs historically provided much access to homesteading land and numerous other valuable resources exclusively to white Americans (Feagin, 2010, p. 143). In an affords toward concern for equality, Affirmative action was created. It was designed to counteract the effect that discriminatory practices have embedded in the American culture. Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin into consideration in order to benefit an under represented group in areas of employment, education, and business, usually justified as countering the effects of a history of discriminatio n. The term affirmative action was first used in the United States in Executive Order 10925 and was signed by President John F. Kennedy on 6 March 1961; it was used to promote actions that achieve non-discrimination. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted Executive Order 11246 which required government employers to take affirmative action to hire without regard to race, religion and national origin. In 1968, gender was added to the anti-discrimination list. A lively debate with sparks flying within racial group exists over the importance of the Affirmative action process. Some would argue that affirmative action undeservingly rewards minorities, and takes away from whites in effect causing reverse discrimination. Not long ago, Senator Bob Dole, a Republican presidential candidate, spoke in a television interview of â€Å"displaced† white men who compete with black workers because of affirmative action. He said that he was not sure that â€Å"people in America† (he meant â€Å"whites†) should be paying a price for discrimination that occurred â€Å"before they were born†. (Feagin, 2010, p. 15). Taking this evidence into consideration, should this influence the direction taken regarding affirmative action? University of California Regent Ward Connerly believes that affirmative action is used as a crutch that is ruining the relationship between blacks and whites. If this were true, would this be a good reason to halt government involvement in affirmative action programs? Would people identify these issues and take steps to make changes? Historically this has not been the case. Affirmative action programs have been successful in making social change. Minorities that have previously been excluded from opportunities have been afforded opportunities to achieve through affirmative action programs. Initially, affirmative action was a policy primarily aimed at correcting institutional discrimination where decisions, policies and procedures that are not necessarily explicitly discriminatory have had a negative impact on people of color. Affirmative action policies address and redress systematic economic and political discrimination against any group of people that are underrepresented or have a history of being discriminated against in particular institutions. Beneficiaries of these programs have included white men and women, people with disabilities, and poor working class people, but their primary emphasis has been on addressing racial discrimination (Kivel, P) If our goal is to eradicate discriminatory practices, then our government must continue to mandate legislation, and fund programs to address these issues. Following this conclusion it is clear to see that all evidence supports the benefits of affirmative action. What we have before us is a society with the possibility to make great strides in regards to changing the system of inequality. It is important that government lead in the direction that supports affirmative action programs. Government needs to see this as the biggest problem on their social agenda, and it will take a significant effort to mandate change, but the benefit for everyone will be extraordinary. References Feagin, J. (2010). Racist America Roots, Current Realities, and Future Reparations New York: Routledge Press. Tatum, Beverly Daniel. (2003). †Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? New York: Basic Books. Executive Order 11246. (2012, July 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:23, October 30, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Executive_Order_11246oldid=500344831 Montgomery, A. (2000, march 27). A â€Å"poison† divides us, salon.com, Kivel, P. (1997, November,17) Affirmative Action Works! Motion Magazine

The Distinctive Ethnic Youth Cultures In Britain Cultural Studies Essay

The Distinctive Ethnic Youth Cultures In Britain Cultural Studies Essay Youth cultures in Britain became prominent within discourse during the 1960s-80s, with an amalgam of different subcultures emerging. Upon answering this question, I shall endeavour to construct an analysis of ethnic subcultures within Britain during the mid 20th century, and analyse the extent in which these cultures could be identified as distinctive, or whether they could be seen to be embracive to all ethnicities within society. Post war immigration was seen as a watershed moment within British history. The result of mass immigration bestowed Britain with a economic advantage on a global scale. From a Marxist perspective, the British were now able to maintain profit accumulation through now having a reserve army of labour. Black youth cultures became prominent during the 1960s and 1970s, being the first generation of black youths to be born in Britain. Research often comments on the way in which black people felt like being victims outside of British society, being an ambiguous presence inside the popular culture of the host society' (1987, 160). Youth deeply felt that they never had the African or Caribbean connection, which was instilled within their parents, and further, though being born in Britain, they were failed by the indigenous society to be seen as British. Mullard (1973) further expressed this view by quoting, A black born in Britain, is a shadow of a man. You are not West Indian, Pakistani or African, because you were born in Britain and you know little or nothing about your parents country (cited in 1978,181). Therefore, youth felt somewhat disillusioned to their belonging, subsequently resulting in diaspora and animosity towards white inhabitants. Moreover racialised rhetoric was evidential within society and the media. Love thy Neighbour was a popular British sitcom in the 60s which sought to demonstrate prejudicial attitudes towards black people within Britain, which were expressed on a daily basis. It further sought to portray the way in the prejudicial, bigoted attitudes expressions of the character Eddie Booth appeared stupid. On the other hand, the black male character Bill Reynolds, was a smart educated person, who often ended up having the last laugh when Eddie tried to outdo him. Rising Damp which also aired in the 1970s had elements of racial discourse from the main character Rigsby, who was the landlord, towards one of the tenants, Philip Smith. As Philip was a black man, he often brought out knee-jerk suspicions from Rigsby. From analysing these television episodes, its seems incontrovertible that these programmes presented a clear image of the prejudicial discourse/ neo colonial sphere of thought that was poignant within society, however at the same time, it endeavoured to humanise the element of racialism in order to portray how futile and inane these attitudes were. One cannot negate the element of mugging, which had heightened black youth subcultures. Hall et al. in Policing the Crisis: Mugging the State and Law and Order (1978), explained the considerable impact that the media had in perpetuating a negativistic image of black young males, being constructed as your archetypal muggers. This had a pronounced effect within society, causing a moral panic and influencing the police force to carry out more stop and searches on black people than their white counterparts. The extent of the excessive stop and searches brought about the West Indian Standing Council to claim that the police were engaging in nigger hunting and that the British black population had now been demonised. Rastafarianism brought collective identity amongst a number of black youth. Bound together by their struggles and looking to their return to Zion from Babylon. The Rastafarian movement arose in during the 1930s in Jamaica. Rastafarians worship Haile Selassie I, believing he is the resurrected manifestation of Jah and will ultimately lead Rastafarians to Zion (Ethiopia). In order to achieve this, western society (Babylon) is strongly rejected, and seen as corrupt. Rastas also believe in Zion being the original birthplace of mankind, and embrace various socio-political and Afrocentric teachings of Marcus Garvey who is regarded as a prophet. The use of cannabis is embraced, both within spiritual realms and as a symbol of rebellion to Babylon. Rastafarians usually grow their hair into dreadlocks, backed from a Biblical perspective. The Rastafarian colours are red, gold and green, originating from the Marcus Garvey movement, the Jamaican flag, and the Ethiopian flag. In the case of black subculture in Britain, Babylon was identified as London, furthermore Brixton, as there was a high volume of Rastafarians. Dreadlocks were seen by the police in effect as sticking two fingers up at them. There was a deep sense of animosity amongst police and their dislike for black in particular having dreadlocks. It is important to note that although not all black youth adopted the Rastafarian religion, the overwhelming majority of black youth embraced the clothing which they used as symbolic significance to try and end the problem of racism. Rastafarians were often criticised for their beliefs, and in extreme situations, were even rejected by other blacks within Britain. It is imperative to mention that the style of fashion Rastafarians adopted, was also embraced by some white males. The clothing style was adopted, and in some cases, selective patois words were used. Reggae played an integral role within Rastafarianism. This genre was very distinctive as it drew on vivid experiences of black people in Jamaica. It was further distinctive as it used its own language, being Jamaican patois, which was stolen by their master during slavery and colonialism. Usually, the music demonstrates the journey from Africa to the West Indies during slavery. Furthermore, reggae sought to express a back to Africa belief, and a vision of a new Africa based on an Arcadian vision (1990,19). Reggae is also known for its critique of Babylon within its lyrics. On the whole, it is clear that Rastafarianism was a religion adopted by black youth, it were a religion symbolising the struggles against the white dominant culture in Babylon. Moreover, the event Rock Against Racism (RAR), is another example of how ethnic cultures had element that related to some white youth. The campaign was set up in 1976, and used to be a one off occasion. However this changed when Eric Clapton made a remark which supported Enoch Powells River of Blood speech. This was met with heightened animosity amongst youth of ethnic minority, and fans in the rock/punk scene. There was further irony as Eric Clapton had been very much influenced by black music, further, teaming up with Bob Marley to create the hit I shot the Sherriff. Carol Grimes, who became a leading spokeswoman for RAR, commented that the campaign was more than tackling the element of race but for anyone who were victims of discrimination because of going against the status quo. She quoted, [t]he whole Rock Against Racism thing did more than just challenge racismà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ [i]t made the idea of black, brown and white united something real, and together we could tell the fas cists to f**k off (2009,223). The concert included Rock and Punk fans, of ethnicities. Without hesitation this extract shows that this campaign that punk/rock fans of black ethnic minority adopted within their subculture. Nevertheless, the concert embraced all people against racism and discrimination. The concept of black youth gang culture is still present within modern day. However, the reasons for their grouping up is somewhat different to that of the 1960s. As previously written earlier, black youth who followed the Rastafarian religion, or just adopted the style of clothing, were regarded as rude gang boys/ black gang rastas. Malcolm W. Klein expressed the view that in recent times, the UK has been typified by a number of gangs mainly situated in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. Klein further quoted that a resonating feature of these gangs, is that they were predominantly black ethnic minority street members, involved in the sale of drugs with high intergang rivalry and high levels of violence (2001,154). He specifically, looked at two gangs in Manchester, located within impoverished areas, called Moss Side. The name of the two gangs were, Gooch and Doddington, both involved in the drugs trade. Furthermore, they were also characterised by their sheer violence, wh ich peaked in 1992, with no less than 100 shootings taking place. This gives a flavour of the way in which black youth subcultures have changed in present day, with race struggles no longer pervasive, but characterised by the concern of selling drugs and being hard. This concept describes an individual expressing masculinity and strength within the physical realms. Through this, they are subsequently able to acquire status within the gang, and gain a better reputation. Grime genre brings the question of whether black subculture is a distinctive black subculture. Originating in the early 2000s as primarily a development of UK garage, it started to become more apparent from 2003, when Wiley and Dizzee Rascal released their albums Treddin on Thin Ice and Boy in da Corner respectively. It should be noted that research on this genre of music has been somewhat scarce, and my own approach is that it would bring interesting findings. Grime is now listened to by youth of all ethnicities, of all social classes. For example, Dizzee Rascal and Tinie Tempa have now helped to open the market to those who would not have usually listened. The sound of grime music has evolved, now having a fruity fusion with elements of pop and disco music. However predominantly black working class youth subcultures very much hold grime as their music in which they can relate to, especially during its infancy. During this time, and to an extent now, grime was based upon being hard and getting money. An example being hard is a tune by Scorcher called Gangsta, which was banned from television. Further interest, is the demographic location of grime videos. When watching Giggs Talking the hardest, the videos is set in Peckham, with a group of working class boys, predominantly black, with some having black bandanas as a sign of allegiance to the SN1 crew. The video at times also depicts the struggles that youth are going through, such as their run down accommodation. It seems incontrovertible that black subculture in grime is now based upon three elements, which is depicted within grime music, being hard getting money, and gang affiliation through certain dress codes. However, the development of grime has seen a wider market becoming interested, and with it has brought youth of different ethnicities. Asian subculture was another example of resistance that was present during this time. Less research on Asian youth culture was published during the 1950s to 80s. Asian youth subculture will be specifically about Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi youth. Asian youth culture took aspects of the parent culture, in particular, the acceptance of the struggles their parents went through, and wanting to fight these problems. From a historical perspective, Asian political struggles were observed in the 1950s and 60s, prior to when Indians and Pakistanis entered the country. Asian political members were located within the realms of left wing politics. Examples being MP Saklatava (MP for Battersea). Rajani Palme Dutt, was another influential communist writer, who lived in London. The first association set up was the Indian Workers Association (IWA) in 1938. It was conceived in order for members to help fund for independence in India. However following Indian independence in 1947, the IWA was di sbanded. The IWA were setup again in order to provide support for Asians coming to the UK, during mass emigration. Though individuals within the IWA comprised of different left wing parties within India, they sought to work together, not only provide social welfare to migrants emigrating, but to also deal with the problems of racism. Further, the ethos stated their unwavering stance in tackling racism within society, quoting to, fight against all forms of discriminationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. promote the cause of friendship, peace and freedom (p.40). Mike Brake wrote that Asian parents were in control of many aspects of their childrens lives. Females were closely watched by parents and part of the rules were that they were unable to go out at night, and due to this, it wasnt unusual for girls to attend daytime raves. Asian parents were unlikely to approve of their sons attending multi racial youth organisations, as it was feared that they would fall into bad company and furthermore, different religious and cultural traditions (1980, 129). Brake commented that for Asian youth, home and school were two distinctive different worlds. Brake further believes that the different worlds gives reason to explain why youths wanted to seek new ways, different from their parent cultures, in order to deal with the racism in society, as the parent culture had failed to do so. By the mid to late 1970s the first generation of Asian youth were confronted by racism within a number of aspects. Furthermore, the youth continued to watch their parents being victims to racism within the employment system, through getting less pay than their white counterparts. Moreover, the 1970s was characterised by the recession that took place. During this time African- Carribeans and Asians were seen as the scapegoat. Nevertheless, looking specifically at the Asian community, media reports were published which quoted headlines such as, Asian flood and Asian invasion (2006, 42). Heightened tensions were seen in 1976, when Gurdip Singh Chaggar was killed by racists. To make matters worse, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Robert Mark commented that the motives for Gurdips death may have not been due to racism. This was met by widespread outrage within the Asian community, blaming the National Front for the murder. Division was found when the IWA wanted to work through diplom atic channels, to address the problem, however, Asian youths wanted to carry out direct action. Due to this, youth in Southall decided to organise a march, shouting, we shall fight like lions (2006, 42). During the demonstration, they staged a sit in and refused to leave until two detainees who were part of the demonstrations had been released. This was seen as a watershed moment, as this brought about the emergence of the Southall Youth Movement (SYM). What was more intriguing about Asian youth culture, is the way in which they perceived themselves to be politically black within a white society. Although knowing they were not black, as in terms of skin colour, thoroughly felt black as a political position. There was an innate sense of unity between them and youth of African/ Caribbean origin, as they were experiencing the same struggles and hardships. However, in the eyes of racist white N.F.s, African and Caribbean youth were seen as hard individuals, who could stand up for themselves. However, Asian youth were seen in an obverse light and in consideration of this, Asian youth culture drew on black political movement transatlantic, especially, the Black Panther group. On the AYM flag, they adopted the black fist to portray an image of collective strength, solidarity and defiance. Therefore black was moulded into a concept of political identity uniting against all forms of racism, further symbolising that racist attitudes should no longer be tolerated or accepted. From this research, it is clear to see that Asian subculture was non secular and non sectarian. It was a culture that embraced all Asian citizens regardless of the country of origin. Resonating with the work of Cohen, Asian youth cultures identified there were contradictions within society, thus feeling these had to be resolved. Bhangra was a major characteristic of South Asian culture, in that the music displayed a cultural meaning. Bhangra emerged in Britain during the 1950s. The south Asian population brought a distinctive heritage which was seen in their music. The 1970s was a particularly important time within the transition of Bhangra music. During this time a BBC TV Asian program called Naya Zindagi, Neya Jeevan shifted the emphasis of their series to South Asian British groups and artists. Alaap was a group from Southall who were often played on the show. Their music brought a distinctive fashion to bhangra, fusing bhangra with elements of disco music, known as the Southall twist. On examination of the research, I would take the view that the transition demonstrated Cohens work on the relationship between the parent and youth subculture. The first generation of Asian youth within Britain never had the same contact with South Asia as their parents had, so they altered the style of bhangra music in ord er to create their own meaning for themselves. This new form of bhangra had distinct values and meanings for Asian youth in Britain. As result of its commercialisation, some have drawn parallels with grime and reggae music, in the way in which its lost its distinctiveness as a purely distinctive Asian youth culture. In recent times, there have been a increase in the amount of songs which have elements of bhangra and hip pop flavours which have been released. Examples of these are Punjabi MC- Knight Rider Bhangra, and Jay Sean Ride it. My own approach is that similarly to comments on reggae, although bhangra has now been commercialised, one would still identify as a distinctive, as when one listens to the music, one identifies to a specific ethnic group of people. Upon reflection, ethnic youth subcultures have had profound effect within British society. Since post emigration of ethnic minorities from the Commonwealth, Britain have witnessed distinctive ethnic cultures emerging. Rooting from the growing racism and discrimination, happening through a number of avenues. Parent culture somewhat influenced youth subcultures. However, in line with Cohens theory, both Africa/ Caribbean and Asian youth, felt that parent subcultures had not dealt with the problems they were facing, thus having to create new subcultures to solve the contradictions. Although there are some who question the distinctiveness of the subcultures, my own approach is that, in essence ethnic subcultures were created as a way to create identity and meaning through confidence, unity and self realisation, but at the same time defy against racism. Nevertheless, certain elements have been adopted by youth of different ethnicities, such as Rastafarian dress and the listening of bhangr a. Although saying this, there have been plausible evidence to demonstrate that black subculture has lost its distinctiveness, now adopting social class reasoning. Looking at certain grime songs and gangs in urban areas, there has now been the notion of being hard and getting money. The youth have been overwhelmingly working class and have embraced those of different ethnicities, who are in the same social position, struggling against the class system, rather than being in Babylon.

Stimulants to Help Depressive Patients

Stimulants to Help Depressive Patients Different methods have been developed to train and improve executive function. The implications of those developments could revolutionize treatments for depressive patients in which there are executive function deficits. This paper proposes a study for patients diagnosed as having recurrent major depressive disorder to undergo counseling sessions coinciding with a stimulant or a placebo treatment group. The aim is to identify a causal linkage supporting the therapeutic aid of stimulants in treating depression by providing cognitive enhancement to the patient. Literature Review The main part of research I am interested in is how researchers find relationships in phenomenon impacting everyday life. Establishing relationships between events and prove elements of life are interrelated is an intricate process. Professor Twamley helped spur thoughts behind my fascination in her assigned academic journal when she designed a group based cognitive therapy to help veterans, some of which were diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI), with impaired cognitive functioning skills. The goal of the research was to provide evidence that this specific treatment was able to help improve veterans overall quality of life. The success of the treatment was tracked by testing executive function and quality of life throughout the process. The results showed that the compensatory cognitive training (CCT) improved participants levels of executive function but CCT for TBI was not associated with improvements on processing speed measures or executive tasks that involved switching (Storzbach et al., 2016). Executive functioning skills in participants were improved overall by the treatment, but participants with a traumatic brain injury still had deficits in executive functioning. It was difficult to see why a participant couldnt improve a particular aspect of executive functioning because a previous traumatic brain injury had inhibited the positive results that treatment could bring. This relationship between executive function improvement and TBI blocking those improvements led me to research more on the topic and develop questions about how improvement to executive function in populations with cognitive dysfunction can improve quality of life. Executive Function Finding a definition for executive function is a difficult process. A concrete definition of the term does not exist to easily describe it and it is still widely debated amongst researchers (Alvarez Emory, 2006). Most theories define executive function as non-routine processing that operates within the brain when presented with a novel situation (Gilbert Burgess, 2008). Its how our brain responds to unique situations that we dont know how to respond to. Specifically, executive function is involved in the control and regulation of lower-level cognitive processes and goal-directed, future-oriented behavior (Alvarez et al., 2006). In its truest essence, executive function is the higher level thinking of an individual. Much of the brain activity for executive function is likely to happen in the frontal lobe (Biringer et al., 2005). This is because the frontal lobe is the area most associated with reasoning and decision making. This region of the brains association with executive functi oning tasks helps to establish the relationship between executive function and higher level thinking. Deficits in Executive Function. Most notable in studies about executive function is what conditions are associated with deficits in executive functioning tasks. The relationship between depression and executive function is widely noted, but not fully understood. This was shown in a study in which persons with a diagnosis depression were found to have deficits in executive function tasks in comparison to non-depressed people (Channon Green, 1999). In this study depressive persons were even less likely to use aids to help them with executive function tasks(Channon et al., 1999). Much of the research on this topic explains how the diagnosis of depression and executive functioning deficits are interrelated, but there is still debate on how the rates of depression or executive function affect one another. Improvements in Depression. There is evidence that once a patients depression levels improve so will their levels of executive function (Biringer et al., 2005). This experiment followed depressive patients two years after to diagnosis to see a full recovery from depressive symptoms was highly related to normal levels of executive function. This study begins to show that improvement to depression is associated with improvement with executive function tasks. This association between depression recovery and executive function lacks causal implication and leaves much more of the relationship to be discovered. Digging deeper into this, another study finds there is evidence to support improvement to executive function after a specialized treatment with transcranial magnetic waves stimulating the frontal cortex (Moser et al., 2002). Transcranial magnetic wave therapy is sometimes used in some cases of severe depression as a final resort to treatment and its effectiveness is debated. It is n ot known how transcranial magnetic wave therapy works in the treatment of depression. This relationship between this method of depression treatment and executive function might explain why this therapy is sometimes successful in the depressed patients. Further research will be required to determine that but other treatments that improve executive function have been partially investigated. Stimulant Assisted Treatments. Modafinil, a stimulant, is known to enhance the cognitive functioning in healthy volunteers to help improve performance on a number of cognitive tasks (Turner et al., 2002). This relationship between modafinil as well sas other stimulants and cognitive improvement has been covered a lot in the media as smart drugs. Some of these drugs are labeled as cognitive enhancers, but there is little talk about how smart drugs can be used medicinally to help depressed populations. Since the relationship between depressive disorders and executive function deficits was established, trials for the treatments of depression in the 1980s with a stimulus drug were reviewed for this study because of the potential positive effects simulants have on executive function. In a meta analysis of stimulant use for the treatment of depression, Satel (1989) found that that more studies involving a placebo would need to take place in order to establish a causal relationship between improvement in depressive symptoms and stimulant treatments . Establishing a relationship between depressive symptoms and stimulant treatment could be beneficial to the overall treatment of depression. More studies need to be conducted to support this claim and the drug used should be investigated more as well. Werneke (1990) said that stimulants very useful role in the treatment of certain categories of depression as well as other psychiatric syndromes and such patients should not be deprived of symptom relief by these drugs. This paper follows that philosophy and intends to provide evidence that this is a viable treatment that should not be overlooked. Proposed Study This study will aim to identify that stimulants can assist already existing therapy for depression on the basis that executive function will improve with the use of stimulants. Participants will take a stimulant drug before the start of a therapy session to ensure that the drug will only be working during the therapy session. Depressed patients seeking care will first be placed in either a stimulant (Modafinil) or placebo condition , following that all volunteers will receive problem solving therapy (PST). This study will be double blind in order to ensure that therapists and patients will not have knowledge that would have an effect on treatment. Participants will be randomly assigned to each group. The goal of this study is to establish that stimulant aided depression therapy will be more effective than non-stimulant aided therapy. Ethical Guidelines In an effort to be ethical and to not cause unnecessary harm, patients will be provided with a form of therapy to coincide with either a placebo or stimulant pill. With this methodology, no patient will be purposefully put in danger of not receiving the care that is needed to treat their depressive symptoms and they will be attended to under a treatment plan by a psychologist to ensure that the study is not negatively affecting their lives. In any psychopharmaceutical area it would be the utmost importance to protect participants from any unforeseen harms. At any point, for whatever reason any participant can choose to withdraw from the study or a researcher can choose to withdraw any participants. Participants. To adequately represent the effect of stimulants on depression this study will recruit 200 participants in total aged 18-80 This age limit is designed to designate the study towards patients who have the right to get consent and that the depression scale used can accurately measure. Each person will be diagnosed with major depressive disorder according to the DSM-V. Each person should be diagnosed as a recurrent major depressive disorder patient ranging from mild to severe symptoms. Participants should be excluded if any hold a comorbid diagnosis or had concurrent symptoms with any of the following: an anxiety disorder, substance abuse or drug dependency, any symptoms of delusions, had experienced psychosis in the past six months, experienced a traumatic brain injury in their lifetime, or any other condition the researcher may conclude would affect the levels of executive function in an individual besides depression. Participants on medication for depression treatment will also be excluded from this study. These exclusions follow previous research for similar concerns. In this study we will not be controlling for level of executive function because the study is within subject design and we are interested in measuring overall improvement of individuals. Therapy Condition. Over the course of treatment each patient will be given counseling treatment for depression. A treatment will occur once a week for six weeks. Coinciding with this behavioral treatment, a patient will be receiving a pill. The pill will either be a low risk stimulant (Modafinil) or it will be a placebo. This pill will be taken at the start of each therapy session to allow the individual in the stimulant condition to have improved executive functioning skills throughout the duration of the therapy. These therapies were chosen specifically for their efficacy with their treatment populations. The problem solving therapy (PST) group was chosen in order to establish a successful treatment method. In a meta-analysis by Bell and DZurilla, PST was found to be equally as successful as medication treatment for depression (2009). By using this therapy we can evaluate if stimulus aided PST is more effective than non stimulus aided PST in the role of social problem solving. In addition, this study may determine if deficits in executive function are an epiphenomena of depression or not. Other studies have yielded conflicting results in relation between severity of depressive symptoms and impairment in executive function (Austin, Mitchell Goodwin, 2001). However, positive results could be the result of the combination of PST with stimulant aided therapy. To truly understand the relationship between stimulants and depression, the results of the stimulant group will be compared with the placebo. PST will focus in areas that have been proven to have the most effective results on participants. These areas are a training for positive problem orientation, problem definition, problem formulation, generation of alternatives, decision making, solution implementation and verification (Bell et al., 2009). This therapys focus is to mediate between stressful life events and wellbeing (Bell et al., 2009). Over the course of treatment we will see how stimulant aid will impact pre and post test analysis for levels of executive function and depression. Executive Function Measures. Three measures for executive function will be assessed in this study. Executive function of the participant pool will be tested at baseline and five weeks after the study has been completed both occurring without any use of stimulants. If there is improvement from before to after treatment it will reinforce other studies that state absence of depressive symptoms is associated with rejuvenated executive function skills. It is intended to see if there was improvement from before to after treatment without the use of stimulants in assessment to gauge the overall effect of treatment. The executive function measure used in this study has already been tested on depressed populations and was found that depressed populations did worse on the tasks below than non-depressed populations (Channon et al., 1999). Since the prior study had been used to compare group differences in executive function it is a suitable measure in our experiment for a between groups within subject design. All measures below are used from a previous study by Shelly Channon in the Department of Psychology of the University College London (Channon et al., 1999). Memory for categorised words task This task asks participants to remember 16 words presented in a random order. Each word would appear on a computer screen for 2 seconds and participants were asked to remember them so they could write them down after this session. They were asked to write down as many words as they can after the words had been shown in an unlimited time period. After that another session of 32 words would appear on the screen, again for 2 seconds each. Participants would have to identify which of the words presented were distractors or the correct 16 words. Response suppression task An experimenter will read 30 sentences in total to the participant with the final word omitted from the sentence. The participant would then be asked to insert a word to complete the sentence that made no logical sense to the sentence. Response would be categorized as nonsensical, semantically related word choice, and straightforward sentence completion. Multiple scheduling task These tasks were broken into four groups of mirror reading, identifying the position of words, object knowledge questions, and drawing objects. In mirror reading, words are presented backwards and participants are asked to write the correct word. In position of words task, participants are asked to write the word corresponding with a location in a certain row of a table. The table would consist of 176 numbers in column one and 176 unique words in column two. Finding words more efficiently was a way of measuring executive function. The object knowledge questions would ask open ended questions about everyday objects for them to identify. An example is, where would you find a keyhole?. For the final drawing objects task, participants are asked to draw everyday objects. Depression Scale. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) will be used to assess the levels of depression in this participant population before each session of treatment. No participant should have their depression levels assessed while they are under the influence of Modafinil. This aim is to see how mood is progressing throughout the treatment not how stimulants are directly altering mood. The BDI-II assessment correlates highly with depression rates by the Hamilton Rating for Depression (Steer, Ball Ranieri, 1996). It is in a 21 multiple choice format and the severity is assessed on a scale of zero to sixty-three. The scores are broken into scores from 0-12 as nondepressed patients, 13-19 as dysphoric patients, and 20-63 as dysphoric or depressed patients (Beck, Steer Brown, 1996). The higher the decrease in rate of depression will be the basis for finding success of the treatment for depression. This depression measure was chosen for its accuracy in identifying depressive sym ptoms and its ability to be completed in two minutes (Beck et al., 1996). Potential implications of this study[1] This study has the potential to establish a causal linkage between positive effects of therapeutic depression treatment utilizing the aid of stimulant assisted therapy. Successful results in PST with stimulant aid versus PST without stimulant aid would infer that executive function aid could improve the success of a therapy. The results can determine that executive functioning and depression are more interrelated than we think. If a link is proven between depression and executive function improvement it could expand our treatment practices for depression. Fluoxetine, one of depressions most utilized treatment options, was found to be ineffective in some women who have low levels of executive function coinciding with their depression (Dunkin et al., 2000). If we are able to advance executive function, then we can further enhance treatments so that depressive symptoms would continue to decrease instead. In addition, stimulants can have less side effects than other psychiatric medicatio ns (Satel et al., 1989). Findings from this study can provide safer, more effective treatment for populations that have difficulty finding dependable treatment options. References Gilbert, S. J., Burgess, P. W. (2008). Executive function. Current Biology, 18(3). doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.12.014 Beck, A.T., Steer, R.A., Brown, G.K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation. [1]how to assess this?