One Year in a Life of Crime Essay Example for Free

One Year in a Life of Crime Essay There are many contributing factors that can lead to living a life of crime, totally unaware of how self-satisfying actions can negatively affect the people around you. The show HBO’s America Undercover â€Å"One Year in a Life of Crime†, is a perfect example of how there can be many factors that will lead you down a path of self destruction. But in the end it is the relationships we have with our parents, family and friends that ultimately shape the type of person we are and affect the decisions that we make. A contributing factor is something that is partly responsible for a development or something that lead to the cause of something else. If we can identify the contributing factors to an undesirable situation that we may be in, then we can learn to avoid them in the future. Or we can even learn from other people’s mistakes. The show â€Å"One Year in a Life of Crime† could be very beneficial for a younger audience to identify contributing factors that lead you down the wrong path in life. Maybe if the thieves’ in the show could have viewed something like this at an earlier time in their life, things might have turned out different for them. Rationalizing and wishful thinking is a contributing factor that prevents the thieves’ from thinking realistically about their future. Rationalization, also known as making excuses, is a way to devise self-satisfying but incorrect reasons for ones behavior. To not see reality for what is it. We all do this from time to time but the individuals in the show seem to rationalizing everything as a way to justify the bad choices they have made. Rob rationalizes his stealing in the scene where we meet his father for the first time. Rob’s father Ed works all week long and only brings home $80, which Rob describes as peanuts. To survive, you have to make extra money, is one way Rob justifies his stealing. In his mind, if he didn’t steal, his family couldn’t survive. In many scenes we hear Rob wishing for this and wishing for that. I wish for a big business so I can make a million dollars and if only I could get some money together to buy hot dog truck. Rob is unwilling to work hard to achieve any of his goals. Fred, who is Rob’s mentor in regards to shoplifting, is even worse when it comes to rationalizing he’s behavior. He can’t believe his old lady left with their little girl after he promised to stop getting high but then couldn’t follow through with his promise. He tells an old friend he wants to stop doing drugs and stealing but it’s just too much for him to handle now that his old lady has left him. Rationalizing helps them justify their own lazy attitude towards hard work and making an honest living. The prevailing attitude towards stealing instead of working is another contributing factor that keeps the thieves’ from getting ahead in life. Easy money for little effort, such as shop-lifting, can be very attractive to some people and they will choose this life style. But the way life works is the more you put into something the more you will get out. If you’re willing to work hard and not give up, there is a good chance you will be successful in whatever you choose to do. When we look at Rob we can see he is always looking for easy money. Rob can’t believe his father works for such little money when there are other ways to make a living. He thinks his father is foolish. When Rob was working for a neighborhood mechanic he had saved over a thousand dollars but thought the job wasn’t paying enough. In his mind, the amount of time and work he needed to put-in, didn’t equal the pay he was receiving. Stealing is easier and doesn’t require a full day’s work. It’s hard to say no to easy money when there is only a small chance of getting caught and if you do get caught, then the punishment is light or non-existent. When a city does not have the resources to deal with a large volume of crime, the justice system can seem like a revolving door for the criminals. If the smaller criminals have to be overlooked because the system is swamped with major crimes, then the threat of jail time for shoplifting looses its power. Time after time we see both Fred do little jail time for his crimes. The first time me meet Fred, he’s accidentally been released from jail after only doing 60 days of a one year sentence. He’s been out of jail for one day and he’s already back to shoplifting. Four months later Fred is arrested for Grand Larceny and Vehicular Homicide. He uses an alias along with a phony I.D. to hide his extensive criminal record and ends up out of jail in just three weeks after plea-bargaining down to minor charges as a â€Å"first offender†. Fred was responsible for the death of someone and because of an overwhelmed justice system he is set free. After you get away with something like this how much of a deterrent is the law when it comes to shoplifting? Not much to Fred because just three months later he’s arrested for stealing silverware and end up in jail for six months. Of course each time we see the thieves’ stealing they are always with a friend, an accomplice, someone who thinks and acts the same way they do. Enabling is a larger contributing factor as to why our thieves live the life that they do. An enabler is a person who, through their actions, allows someone else to behave in a destructive way. Enabling/reinforcing negative behavior by lying, ignoring or covering up for someone not only allows negative behavior to continue but also slows down the process of learning to be responsible for the consequences of their actions. The most common example in the show is the relationship the thieves have with each other. Rob is mentored by Fred in the ways of shoplifting and along with their friend Mike, reinforces their life style as being just and the only way they can survive in the world. Rob’s wife Angela is the perfect example of an â€Å"enabler†. Throughout the year that the show takes place we see Angela enabling Rob to continuing stealing. All she wants is for Rob to marry her and if stealing is the only way for Rob to make money, then she will support whatever decisions he makes. At the end of the show we see Rob has become a drug addict and Angela is still with him even though she hates what Rob is doing to himself. She would rather say nothing then confront him. It’s a lot less work being an enabler then it is confronting Rob and trying to help him. Mike’s mother is another example of how enabling has a negative impact on learning to be responsible for one’s own actions. She bails Mike out of jail and losses the bail money because her son takes off. I’m guess here, but I would bet she knows where he is hiding out and her only reaction is to be indifferent to Mike decision which just cost her $750. The relationships we have with our friends and family play a strong role on how we think and the decision we make. The most important contributing factor as to why the thieves are in their situation has to do with how they were raised. The values they were taught and relationship they have with their parents. We can see Rob is in a pattern of self-destructive behavior and one of the biggest influences is his father. From the show we find out that Rob’s father is an alcoholic, would hit him and also throw out Rob’s toys. Rob even describes a scene where his father rips apart one of his favorite toys, a stuffed bunny rabbit. Here we can see why Rob might think it is ok steal. He learned from his father that if you are strong or smart enough to impose your will on someone then it is ok to take what you want. In Rob’s eyes this is how the world works. This is what his father did to him so he is repeating the same behavior when he shop-lifts. We can only guess at the relationship Fred has with his parents but we know that one of his uncles was a drug addict and Fred witness his un cle taking drugs. It’s a good possibility Fred’s family didn’t discourage drug use or educate him in regards to the negative impact drugs will have on your life. From the time we are born we start to soak in our environment. We start to learn from everything around us. How we act socially mainly comes from the observations and interactions we have with our parents. We learn how to speak, how to ask for things and how to interact with others. When we are children the most important relationship we will have is with our parents and this can greatly affect our adolescences and adulthood. Our role models in life can help shape who we will become. If we see from our parents that hard work and following the rules doesn’t get you very far then we might have an attitude that working hard isn’t the way to go. Without good role models the odd are stacked against us and some individuals will take the easy road of a thieves’ life style. We can change our behavior later in life but it can be a difficult process and most people are not even aware that a change is needed.

Essay --

I am interested in pursuing graduate studies in petroleum engineering because of my keen interest in research and development of Algorithms/Softwares that we as a reservoir engineer use for reservoir characterization, Upscaling and Simulation. I am interested in understanding and development of new techniques in reservoir simulators which would help to model complex process of hydrocarbon flow in subsurface more accurately and efficiently. Having worked with reservoir simulation software I strongly believe that a graduate program would not only complement my four years of undergraduate studies and four years of experience in petroleum industry as a reservoir engineer but would also help me contribute significantly to the field of petroleum engineering. All through in high school, I was a consistent performer in academics as well as in extra co-curricular activities. In addition, I have always been interested in science projects. In my high school, I got a chance to be among top ten meritious students selected from state for â€Å"Youth Leadership Program in Science†. It was this interest in science and mathematics which helped me clear one of the toughest engineering entrance examinations in India, when I qualified through All India Engineering Entrance Exam and opted for petroleum engineering at the University of Petroleum And Energy Studies, Dehradun , as it offered an interesting blend of earth sciences with mathematical analysis. My curiosity about petroleum engineering further increased in my first year of undergraduation when I first came to know about the process of hydrocarbon formation and migration until it reaches the reservoir rock with a trap .At that time, I was really keen to know about the physics governing the multi-... ... acquired necessary skills and strong fascination for methods involved in geostatistical reservoir characterization and Upscaling techniques. In this process, I have also realized the importance of averaging of Input data in the petroleum prospect development. After having relevant experience in this field I am convinced that graduate program is the next logical step to acquire insight and research capabilities to contribute in this field. Thereafter with application of these concepts, I would work towards further refining these acquired skills and would eventually like to do thorough research in bettering the process of reservoir modeling and simulation. An M.S. program would surely be an asset to my career, and would provide me with greater opportunities in research. With all my sincerity and aspirations, I submit my application for your valuable consideration.

Plato, Aristotle and Descartes Essay

â€Å"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light†, Plato said. Studying knowledge is something philosophers have been doing for as long as philosophy has been around. People always see just a part of things around the world. They need an open mind to understand more deep and wise into the world. It’s one of those perennial topics that philosophy has been refining since before the time of Plato. The discipline is known as epistemology which comes from two Greek words episteme which means knowledge and logos which means a word or reason. Epistemology literally means to reason about knowledge. Epistemologists study what makes up knowledge, what kinds of things can we know, what are the limits to what we can know, and even if it’s possible to actually know anything at all. In fact, people always see just a part of things around the world. They need an open mind to understand more deep and wise into the world. Plato becomes increasingly discourage by both the â€Å"mob† and the â€Å"elite†. The mob, represented by the jury at Socrates’ trial, was irrational and dangerous; it was swayed by sophistic appeals to emotion, not by reason. Plato concluded that most people are unfit by training and ability to make the difficult and necessary decision that would result in a just society. The average person lacks wisdom and self-restraint. As Plato saw things, most people make emotional responses based on desire and sentiment, rather than on rational consideration stemming from an objective view of what is genuinely good for the individual society. Socrates’s death, the revolt of the Thirty, sophistic abuses, and other factors convinced Plato that a corrupt state produces corrupt citizens. He thus attempted to develop a theory of knowledge that could refute sophistic skepticism and moral relativism. Plato believed that if he could identify and articulate the difference between mere opinion and genuine knowledge, it would then be possible to identify the structure of an ideal state based on knowledge and truth rather than the mere appearance of truth and personal whim. The allegory of the cave is an example for this from Plato. The prisoners (unable to turn their heads) would know nothing else but the shadows, and perceive this as their own reality. This is an important development to the story because it shows us that what we perceive as real from birth is completely false based on our imperfect interpretations of reality and Goodness. Plato expresses another of his favorite ideas: that education is not a process of putting knowledge into empty minds, but of making people realize that which they already know. This notion that truth is somehow embedded in our minds was also powerfully influential for many centuries. In Plato’s world, reality is not conceived through the senses, but rather intelligible truths of reality in the forms of ideas and figures, as opposed to the visible world. In The Allegory of the Cave, Plato describes the physical world as a â€Å"dark place† in which humans can only perceive objects through the senses. Plato referred to these objects as phenomena, or weak forms of reality. Thus, the physical world is not a realm where humans can obtain knowledge of true reality. Plato describes the process of acquiring knowledge from darkness to the light. In this journey, humans are able to see the essence of truth, or in other words, they are able to gain an understanding of what is actually real. This process, though painful and distressing, will at the end offer freedom and enlightenment to those who have acquire knowledge. Happiness is achieved by gaining an understanding of what is actually real. Because the philosopher has knowledge, his task is to descend to the cave to help as many people as possible to gain knowledge, or in other words, to learn the truth. This doesn’t convince me because science involves the pursuit of knowledge of general truths by using observation and systematic experimentation. However, Plato did not think a philosopher should use observation or empirical investigation in order to find truth. He believed only abstract thinking could lead to true knowledge. Plato said that the very essence of knowledge is unchanging. What is true is always true and he thought that knowledge is innate I agree about there are some absolute truth but I think we learn knowledge by experience not only by innate knowledge. Along with his teacher Plato, Aristotle is generally regarded as one of the most Influential ancient thinkers in a number of philosophical fields, including political theory. What Plato believed about reality was very different from Aristotle’s ideology. Aristotle objected to Plato’s view, arguing that one cannot know the type of interaction which is occurring between the two Forms. If the â€Å"real or ideal forms† are eternal, pure and unchanging then how do they relate to the material objections or Forms on earth with all their physical imperfections? This participation or imitation link between the real and the imaginary (which Plato claimed existed) is erroneous thinking as no one can has established such a link – real or otherwise. And even if a link is established it fails to explain all the Forms in the material world. At some point Plato fails to explain how this greater Form was controlled- how can Form control things? Was there energy in â€Å"Forms†? Aristotle argued that form can be distinguished from content only in thought and never in fact. Aristotle warned that we must take care not to mistake â€Å"intellectual analysis† for â€Å"ontological status†. Aristotle accused Plato of doing just that by imputing actual existence to the Forms. For Aristotle, form exists within the natural order embedded in particular things and cannot exist independently. How does this criticism support Aristotle’s own metaphysics? Aristotle brings to full maturity a second major expression of the search for the good life: attempting to acquire facts without bias and then using that information to make this a better world. Aristotle stands alone as an archetype of the philosophical naturalist. Basically Naturalism is the belief that reality consists of natural world. The Naturalist’s universe is ordered in that everything in it follows consistent and discoverable laws of nature; everything can be understood in terms of those fundamental laws. Nothing exists outside of space and time. Nature always acts with a purpose, and the key to understand anything lies in determining its essential purpose. Philosophical naturalist deny the existence of a separate supernatural order of reality. They believe that human beings, although special, are part of the natural order and behave according to fixed laws and principles. Thus a clear understanding of nature is necessary to any clear conception of human behavior. Ethics and political (social) science must be based on the actual facts of life, carefully observed and collected by a scientific method – not on speculative, otherworldly, rationalistic schemes. Aristotle based his philosophical positions on scrutiny of particular, actual things, not on the isolated contemplation of mathematical laws or pure ideas. Aristotle brings to full maturity a second major approach to the study of the good life: collecting facts and using factual information to make this a better world. Naturalism is the belief that reality consists of the natural world and that the universe is ordered. Everything follows consistent and discoverable laws of nature and can be described in terms of fundamental laws. Aristotle has a variety of views that range from nature to ethics and has unforgettable take on mathematics. He gives me the impression that the laws of nature are the boundaries in which we live and our meaning of life evolves around this boundary. I believe, there are some sort of absolute truths or knowledge but when we get knowledge we get most of knowledge through our experience. Descartes suggests the viewpoint that the human body and the human mind are two completely different things with different functions. The viewpoint is called Dualism, and holds that both the physical world and the immaterial world exist. Dualism is based on two substances, which are mind and matter. Descartes explained that these two does not necessarily need one another to exist. Descartes doubts everything he was taught to believe because it is human tendency to believe what is false. In the first, he claims that most of what he believes is from his senses and that those senses are sometimes deceived. He wasn’t uncomfortable with the idea that there isn’t universal knowledge. He was the first to argue that the mind is a non-material entity which is distinct and separate from the brain. He also identified the mind with concepts such as self-awareness and self-consciousness. He emphasized the sharp division between the mind and the body as the most basic fact of our human existence. In Descartes’ Dualism, the body is considered to be a material substance, and the mind is considered to be an immaterial one. He suggests that although these two things combine to make a human being, but these two parts exist in two separate worlds. The body exists in the physical world, where all the objects that we can see and touch exist. While the mind exists in a different world, an immaterial one, where we are not able to see or feel. Descartes establishes the Conceivability argument to support his viewpoint. â€Å"I think therefore I am,† the well-known quote of Rene Descartes, is the basis of his theory known as dualism. The intermingling of mind and body or extended substance and thinking substance display Descartes’ ideas of a â€Å"genuine human being†. Descartes’ idea of the body being totally independent of the mind is known as the mechanistic view. Descartes’s interest in the â€Å"thinking thing itself† was the first major step in a shift in emphasis in modern philosophy from metaphysics to epistemology. He recognized the need for orderly thinking, which he called method. He employed methodic doubt in his effort to find one absolute certain and undoubtable idea. Having found an undoubtable truth, Descartes tried to build a reliable foundation for knowledge on the innate idea of God. For Plato and Descartes mathematics becomes the blueprint for all knowledge. Mathematical knowledge remains true regardless of time, place and circumstances. This is unlike inductive knowledge or matters of fact whose truth depends on time, place and circumstances. On this basis Plato and Descartes reject our sense of sight, smell and touch as providing any source of reliable knowledge. Both Descartes and Plato would agree that true knowledge is a priori. Basically this means that knowledge is innate and therefore prior to experience. If we take this innate knowledge we can build or expand on it to discover what Plato and Descartes could classify as ‘ultimate’ truths. Knowledge is a root of many challenges we face in a given day. Once you get past basic survival (though even things as basic as finding enough food and shelter involves challenges related to knowledge), we’re confronted with knowledge issues on almost every front. Knowledge questions range from larger, more weighty questions like figuring out who our real friends are, what to do with our career, or how to spend our time, what politician to vote for, how to spend or invest our money, should we be religious or not, to more mundane ones like which gear to buy for our hobby, how to solve a dispute between the kids, where to go for dinner, or which book to read in your free time. We make knowledge decisions all day, every day and some of those decisions deeply impact our lives and the lives of those around us. I think I learned much more by these theory, do not say you know all the world, using our intelligent to understanding more about the world, and then do not stop doubting get make ourselves much more better in future. The knowledge is unlimited, so we could learn a lot every day, then using it for our own good and pass it out for our next generation because knowledge is never old or too much, it could use time by time and always work. People could say that some of the knowledge is too old for the present and they have been use times by times, and always work even though it from centuries. I think the world is big, get to know it will help us have a better look about everything. It is amazing that we could use our own sense to organize everything about our life and get experience by it. Doubting is as same as giving us a chance to understanding more about the world we are living in, than we have a courage to know about it much more better. Gaining more knowledge is never too much, getting it from our teacher; your friend is some of the simple ways to understanding more about our life in specific and the world in general. Work Cited . â€Å"Aristotle . † Internaet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. IEP , 21 2005. Web. 3 Nov 2012. Gill, N. S.. â€Å"Plato – Greek Philosopher. † Ancient / Classical History. About. com. Web. 3 Nov 2012. . â€Å"Greek Philosopher Plato. † AllAboutPhilosophy. org. AllAboutPhilosophy. org. Web. 3 Nov 2012 . â€Å"Plato. † Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Richard Kraut. Web. 3 Nov 2012. . â€Å"Plato. † Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Richard Kraut , 16 2011. Web. 3 Nov 2012. . â€Å"Plato. † Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. IEP, 9 2009. Web. 3 Nov 2012. Shields, Christopher. â€Å"Aristotle. † Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Christopher Shields, 25 2008. Web. 3 Nov 2012.

Role Plays to Practice Compromising

The art of compromise is essential to any negotiation. Use the following role plays to help your students learn how to make compromises and negotiate with tact. This lesson can be used in a wide variety of situations such as business English role plays or other advanced skills classes. Its important to check students use of standard phrases to improve their negotiating and compromising skills in English. Lesson Outline Give students a few examples of situations which call for negotiation and compromise.Elicit phrases you might use when making compromises and write them on the board.Ask students to first write out a few sentences using each of the forms you have written on the board (see further suggestions below to help get the discussion started).Break students up into pairs. Ask students to read through the situations and choose at least three situations they would like to practice.Ask students to choose the situation they felt they negotiated the most successfully with fair compromises.Students write up a dialogue on the role play they have chosen.Students act out their negotiations in front of the class. Encourage acting skills! Useful Phrases for Compromising Negotiating a Compromise I see your point, however, dont you think that ...Im afraid thats not true. Remember that ...Try to see it from my point of view.I understand what youre saying, but ...Imagine for a moment that you are ... Asking for Compromise How flexible can you be on that?I’m ready to agree if you can ...If I agree, would you be willing to ...?We would be willing to ..., provided, of course, that ...Would you be willing to accept a compromise? Negotiating a Compromise Role Play Choose a role play from one of the following scenarios. Write it up with your partner, and perform it for your classmates. Writing will be checked for grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc., as will your participation, pronunciation,  and interaction in the role play. The role play should last at least 2 minutes. You are a student at an English school in the US or the UK.  You’d like your parents to send you some more spending money. Telephone your father (your partner in the role play) and ask for more money. Your father feels that you are spending too much money. Come to a compromise.You are visiting your cousin (your partner) whom you haven’t seen in a long time. Catch up on all the news from your two families, as well as from your own lives.You are a student who has improved at school, but your mother/father (your partner) doesn’t feel that you have done enough. Discuss together what you can do to improve your grades, but also recognize your increased efforts.You are the aunt / uncle of your partner. Your partner wants to ask you about what life was like with your brother (your partner’s father) when you were both teenagers. Have a discussion about the old times. Compromise on how the present and the past have certain advantages and disadvantages.You would li ke to get married to a man / woman your parents do not approve of. Have a discussion with your mother / father (your partner) about your plans. Try to break the news gently, while still maintaining your desire to get married.You are having a discussion with your husband / wife (your partner) about your son who is having problems at school. Accuse each other of not being a good parent, but try to come to a conclusion that will help your child.You are a technological wizard and have a new idea for a great start-up on the internet. Try to convince your father to fund your business with a $100,000 loan. Your partner will be your father who is very skeptical about your idea because he thinks you should be a doctor.