In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Essay Example for Free

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Essay In Cold Blood: A True Account of Multiple Murder and Its Consequences by Truman Capote details the social arena that molded Dick Hickock and Perry Smith into criminals and killers.   The author wrote of how Hickock was brought up in a loving home with a stable family but suffered from mental illness.   Perry on the other hand, had alcoholic parents in a very unloving atmosphere, uneducated and suffered from depression.   Each was influenced by society differently but the result was the same.    The author details their stories from the beginning of their criminal history up to their execution for the murder of the Clutter family.   The question is, was Perry a â€Å"natural born killer†. In an article in Psychology Today there is evidence that activity or lack of in the prefrontal cortex of the brain region are associated with acts of murder.   This prefrontal cortex activity is also associated with a wide range of behaviors such as risk taking, rule breaking, aggression and impulsivity that can lead to violence.   This evidence has a great value in maybe creating a way for society to possibly point out problem individuals and possible treatment or prevention of criminal activity such as murder.   The article goes on to say that perhaps this is a way to point to biological differences or the possibility of natural born killers (Raine 10). In some ways Truman Capote could relate to Perry because both had terrible experiences growing up. The author was intrigued as to why Perry would go on to kill and he didn’t. Capote wrote that possible social consequences made the difference possibly grooming Perry to be a killer and some professionals agree sociologist are not satisfied with the explanations that are rooted in biology and personality.   They point to the perspective of symbolic interaction that each of us interprets life through symbols that we learn (Henslin 133).   Sociologist Edwin Sutherland stressed that people learn deviance.   He uses the term differential association to indicate that we learn to deviate or to conform to society’s norms mostly by the people we associate with.   But if this is correct then why does some with the same interaction kill and others do not?   In my opinion there are people who are born natural killers.   It is something that is innate within some individuals and is nurtured by society to its final display.   In my belief some individuals will be born a killer and some will not.   Society takes this innate trait and shapes them even more, or even less, towards the direction of their innate features.   The degree of their actions is my proof.   Take hunting some individuals can hunt and some cannot.   This is an example of the innate trait for killing expressed in killing for food rather than killing another human. Degree is how society grooms each killer, the hunter and the murderer, to their final â€Å"ends†.   Because traits are passed from parent to child that is why some societies are prone to have more killers than others and what degree the acts are committed is influenced by each of the societies they live in.  Ã‚   The degree of the trait is what society uses for determining how wrong the act is and how that individual will be punished.   Evil is solely influenced and decided by the society one lives in.   Killing is inevitable for some individuals; it is to what degree that makes the difference. Reference: Capote, Truman.   In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its    Consequences.   New York: Signet Books, 1965. Henslin, James M.   Essentials of Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach.   Boston:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Raine, A.   Natural born Killers?   Psychology Today 28(1), p.10, 1995 Jan/Feb.

Teaching Philosophy Statement :: Philosophy of Education Teachers Essays

Teaching Philosophy Statement I believe that the best way to gain knowledge is through experiences that we encounter in everyday life. It is for this reason that I know what I know today. This is why I feel that progressivism is an excellent teaching philosophy, and why I will be instructing my classroom with its’ principles. I will not however, rule out book work and studying from the text book. I just believe that students learn best through interaction with each other, books, and other non-traditional sources. I chose to become an educator because I want to inspire the students to get the most life has to offer and to be the one that my students can turn to with their problems. Whether it be with the curriculum, family, bullies, or any other troubles that they may find themselves in. Since I am studying to teach general sciences, I feel there is no better way for the students to learn than through the application of pragmatism. Let the students ask questions and solve them in their own way, because I feel that not everyone learns the same way. This is a simple idea, if I want to know if something will work in a particular way, or find out why it works the way it does I should justly simply test it. Through this method I feel the students will spark an interest with what is being instructed to them in the classroom and look forward to coming into a positive and lively environment, where they know that what they are doing is fun and the only one that is benefitting from this experience are themselves. I want to scaffold my students from what they’ve already learned and apply it to new ideas to further their knowledge. The world is not moving backwards, and the children need to have a good grasp on what is happening in the world around them and how they can get into the shuffle. As a teacher I plan for my students to learn through fun and interesting methods that will push them to question, why or how is this the way it is?

The Balek Scales: a Measurement of Injustice

The story â€Å"The Balek Scales† by Heinrich Bà ¶ll tells the experience of the narrator’s grandfather in the village upon which the Balek family had a firm grip. The Balek family, later known as Balek von Biligan, is part of the elite class, as the following quote describes: â€Å"the family who lived in the chateau and drove two carriages, who always maintained one boy from the village while he studied theology at the seminary in Prague† (Bà ¶ll 15-16).There are a lot more details, but given the following quotation, they can be seen as a prominent family from the elite class (Bà ¶ll 16). The scales—known as the Balek scales in the story—are the Baleks’ tool for trading mushrooms, herbs, and other tradable goods for money—marks and pfennigs. No one ever questions their sole possession of the scales.However, the narrator’s grandfather, Franz Brà ¼cher, discovers injustice within the measurement of the Balek scales. Even wit h this evidence, the efforts of villagers to seek justice are thwarted by the power and influence of the Balek von Biligan family, which Bà ¶ll portrays as a classic battle between the working and elite classes in â€Å"The Balek Scales.†Injustice is the recurring theme in the story as the Balek scales—the scales of justice for the villagers—favor the Balek von Biligan clan, as the story suggests in the following lines: â€Å"he pulled the five pebbles from his pocket, held them out to the young woman, and said, ‘This much, fifty-five grams, is short in every pound of your justice’† (Bà ¶ll 16).As the line states, the injustice that the narrator’s grandfather claims in front of Frau Balek von Biligan is the unequal or unfair measurement that the scales present for their foraged goods—mushrooms, herbs, and the like. Inevitably, the injustice results in a short bloody revolt with the Reeve’s gendarmes overpowering the pop ulation.Then everything goes back to normal, with the Balek von Biligan clan still on the driver seat—in control. The power of the Baleks is too strong for Franz Brà ¼cher’s, whose search for justice is seen as a futile attempt to overthrow the seemingly unfair rule of the Baleks over the village.Looking at it from a different angle, the village, along with the other two villages, could have avoided the short bloody revolt if Franz Brà ¼cher remained oblivious to the injustice that the Balek scales represented.Upon confronting this injustice, Franz experiences some tragic events, as stated in the following lines: â€Å"the reeve’s gendarmes arrived†¦shooting and stabbing as they came and removed the scales and the book by force. My grandfather’s little sister lost her life,† (Bà ¶ll 16-17) and â€Å"My grandfather’s parents had to leave the village, and the new grave of their little daughter† (Bà ¶ll 17).Franz Brà ¼cher expe riences two tragic moments in his lifetime which were caused by the Balek scales. These were his little sister’s death and their family’s constant migration. This could have been avoided by Franz if he remained ignorant to the injustice mentioned.A classic battle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat classes unfolds in the story of The Balek Scale. Relating the story to the social divisions of society, it is a fact—always has been—that the rich have control over those who are not because of the wealth they possess and their strong influence over the government; at least a portion of it is attracted to the wealthy of prominent families like the Baleks in the story.The scales of the story represent the injustice in the society—they favor the rich over the poor most of the time anyway. The scales may actually represent the justice system in society as they can sometimes be distorted in favor of those with money. The story represents this illness that is quite evident in past societies, as well as in today’s society. Regardless of how strong is the resolve of the acting â€Å"hero† or â€Å"deliverer of justice,† his efforts are usually just futile.Thus, the story entails a classic battle between the rich and the poor. This battle is always intensified by a mere claim for an injustice brought about by the rich, supposedly, which affects the poor many times over. As the following quotation suggests, the injustice that Franz Brà ¼cher and his family experience in the village is actually present in every place they went to: â€Å"but did not stay long anywhere because it pained them to see how everywhere the finger of justice swung falsely† (Bà ¶ll 17).This clearly shows how injustice is present everywhere and how great is its effect on those who are least fortunate—the poor. It will surely take a long time to cure this illness of society because those who know about this injustice remain o blivious to its presence in society; they are just watching it eat away the true concept of justice.The last two lines in the story are probably the most striking as the Brà ¼cher family and many others realize the gravity of injustice in society: â€Å"And those who wanted to listen can hear the tale of the Baleks von Biligan, whose justice lacked a tenth part. But there were few who listened† (Bà ¶ll 17). In this line, those who receive the painful end of the spear of injustice find it futile to express to the suffering they are feeling caused by the injustice. It is futile because rarely do people listen to their woes and cries for justice.Hardly anyone listens to them because of their place in society as the poor working class—during that time, the poor do not seem to have a strong voice in society. The rich and powerful simply have control over most of them. Any revolt or uprising seems to be thwarted most of the time; however, there are times when a revolt beco mes successful.Heinrich Bà ¶ll’s stor,y The Balek Scales, entails a seemingly unending battle between the rich and the poor as the latter would usually rise against the injustices that the former inflicts upon them and the society. However, it seems that the rich are too powerful and influential to be folded easily. It remains uncertain for the tide of this epic battle to change as many still remain oblivious to the injustices that occur within society.Work CitedBà ¶ll, Heinrich. â€Å"The Balek Scales.† A Walk in my World: International Short Stories about Youth. Eds. Anne Mazer. New York: Persea Books, 2000. 9–17.

Essay on Teacher Attitudes Towards Inclusion - 1289 Words

In summary, research indicates positive shift in attitudes toward inclusion and can be fostered by teacher education in a variety of aspects pertaining to inclusion including increased administrative support, co-teaching, support from special education teachers and paraprofessionals, adequate resources to meet the needs of a wide variety of learners, and time for making accommodations, modifications, and planning (DeSimone and Parmar, 2006; Daane et al., 2008; Elliot, 2008; Gurgur Uzuner, 2010; Jung, 2007). Novice teachers get much needed training and hands on experience in their coursework and practicum (Algaryouti et al., 2003; Berry, 2008; Brakenreed Barnett, 2006; Burke Sutherland, 2004; Jung). Researchers found experienced†¦show more content†¦Many of these studies suggest teacher attitudes toward inclusion are the most important aspect of inclusive teaching (Berry; Brakenreed Barnett; Burke Sutherland; Daane, Lusk, Thompson; Gojkovic; Elliot). Further, research has been done to determine how these attitudes affect the views these inclusive teachers hold of students with disabilities and their willingness to work collaboratively to meet the needs of included students (Algaryouti et al., 2003; DeSimone Parmar, 2006; Daane et al., 2008; Gojkovic, 2007; Gurgur Uzuner, 2010; Jensen et al., 2004; Jung, 2007). The findings suggest preservice teachers and novice teachers approach inclusive teaching with a positive mindset but are reluctant to seek auxiliary support, likely due to their lack of secure teaching craft (Brakenreed Barnett, 2006; Jung, 2007). In contrast to the positive attitudes of novice and preservice teachers, in-service teachers have a more negative view toward inclusion; however, a positive correlation exists between an increase in auxiliary support and more favorable attitudes toward inclusion (Daane et al., 2008; DeSimone Parmar, 2006; Gurgur Uzuner, 2010). Research supports the positive change in novice teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion as a direct result of the focus shift in teacher preparation programs (Algaryouti et al., 2003; Berry, 2008; Brakenreed Barnett, 2006; Gojkovic, 2007; Jung, 2007). Increases in specialShow MoreRelatedTeacher s Attitudes Towards Inclusion1683 Words   |  7 PagesTeacher’s Attitudes Towards Inclusion Cathy Ferraro Concordia University A Research Report Presented to The Graduate Program in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Masters in Education Concordia University - Portland 2015 Teacher’s Attitudes Towards Inclusion Inclusive classrooms are being enforced and implemented in classrooms across our country. However, the idea of inclusion and incorporating students with special needs in to a general education classroom stillRead MoreWhat Are Teachers Attitudes Towards Inclusion Of The General Education Classroom?848 Words   |  4 PagesTate, M. (2011). What are teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion in the general education classroom. California State University. Berry and colleagues present an effective study which found that teachers have positive attitudes towards inclusion. Teacher surveys were conducted to reveal their perceived need of more training and support within the inclusive environment. Both general and special educators were included in the surveys. An extensive literature review on inclusion was provided. LiteratureRead MoreEducation Is An Integral Part Of Our Lives1420 Words   |  6 Pagesfocuses on individualized directions and teaching. Special education has gone from just identifying individuals with disabilities and showing them to the life of schools and interaction with their peers. Today, special education is focused on inclusion and specialized education that meet the needs of individuals whom are physically or mentally disabled. 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The target student was seated at the back of the classroom, so that he will not distract the entire class. The learning support teacher was standing next to him, encouraging him to play. With her support, the student participated very well during the activity and stayed on task longer with less misbehavior. Unfortunately, when she was absent for a brief time, the student was distractedRead MoreA Comparative Study Of Classroom Teachers Perceptions Towards Inclusion944 Words   |  4 Pagescomparative study of classroom teachers’ perceptions towards inclusion. by K.H. Pritchard (2014). Summary of Article: Literature review The basis of this article is to evaluate the characteristics that impact teacher’s perceptions of inclusion in the classroom. There is a general consensus that the single most important predictor of successful inclusion is the attitude of the general education teacher (Golmic Hansen, 2012). 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