Learning English Autonomy free essay sample

The samples consist of four teachers, fifteenth students of DHAV6A and fifteenth students of DHAV4B. I need about one month to carry out this report. I expect that this report can be a suitable material for other students who want to study this issue in the future. Through his research, I also have more choices about my teaching method in the future. * INTRODUCTION: Today, English is an international language understood and spoken in almost countries in the world. English truly links the whole world together. In Vietnam, since we joined into many economic associations like Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), participated in the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), and recently become the 150th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), more and more investors have required English as a means of communication, have poured capital into the country. The demand for a skilled labor force having good command of English speaking skill has become increased and consequently, English has been the first choice in the country. We will write a custom essay sample on Learning English Autonomy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However, the communicative competence in English of Vietnamese workforce has not met the requirements of the employers. A large number of fresh university graduates have not been employed by foreign enterprises because of their poor English listening and speaking skills (Ha, 2007, p. 9). Although in Vietnamese education, English is one of main subjects in many secondary schools, high schools, and even universities or in some primary schools in Vietnam, they also teach English for children as well as teaching mother tongue (Vietnamese), many teachers often use Vietnamese in their teaching of speaking process. There are some arguments about using Vietnamese in English speaking class. Some people say that Vietnamese will assist much for teaching and learning English speaking skill such as helping teachers explain difficult words in English, explaining some localization word of Vietnamese, helping students understand fully what the teacher teach, help students chat to each other more easier†¦However, some people say that using Vietnamese in teaching and learning English speaking will interfere the teaching and learning process like not improving student’s communication,†¦ This led to the idea that all use of the mother tongue in the language classroom should be avoided (Harmer, 2001:131). In many materials of teaching and learning language, writers have given a lot of good ways to teach and learn speaking skill most accuracy and effective. These arguments now are severe, and still not give any concrete conclusion about using Vietnamese in teaching and learning speaking process in English class. So, is it should or should not use Vietnamese in English class? What are the roles of mother tongue? What are the purposes of using Vietnamese in English speaking class? How can teacher use Vietnamese in the most effective way? The purpose of the study is to find out the amount of English and Vietnamese are used by both teachers and students in English class and the reasons why teacher and students use Vietnamese in English class. Most importantly, the use of Vietnamese has positive or negative effects on the learning of English. The significant of the study lays in the fact that there are a little professional research and material about this topic. Studying this topic can help we have more suitable and accuracy methods of learning and teaching English in English class. II. LITERATURE REVIEW: 2. 1. DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS: The general usage of the term mother tongue . . . denotes not only the language one learns from ones mother, but also the speakers dominant and home language, i. e. not only the first language according to the time of acquisition, but the first with regard to its importance and the speakers ability to master its linguistic and communicative aspects. For example, if a language school advertises that all its teachers are native speakers of English, we would most likely complain if we later learned that although the teachers do have some vague childhood memories of the time when they talked to their mothers in English, they, however, grew up in some non-English speaking country and are fluent in a second language only. Similarly, in translation theory, the claim that one should translate only into ones mother tongue, is in fact a claim that one should only translate into ones first and dominant language. N. Pokorn, Challenging the Traditional Axioms: Translation into a Non-Mother Tongue. John Benjamins, 2005) Mother tongue or mother language refers to a child’s first language, the language learned in the home from older family members. (UNESCO, 2003, p. 15) In some places, the term has taken on more of a culturally symbolic definition, so that an individual might say, ‘I don’t actually speak my mother tongueâ₠¬â„¢. A related term, home language, refers to the language or languages spoken in the student’s home. Dorthe Buhmann -Barbara Trudell, Mother Tongue Matters: Local Language as a Key to Effective Learning, UNESCO 7 place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris France) As the definition of Hubbard – Jones- Thornton- Wheeler, A Training Course for TEFL, Oxford University Press 1983 L1 is the first langue or mother tongue while L2 is target language- the foreign language being learnt. L1 interference is the effect of mother tongue on a student’s production of L2, causing errors through analogy with L1. Speaking skill is the productive skill in the oral mode. It like the other skills, is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words. (LinguaLinks Library, version 3. 5, published on CD- ROM by SIL International, 1999). According to the Oxford Dictionary of Current English 2009, speaking is â€Å"the action of conveying information or expressing ones’ thoughts and feelings in spoken language†. (P. 414) Chaney (1990), however, considered speaking a process: †speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal or non- verbal symbols in a variety of contexts† (P. 13). Sharing the same viewpoint, Florez (1999) added that speaking is an â€Å"interactive† process, which consists of three main stages â€Å"producing, receiving and processing information. † (P. 1) In language teaching and learning, speaking is considered a skill to practice and master. In this light, Nunan (2003, P. 48) put it that â€Å"speaking is the productive oral skill. It consists of producing systematic verbal utterance to convey meaning†. Also considering speaking as a skill Bygate (1987, P. 3) investigated the distinction between knowledge and skill in speaking lesson, which he considered as crucial in the teaching of speaking. Le Thi Hong Phuc, Teacher’s immediate oral feedback in speaking lesson for 11th – form students, May 2010). 2. 2. THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK: 2. 2. 1. ROLE OF MOTHER TONGUE (VIETNAMESE) IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASS: At a conference in Singapore, Peter Martin (2006) quoted an English language teacher from Brunei whom he had i nterviewed: I try not to [use Malay] but sometimes you have to. If we don’t use Malay, they won’t understand, especially some textbooks. The words are difficult. I don’t like to use Malay if inspectors are here but I sometimes do. Otherwise they [the pupils] won’t understand and they [the inspectors] might us as bad teachers. (Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Pearson Education Limited 2007) Mother tongue is not only the basic source of quality education, but it is also the language of feeling, expression and dreams of human being. A man can express his feelings and thoughts very easily in mother tongue instead of any other language. The mother tongue is so important in the development of the child that the day was instituted in recognition of ts value and for the promotion of its usage as an instrument of transmitting culture in the socialization of the child. The UNESCO and other international organizations have declared mother tongue as medium of instructions for across the world, while the other hand, all linguist, scholars and intellectuals are agreed that the mother tongue should be taught as instruction across the world, because mother tongue is only basic source of qualit y education for everyone. The February 21st was declared as â€Å"International Mother Tongue Day†, by UNECO in 1999 to be celebrated world- wide. Mr. Hafeez Qureshi, writer and political activist, said that vocational and technical development of countries and nations should be made only in mother tongue, and this is the main reason for economic development of Japan. He said that promotion of mother tongue is the only cause of nation’s development. Ms. Zeb Nizamani, a writer and subject specialist of Sindhi mother tongue said that a child brings natural vocabulary of mother tongue before joining the school, so every child should be taught in his own mother tongue. Prof. Dr. Asad Ali Shaikh, from I. T department of Sindh University, said that we are living in an era of information technology. So it is very necessary that nations should be computer literate. The computing development can make mother tongue richer. Mr. Roshan Birhamani chief editor monthly â€Å"Sjagi†, a magazine for children said that children literature can be the only source of defense and use of mother tongue. So we should have to concentrate on development of literature for children and young adult. Mirza Saleem Baig, professor, Urdu department Sindh University said that English is the language of communication and source of employment, while the most effective source of quality education is mother tongue, because mother tongue is the only language of child’s thought. Prof. Dr. Mehriunnissa Larik, Principal Govt. degree college Matiari said that the issue of mother tongue is the issue of nations heredity, and nations, who concentrate or their mother tongues, are the most develop nations in the world. Prof. Najma Shaikh said that there is a competition between all the countries because all these countries are depending on their mother tongues. So we should develop our mother tongue. Mr. Wahab Pandrani, a political activist and regional head of democratic commission for human development said that languages are the source of communication among the nations and people, so we have to stable and develop our mother tongue. Mr. Irshad Junejo, a student of mass communication said that the issue od development and promotion of mother tongue is collective and not individual! So it is needed that the forums should be made to activate the issues related to mother tongue. Mr. Abdul Majeed Rajput, chief editor â€Å"Daily Ass† said that quality education is needed to train all teachers, because the teacher is main unit of education. We have to train our teacher for effective learning of our children. Moulana Azim Hussain, the honorary guest of â€Å"Importance of Mother Tongue in Quality Education† conference, coming from India said that youth can play significant role for quality education in mother tongue, because the energetic and potential cream of every nation is youth. The chief guest of the conference Prof. Adal Soomro, chairman Sindhi department, Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur said that everyone loves his mother tongue in this world. Own script of any language is source as educational language. The second chief guest of conference â€Å"Importance of Mother Tongue in Quality Education†Mr. Shoukat Hussain Shoro, Ex-director Institute of Sindhology said that private school system is ignoring the teaching of mother tongue and on the other have Govt. Schools are not teaching effectively, so we have to concentrate on our school systems. 2. 2. 2. THE BENEFITS OF USING THE L1 IN THE L2 CLASSROOM: There are many occasions when using the students’ L1 in the classroom has obvious advantages. For example, D Jabr Dajani( 2002) suggests its use in planning, self- evaluation and learner training, where if the teacher speaks the students’ L1 , these topic can be discussed fluently instead of in the halting English of the beginning or elementary students. Sheelagh Deller (2003) suggests that, among other things, it is useful for students to notice differences between their L1 and the target language, that when students use their L1 between themselves and with the teacher, it has a positive effect on group dynamics, and it allows students to give ongoing feedback about the course and their experiences of learning much more fluently than they would if they were only using English. Daniel Linder (2002) suggests a number of translation activities for use in general classroom. These include straight translation of short texts and a translation summary of a longer text. His recommendation is that these activities should be done in groups because a discussion of the issues they raise is likely to be more revealing with two or more people than when they just think about it ourselves. Boris Naimushin (2002), echoing our earlier comments about language use in the modern world, sees translation as the â€Å"fifth skill† after reading, writing, speaking and listening. There seem to be three strands operating here: in the first place, many commentators recognize the desirability of using the students’ L1 when talking about learning. So, for example, if teacher want to discuss making a learning contract with their students, or to ask students what they want or need, then they will get more from lower- level students if they do it in the students’ L1 than if they try to struggle through with English. If you want to explain things, help students with learning training or discuss matters personally with students, then again, we will more success at lower levels if we can use the students’ L1. Secondly, there is clearly a lot to be gained from the comparison between the L1 and the L2. Student can make these comparisons anyway, so we may as well help them do it more effectively. It will help them to understand certain classes of error if we are able to show them such differences. The kind of translation activities suggested above will also help in this respect, making a virtue out of the students’ natural language processing behavior. Translation can also be a very good way of reviewing how well students have understood grammar and lexis at the end of a unit of study. Finally, students (and their teachers) can use the L1 to keep the social atmosphere of the class in good repair. There is a case for saying that rapport is enhanced when teachers can exchange jokes with students or talk to them about aspects of their lives. (Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Pearson Education Limited 2007) Mother tongue is the best medium for the expression of one’s ideas and feelings. Thus, it is the most potent agent for mutual communication and exchange of ideas. Of all the languages, the mother tongue is the most easy to learn. Full proficiency or mastery can be achieved in one’s own mother tongue. Thinking is an instrument of acquiring knowledge, and thinking is impossible without language. â€Å"And training in the use of mother tongue- the tongue in which a child thinks and dreams- become the first essential of shoaling and the finest instrument of human culture. † (P. B. Ballard). We may be able to communicate in any language, but creative self- expression is possible only in one’s own mother tongue. This is clear from the fact that all great writers could produce great literature only in their own language. Mother tongue is the most important instrument for bringing about emotional development of the individual. The emotional effect of literature and poetry is something which is of vital importance in the development and refinement of emotions. The teaching of the mother tongue brings many benefits such as growth in students’ intellectual life; growth in knowledge; growth in ability to express themselves; growth in creative and productive ability – all stem from the mother tongue. Original ideas are the product of one’s own mother tongue. On account of the facility of thought and expression, new and original ideas take birth and get shape only in one’s own mother tongue. 2. 2. 3. THE DISADVANTAGES OF USING THE L1 IH THE L2 CLASSROOM: During the late 1970s and the early 1980s the use of the mother tongue in the classroom was considered as a â€Å"bad thing†, because the learners should have a maximum exposure to the target language. Therefore, researchers such as Richards and Rogers, who considered that the L1 should be inexistent within the L2 classroom, can be found (Martin, J. M. 2000:31). (Maria Olivares Banos, Mother Tongue in the L2 classroom: a positive or negative tool? , 2009) There are problems with an unquestioning use of the students’ L1 in the L2 classroom, just as there were with the idea of a total ban on its appearance. The first, of course, is that as we have pointed out, the teacher may not always share the students’ L1- or at least the L1 of all the students in the classroom. This does not mean that students will no longer make comparison between the L1 and English; as we have said, they will do this consciously anyway. Nor those it mean that the teacher is unable to ask students questions such as Do you have an expression for this in your language? Is it literally the same? Can you translation it back in English? This is extremely rich territory when discussing idioms or metaphorical usage. For example, colors have different metaphorical meanings and uses in different languages and cultures, and the variety of idiomatic ways of saying that something is obvious ( as plain as the nose on your face in some varieties of British English in difference languages that have been reported to me ( translated here into English) – as straight as a wire (Polish); if it’s a dog, it bites (Cuban Spanish); when you can see a village, you don’t have to ask for directions (Turkey); there’s an elephant in the field (Burma- Myanmar) – is breathtaking. But you can encourage students to translate grammatical concepts and lexical items, too, and draw their attention to different writing conventions and genres. However, our interaction with the students’ L1 is obviously limited when you do not, for whatever reason, share it. A more serious objection to the use (especially the over- use) of the students’ L1 is that it restricts the students’ exposure to English. It is possible, for example, to make a good case for the use of their L1 when we give instructions, but this reduces their exposure to a type of English that is â€Å"an ideal source of language for student acquisition† (Harbord 1992:353). The teacher is a principal source of useful comprehensible input, the more time we spend speaking English, the better. Teachers can sometimes find themselves use the L1 more than they intended. When Linda Bawcom transcribed her lessons with two students in Spain, she found that the three of them were speaking Spanish 33 per cent of the time (2002: 50). While she speculated that this might felt that there was just too much L1 being used and set out, with the students’ agreement, to ration its occurrence more judiciously. When visiting a secondary class in the Czech Republic, Simon Gill (2005) found that the particular teacher he observed only used English 5 per cent of the time, and I have encountered similar situation in classrooms in a number of countries. In such situations the student’s exposure to the English language has been unnecessarily restricted; the balance has tipped too far. There is one other situation in which the use of the L1 seems counter- productive and this is when we are encouraging students to use English in communicative speaking tasks, whose purpose, after all, is to give student in English. We may understand their natural inclination to communicate in the best way they (i. e in their L1), but it will not be useful for the purposes of the activity we have asked them to engage in. (Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Pearson Education Limited 2007) It is just kind of tendency that could to the development of excessive dependency on the student’s mother tongue (Harbord, 1992) by both teachers and students. Consequently students lose their confidence in their ability to communicate in English. They may feel that the only way they would understand anything the teacher says is when it has been translated or they use their mother tongue when they are perfectly capable of expressing the same ideas in English. This can significantly reduce student’s opportunities to practice English, and students fail to realize that using English in classroom activities is essential to improve their language skills. Translation also regularly creates the problem of oversimplification because some culture and linguistic nuances cannot be directly translated (Harbord, 1992). For example, the sentence â€Å"that’s so cool† in English means that something is amazing or incredible. This phrase is the product of the continual evolution of the English language that was affected by the specific culture at a certain time. 2. 2. 4. SOME TOOLS THAT AID TO THE AVOIDDANCE THE USE OF MOTHER TONGUE: * Course book: a course book with diagrams and illustrations will make understanding easier for students and thus there will be no need for the use of mother tongue. * Flash card: makes learning easier without the need for another language so also is slide show. Photo- dictionary: some students usual use dictionary with words translated to their native language. A dictionary with pictures will make the need for another language unnecessary. ( Saeed Mubarak, Avoiding Mother Tongue in Classroom, posted on March 6 th, 2011) 2. 2. 5. CONCLUSIONS ABOUT HOW AND WHEN TO USE THE STUDENTS’ L1 IN THE CLASSROOM: * Acknowledge the L1: it makes no sense to deny th e importance of the students’ L1 in their L2 learning. Even where we do not share the students’ languages, we can show our understanding of the learning process and discuss L1 and L2 issues with the class. * Use appropriate L1L2 activities: we can use sensible activities which maximize the benefits of using the students’ L1. These may include translation exercises of the kind we have mentioned, or specific contrasts between the two languages in areas of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or discourse. We may not use the students’ L1 to discuss learning matters such as the establishment of a code of conduct, or the best ways of keeping vocabulary notebooks or the giving of announcements. However, this will be done in the context of a largely English- use classroom. Differentiate between levels: while it may make sense to use the students’ L1 for explanations and rapport- enhancement at lower levels, this become appropriate as the teacher’ English improves. The more they work in English, the more their English will get, and the better their English is, the class need we need of the L1 for reason of rapport- enhancement or discu ssion and explanation of learning matters. However, we may still want to make comparisons between L1 and L2 and encourage the â€Å"fifth skill† of translation. Agree clear guidelines: students need to know when mother- tongue use is productive and when it is not. While, for example, we may not worry about it when they are discussing answers to a reading comprehension in pairs, we will be less happy (as we have said) if they speak in the L1 for an oral communicative activities. We will discuss the issue of the L1 use with our class either as the subject comes up or when establishing some kind of code of conduct. We will ask the students for their opinions on L1 use and give our guidelines, too, so that we can make some kind of a bargain. Students will have then agreed about when L1 use is appropriate and when, on the contrary, it is counter- productive. We have seen how some teachers over- use the students’ L1 often unintentionally. But if we agree clear guidelines with the class, when we should follow them ourselves if we want our students to adhere to them. * Use encouragement and persuasion: teachers all over the world spend a lot of their time going round to students, especially during activities saying things like, please speak English! r why not stop using Turkish/ Arabic/ Portuguese/ Greek? etc. and it often works, especially if students have discussed the issue of the L1 use with the teacher previously. If such encouragement doesn’t work, we can temporarily stop the activity and explain to students that since the activity is designed to give them practice in speaking English, it makes little sense if they do it in another language. This sometimes changes the atmosphere so that they go back the a ctivity with a new determination. 2. 3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS: Many previous studies have focused on the different uses of the mother tongue in the classroom. In my proposal report, I will discuss some questions such as: â€Å"is the use of Vietnamese beneficial of interfere in an English speaking class (DHAV6)? †, â€Å"how frequently is it used and for what purposes? †, â€Å"how do the students feel when their teacher use Vietnamese in speaking class? †. I hope that my proposal report can help me answer these questions and give me suitable methods for my teaching jobs in future. * RESEARCH DESIGN: This proposal report will be carried out in Ho Chi Minh University of Industry, at The Faculty of Foreign Language where I have been studied for four years. The samples for my proposal report are four speaking teachers of FFL with their teaching experience ranged from 3 to 15 years many years and the second- year students DHAV6 including class DHAV6A (15 students) and DHAV6B (15 students). I choose these students of DHAV6 because this class accesses English language more than other classes of other subjects and their experience of speaking English is not professional much. At this level, they get some basic knowledge in some subjects of English skill like speaking, listening, writing, reading,†¦I also ask for these speaking teachers of FFL ideas and information about their experience of teaching Speaking skill on their classes. Everyone have their own ways of carrying out research to get the most successful results. To implement this research, I use both qualitative and quantitative research methods including observation methods, interview methods to have more effective results. For the interview method, I will give some questions related to my research to four teachers and the students of DHAV6 to get the necessary information for my research. The interview method can help me get individual ideas of all teachers and the students who I ask. Firstly, I will interview four teachers of FFL for their experience of teaching speaking. Do they ever use Vietnamese in their speaking class? For what purposes? Each interview lasted between 10 minutes and 15 minutes. For the students, I have some questions to get their ideas about the use of Vietnamese in English speaking class? I want to know that they like using Vietnamese or English much in their class. And I want to compare my experience in speaking class with these students in speaking class. (I have ever used Vietnamese in English speaking class while I have met some difficult words or chatted with other friends,†¦). I also try to collect these student’s ways of avoiding Vietnamese in class. Through the interview of four speaking teacher, I want to have more professional ideas about the using of Vietnamese in English class. All teachers have many experiences in teaching speaking skill. And they have experienced a lot of special situations in which made them choose between Vietnamese and English to teach their students. I expect to find their solutions for these special situations and the reasons for their choices. The interview will be recorded or took note and summarized. They are following these key questions: * Interview questions for students: * Do your teachers usually use Vietnamese in your English class? * In which subjects your teachers often use Vietnamese most? * Do you like the teacher use English or Vietnamese in Teaching English? Why? * Do you ever use Vietnamese in your speaking class? How can you try to avoid this problem? * Interview questions for teachers: * Do you ever use Vietnamese in your speaking class? In which situation, you use it? * Should teacher use Vietnamese in teaching English process? Why? * Why should not teachers use Vietnamese in English class? * In which situations teachers should use Vietnamese in English class? Why? In the observation method, I will observe both classes of DHAV6A and DHAV6B on their speaking periods. During their periods of teaching and learning, I will observer and take note how frequent teacher and students use Vietnamese in class. And in which situations they use mother tongue instead of English to discuss together. I also focus on what kind of topic they talk by Vietnamese and English in speaking class such as discussing the topic in course book or just chat together. By the interview and observation results of these teachers and students, I hope I can get the answers for all research questions and have suitable methods for my teaching jobs in some days. I also hope that this eport can help other students have more material sources for their studies in the next times. * TIME SCHEDULE: | |The time needed (how long will the researcher need? ) | |Tasks to do | | | |2 days: I will need two days to decide where I can carry out this | | |research. And I decide to choose Ho Chi Minh University of Industry- | |Contact the field words for access |The Faculty of Foreign Language. | | |3 days: I need three days to find a suitable class for my research. I | |Looking for sample |need to search the number of students and their speaking teachers. | | |15 days: I spend most time to collect data for this research. I much | | |find information in the Internet as well as carry out the interview | |Collecting data |and observation. | | |10 days: After collecting data and finishing the interview and | | |observation, I will start to analyze all the data. I will study the | | |result of interview and observation to have the specific numbers or | |Analyzing data |the conclusion for the report. | | |2 days: after finish all parts of the proposal report, I need two days| |Correcting and arranging the report |for correcting and arranging all data to get the complete report. | * REFERENCES (Written in APA style) * (N. Pokorn, Challenging the Traditional Axioms: Translation into a Non-Mother Tongue. John Benjamins, 2005) * (Dorthe Buhmann -Barbara Trudell, Mother Tongue Matters: Local Language as a Key to Effective Learning, UNESCO 7 place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris France) * (LinguaLinks Library, version 3. 5, published on CD- ROM by SIL International, 1999). * ( Le Thi Hong Phuc, Teacher’s immediate oral feedback in speaking lesson for 11th – form students, May 2010). * (Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Pearson Education Limited 2007) * (Maria Olivares Banos, Mother Tongue in the L2 classroom: a positive or negative tool? , 2009) ( Saeed Mubarak, Avoiding Mother Tongue in Classroom, posted on March 6 th, 2011) * Kieu Hang Kim Anh- College of Financial and Customs, Use of Vietnamese in English class: Attitude of Vietnamese University Teachers, June 2010. * Baljit Bhela –Flinders university of Education, Native language Interference in learning a second language, International Educational Journal Vol 1, No 1, 1999, http:// iej. cjb. ne t * Galina Kavaliauskiene- Mykolas Romeris University, Role of Mother tongue in Learning English for special purposes, EPS World, Issue 1 (22), Volume 8, 2009, http:// esp- world. info * APPENDICES

Essay on School Uniform

Essay on School Uniform Imagine being able to wake up every morning, roll out of bed, put on the same thing you wore the day before, and head off to school. Not only would you be able to do such a thing, but all of your friends were doing it, too! Sound too good to be true? Well, it’s becoming more common in our society as school uniforms have gone beyond private schools to public schools. Uniforms have a positive effect on students’ self-esteem, attendance, discipline, and test scores. They have also been proven to decrease the rate of crime and violence in public schools. Most students and even parents will argue that school uniforms stifle individualism. The teenage years are a time when adolescents try out different personas, often experimenting with different styles of clothing during this phase. Opponents argue that uniforms take away an individual’s freedom of expression. However, the clothes that people wear, or can afford to wear, often define the group by which they are accepted. As a result, many teens are outcast due to the fact that they cannot afford the top-of-the-line, name-brand clothing. This rejection can lead to several problems for the outcast teen: depression, inability to concentrate on schoolwork, or just a general feeling of inferiority. School uniforms put everyone on the same level because no outfit is more stylish or expensive than another. Linda Moore, principal at Will Rogers Middle School in Long Beach, California, states, Uniforms reduce the differences between the haves and have-nots† (Ritter, 1). Uniforms a llow students to interact with one another without experiencing the socioeconomic barrier that non-uniform schools create. More importantly, children are not judged on how much they spent on clothes or how stylish they look, but rather for their talents and personalities. School uniforms not only break down socioeconomic barriers, but they also increase the safety of the students. In 1996, President Bill Clinton encouraged the use of school uniforms as part of an education program that sought to improve safety and discipline (Hoffman, 1). If students are all wearing the same type of outfit, it becomes much easier to spot outsiders who may wander onto the campus. In addition, uniforms decrease the number of incidences of students being attacked or beaten for items of clothing such as shoes and jackets. Also, members of gangs frequently have a color or style of clothing used to identify themselves. Unsuspecting students who wear gang colors or gang-related attire might be threatened or intimidated by members of opposing gangs, students wearing expensive or fashionable clothes might become victims of theft, or certain fashion accessories or attire may be used as a means of concealing weapons, or even as weapons (Paliokas, 1). At a school in Long Beach, C alifornia, after only the first year that uniforms were implemented, overall school crime decreased 36 percent, fights decreased 51 percent, sex offenses decreased 74 percent, weapons offenses decreased 50 percent, assault and battery offenses decreased 34 percent, and vandalism decreased 18 percent (Manual, 3). Schools with uniform-clad students are also proven to have fewer disciplinary problems and increased attendance than non-uniform schools. Dr. John German, principal of South Shore, located in Seattle, Washington, reports, This year the demeanor in the school has improved 98 percent, truancy and tardies are down, and we have not had one reported incident of theft (Manual,4). Ruffner Middle School, located in Norfolk, Virginia, reports a 47 percent decrease in students leaving class without permission (Manual,5). With the implementation of uniforms, students no longer spend hours deciding what they are going to wear to school. This fear of looking â€Å"uncool† will often cause kids to decide that they do not feel well enough to go to school because they can’t find anything to wear. Uniforms allow students to focus more on their academics, and less on what everyone else is wearing. According to Long Beach police chief William Ellis, â€Å"Students concentrate more on education, not on who’s wearing $100 shoes or gang attire† (Manual, 3). Elementary Guidance Counselor Sharon Carter of Memphis, Tennessee states, â€Å"The tone of the school is different. There’s not the  competitiveness†¦ about who’s wearing what† (Manual, 5). Many families worry about not having enough money to buy uniforms. Due to the fact that no child can be denied an education because of economic disadvantage, all schools requiring uniforms must include provisions to assist low-income families. For example, the Long Beach School District solved this problem by setting up a boutique shop, funded by private donors, where needy students can shop (Paliokas, 5). In addition, community and business leaders provide or contribute financial support for uniforms, and students who have graduated often donate their used uniforms to incoming students (Manual, 3). However, uniforms are considerably cheaper to buy than non-uniform clothes, and the students can wear them every day and it isn’t considered unusual. Parents can buy a few pairs of pants, shirts, or other variations of a uniform for under $100, while parents of non-uniform-wearing students can spend from several hundreds up to $1,000 a year on clothing. Parents find that buying two or three uniforms is ultimately cheaper than buying clothes to follow the fads, and it stops arguments at home in the mornings about what to wear (Oland, 1). Pop culture increasingly sends young girls the message that the smaller and tighter the clothes, the more readily they will be accepted. These outfits, which flaunt navels and bra straps, are not only distracting, but detract from teaching time as teachers argue with students about what is considered acceptable attire. With uniforms, there are only a few acceptable variations of the outfit, no questions asked. A less well-known theory concerning the pros of school uniforms is the â€Å"halo effect.† According to researcher Marc Posner, the â€Å"halo effect† refers to the idea that while uniforms may not change student behavior, the uniforms may change the way teachers and other adults perceive the students who wear them. In a study of the correlation of student clothing and teacher and student perceptions, Dorothy Behling of Bowling Green University found that students and teachers alike believe that uniform-clad students not only behave better, but also do better academically than those who dont wear uniforms. While this may be an illusion, these positive perceptions can help create a self-fulfilling prophecy that teachers and administrators raise their discipline and grading standards to reflect their more positive image of students, who, in turn, behave better. (School Discipline, 1). While research on the effectiveness of uniforms is still ongoing, they have been proven to raise test scores, boost self-esteem, reduce violence and crime, and create a sense of newfound pride in students. They help children to focus on learning and schoolwork, not on what everyone else is wearing or whether or not they fit in. Uniforms are not the solution to all of the problems that teens, teachers, and schools face today, but research and statistics suggest that they may be a step in the right direction. You can order a custom essay, term paper, research paper, thesis or dissertation on School Uniform topics at our professional custom essay writing service which provides students with custom papers written by highly qualified academic writers. High quality and no plagiarism guarantee! Get professional essay writing help at an affordable cost.

Hunter S. Thompson and American Counter culture Essay

Hunter S. Thompson and American Counter culture - Essay Example Thompson a representative of the American counter culture. This question is answered and information and current literature is presented to support the answer. Hunter Stockton Thompson was born in Louisville Kentucky in 1937. Thompson grew up in the Cherokee Triangle neighborhood. and attended Louisville Male High School there and lived with his parents, Jack and Virginia and two brothers, Dawson and James. His father's death left the three boys to be brought up by their mother. Thompson's mother was a heavy drinker and Thompson experienced a troubled youth. He was a troubled boy and even had problems with the law at any early age. "Thompson's difficult youth, and its influence on his behavior and the development of his misanthropic worldview, has not received significant literary exploration." (Wikipedia 2005) It has been said of Hunter S. Thompson that he was a 'bad' influence of the best kind. Ernest Hemingway said a writer needs a BS detector and Thompson had one of the most finely tuned BS detectors of all time. Hunter continued to write until he took his own life in February of 2005. 193. He had several nicknames including Doctor, Gonzo and Raoul Duke. The name Raul Duke spawned from the character of Duke in Gary Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury that was modeled after Thompson. Thompson changed the world of journalism and his unique and subjective style of writing was coined Gonzo journalism. In fact he is routinely mentioned with the age of new journalism due to his unique and abrasive style of writing. It is also extremely rare to see Thompson's name and not see it credited with American counterculture. There I nary an instance where you will see Thompson's name and not see Gonzo or counterculture. That is how influential and powerful his writing style was and how strong his messag es were conveyed in his writing through his writing style. Thompson had more than a unique and one of a kind writing style. His persona was eccentric and his trademark look was that he always had a cigarette holder in his mouth, with yellow/orange aviator glasses and Hawaiian shirts with khaki or camo pants. Everything about Thompson from his writing style to his character set him apart from everyone else. His biography describes him as "The American journalist". This is due largely to his contribution t American counterculture He was known as one of the best examples of "Gonzo" journalism because of His political and cultural criticism of the United States in the 1970s was largely a series of tales flowing from his eccentric personality and adventures. (Bookragsd.com 2005)It was after his troubled youth that he joined the Air Force, where the two major tendencies in his life were soon revealed: writing and outrageous behavior. (Bookrags.com 2005) Stationed in Florida, he became a sports reporter for the base newspaper. In 1958 he received a dishonorable discharge after an officer claimed his disregard for military dress and authority was having a bad influence on other airmen. After being fired from jobs with a small New York newspaper and TIME magazine, Thompson went to Puerto Rico and wrote briefly for a bowling magazine." (Wikipedia 2005) Thompson and everything he wrote epitomized American counterculture. "Thompson lived, wrote, and ultimately died of his own terms. " (Gaudette February