Sustainable Development and Provision of Quality Life Options Assignment

Sustainable Development and Provision of Quality Life Options - Assignment Example Nevertheless, ‘needs’ mechanism enable organizations and individuals to compromise on environmental pollution, this pollution due to overconsumption develops the unliveable environment for the future generation in long term. ‘Needs’ initiate such processes for which short-term benefit is assessed and collected, but their long-term and wider detrimental impact on the planet is not taken into consideration. Subsequently, Sustainable development forwards a balanced approach to life, which brings social, governmental, and economic restrictions for the sake of better future. Vivid examples of poor unsustainable development can commonly be observed like hefty financial crises due to negligent banking and governmental policies, increase in air pollution due to fossil fuel burning, pacific garbage patch due to waste dumped in the sea, deforestation, no-recycling, ecological issues due to pesticides and chemical fertilizers and etc. Poor quality of air in Urban or industrial areas develop smog that contains sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and carbon mono oxide. These toxic gases are lethal for lungs and can cause long-term respiratory issues, change in human organ functions, and also cardiovascular syndrome as well. Similarly, noise pollution of heavy traffic, industrial units, constructional activities and various machines can cause hearing impediments, sleep disorders, aggressive temperament, stress, cardiovascular syndromes and many more. Pollution of any type is due to short-term benefit and lack of long-term planning according to sustainable development. Hygiene issues due to water pollution in heavily populated areas can cause people and their future generations to suffer from numerous health issues as well. The above-mentioned issues are a result of unsustainable development, inadequate urban planning, and functioning in the recent world. However, to adopt sustainable development lifestyle efforts are required to remodel current and existing processes into sustainable processes, and consumption needs into sustainable consumption.  Ã‚  

Minimalist visual artists and composers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Minimalist visual artists and composers - Essay Example The fact that music has more â€Å"space† in time that it has to occupy, along with the fact that the common chords used have emotional resonance means that minimalist music retains a more emotional intensity, while visual art remains more intellectual, as demonstrated by a comparison of Philip Glass’s â€Å"Einstein on the Beach† and John McCracken’s â€Å"Untitled Slab.† Einstein on the Beach begins with deconstructed common chords, before being overlaid by a female ensemble counting to six using the same chord. This is then quickly overlayed with a voice speaking quickly, words barely just too quick to catch any narrative out of (Glass). It then begins with an overlay of male voices singing harmonics and a different group of male voices counting to six using a different octave of the same chord. Each chord used is major, with harmonies communicating a combined sense of joy and loftiness. These musical elements, though deconstructed here, would still be recognizable even to a lay audience, and leave Glass’s music with a distinct emotional punch. McCracken’s work, â€Å"Untitled Slab,† is very different. This piece of work is a painting that resembles, in every element, a large black slab of marble, down to the sense of reflections in its black depth (McCracken). The fact that it looks so almost common place while being made with such distinct skill asks the viewer to engage with art critically; it demands the reader use their mind and think about art as a construct. This consciousness of art as art is common to minimalist visual art, and keeps the viewer at arm’s length, reducing the emotional punch that the art actually has. This means that minimalist visual art, while sharing many similarities with minimalist music, has a very different effect. Minimalist music retains a great deal of emotional punch, while visual art loses it to heightened intellectualism. These

How is the national and international tourism helping Spain overcome Essay Example for Free

How is the national and international tourism helping Spain overcome Essay Spain is one of the countries in the world that has been severely affected by the global economic crisis originated in 2008. It is the country with the greatest number of unemployed citizens in all Europe. Its rate of unemployment reached an all time high of 26. 9% in May 2013. The European Union is worried about this situation, and has therefore forced the Spanish Government to apply some strict cut backs to their economy in order to decrease its high public deficit. These measures are mostly affecting public labor force, who realized they dont have sufficient income to last them through the month. In addition, college students, mainly those who study architecture, engineering and medicine, have realized that there is not a promising professional career that can be developed in Spain. Since the beginning of the economic crisis, more than 300,000 young Spanish citizens have left the country in order to find a job in markets overseas. All these negative aspects of the countrys critical situation are bringing Spain forward to be a candidate of receiving a bailout from the European Union. Despite being in this delicate position, it is not all about negative figures in Spain. There is one sector of the Spanish economy that is helping the country to come back on track: tourism. The purpose of this report is to find out how tourism is helping Spain to recover from the economic decline. I have divided the findings into two sections: First, I will explain the importance of tourism in Spain. Second, I will describe the general changes in both international and national tourism, without analyzing the monetary effects in the economy. Third, I will provide information about the economical consequences that these changes are having in the reactivation of the Spanish economy. Findings 1- Importance of Tourism in the Spanish Economy Spain, behind France, the United States and China, is one of the top world destinations to go on vacation. Its 7,876 kilometers of beautiful beaches, pleasant weather and 44 world heritage monuments, position the country as the 4th country in the world to receive the highest number of international tourists. In terms of revenues, the country is ranked in second position right after the United States (Butler, 2013). According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism represented a total contribution of 15. 2 % of Spains Gross Domestic Product in 2012. In other developed countries, such as the United States, France and China, tourism represented a 8. 6%, 9. 7% and 9. 3% of their respective 2012 GDP (2013). This shows that, despite receiving more tourists than Spain, these countries economic lives are less affected and determined by the changes that might take place in the tourism sector. The Government of Spain knows how crucial tourism is for the performance of the countrys economy and gives this sector high importance. As a touristic oriented country, Spain has 47 airports, 2,000 km of commuter rail trains and 2,900 km of high-speed rail network (Butler, 2013). These elements make Spain one of the countries with the best transportation system in the world. This advantage of Spain facilitates the arrival of international tourists and the transportation of national tourists all over the country. In addition, as I mentioned before, one of Spains biggest problems is its increasing rate of unemployment. The WTTC published that travel and tourism directly supported 894,000 jobs in Spain. This means that 5. 2% of workers were related to this specific sector of the economy (2013). All the figures I just pointed out reflect the positive and remarkable impact of tourism in Spain’s economy. Now, I am going to present some more detailed information about the changes in the national and international tourism, and the consequences of these changes relating them to the fact that tourism is the main force that is helping Spain to overcome this fragile situation. 2- Changes in Tourism in Spain Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, tourism in Spain has changed in many ways. Not only has it influenced the amount of foreigners visits to Spain, but it has also affected the domestic conception of going on vacation. Changes in International Tourism As I said in the Introduction, Spain received more than 57 million tourists during 2012, which means it had a year-over-year growth of 2. 7%. The countries that contributed the most to this growth are France, Germany and Russia. In addition, some Nordic and Asiatic countries also collaborated on it (Institute of Touristic Studies of Spain [ITE], 2013). The main positive elements of the Spanish economy come from the foreign sector. It is important to point out that the total nights international tourists stayed in Spain increased by 2. 3% in 2012. Looking at the low rates of unemployment in France, Germany, United Kingdom and Russia, it can be deduced that these countries are performing economically better than Spain. This means that foreigners, who have not been as affected as the Spaniards by the economic crisis, have enough income and are willing to go on vacation outside of their home countries. The Institute of Touristic Studies from Spain, assures that Spanish tourism has become more competitive in the last few years. By analyzing the changes in prices and the value of the currency compared to other countries, this Institute has used the Competitiveness Trend in Tourism Ratio to measure the performance of the country. It has arrived to the conclusion that, due to the low prices compared with other countries from the European Union, Spain has achieved a beneficial position to attract international tourists to the country (2013). Changes in National Tourism As well as the international, national tourism has experienced many changes during the past few years. National tourism in Spain closed the year 2012 with 158,9 millions domestic trips. It is important to highlight that 9 out of 10 of Spanish citizens trips were effectuated inside the country. Due to the difficult economic situation that many Spaniards are experiencing, travelling to other countries decreased by 4. 8% in 2012 (ITE, 2013). This new setting where saving money is the main concern for Spanish citizens, has helped new forms of travelling to arise in the Spanish touristic sector. Even thought Spain has always been seen as a sun and beach destination, Antonio Villanueva Cuevas, Doctor at the Castilla-La Mancha University, explains that news forms of travelling such as rural, cultural and natural tourism are becoming popular between Spaniards that are looking to travel with minimum expenses (2012). In addition, those who still prefer going to the beach have found their way to get cheap options by either going during low season or taking last minute deals. 3- How are These Changes Having a Positive Impact in the Spanish Economy? Since tourism in Spain represents a large part of its Gross Domestic Product, this sector of the economy will have a considerable impact on the countrys economy performance. The growths of international and national tourism have helped the country to stay economically alive (Barreira, 2013). Positive Impact from International Tourism In relation to the international tourism, Spain is the 4th country in the world to receive the highest number of tourists. More than 57 million tourists visited Spain in 2012. Moreover, there was a high new record of 56 billion Euros reached in spent by international tourists in Spain. The growth of the number of international tourists that visited Spain in 2012 helped the countrys economy by contributing â‚ ¬57. 1 billion to the GDP (ITE, 2013). Even though Spains GDP fell by 1. 3% in 2012, the growth of the international tourism made the GDP experience a shorter descent. Another positive impact of the international tourism is the fact that the number of workers hired in the tourism sector increased by 0. 6% in 2012 (World Travel and Tourism Council [WTTC], 2013). It might be seen as an insignificant growth, but, taking into account that the general rate of unemployment increased to 26% in 2013, any contribution has an important meaning for the reactivation of the countrys economy. International tourism also caused the growth of capital investment by 7. 4% to â‚ ¬14. 8 billion in 2012 (WTTC, 2013). In addition, the fact that prices in Spain are low compared to other countries in the European Union, makes Spain more attractive to receive investments and be chosen as a holiday destination. All these positive consequences of the international tourism in the Spanish economy are helping the country to achieve the goal of not seeing Spain as a burden for the European Union. The recuperation of the countrys economy will be determined by the growth of GDP, decrease of unemployment rate and increase in foreign investments in the country. All these aspects are represented by the good performance of Spains international tourism. Positive Impact from National Tourism Even though national tourism has not shown as many positive figures as the international one, it is helping the country to improve economically. As I explained before, a large number of Spaniards cant afford to travel to another country during vacation. They decide to stay in the country, and look for new cheap ways of travelling. Spaniards are starting to purchase last minute deals, and to travel during low season periods. Even thought the number of national trips decreased by 1. 2% in 2012, Spain registered a growth of 22% in national tourism from 2008 to 2012 from 130 to 158. 9 million national trips (ITE, 2013). It can be deduced from this, that national tourism has had an overall positive performance during the Spanish recession. The fact that Spaniards choose national rather than international destinations makes them invest money in their own countrys economy. Moreover, even thought national tourism slightly decreased in 2012, new sectors of the Spanish national tourism have showed positive figures during the last few years. Juan Pulido and Pablo Garcia, members of the economics department at University of Jaen in Spain, explain that the rural sector of the Spanish national tourism has increased by 7. 5% in the last 10 years. Since Spaniards dont want to spend too much money during vacation, they decide to stay in the country and look for new attractions. Spaniards spent a total of â‚ ¬18,046 million in rural destinations during 2011 (2011). Rural tourism is affecting positively the economy by activating some unusual tourism destinations, and giving them the opportunity to create a new emerging business in Spain. The increasing importance of this new way of tourism creates jobs and activates the economy of certain domestic areas. These new ways of doing tourism are making Spaniards stay in their country during their holidays, invest money in the national market, and contribute to the reactivation of the countrys economy. Key Points Spain is one of the countries that have been affected the most by the global economic crisis originated in 2008. However, there are several facts that explain how tourism is helping Spain to overcome this situation: Tourism represented a total contribution of 15. 2 % of Spains Gross Domestic Product in 2012. Tourism has a great impact in the performance of the Spanish economy. Spain has received more than 57 million international tourists during 2012, which mean it had a year-over-year growth of 2. 7%. There was a high new record of 56 billion Euros reached in spent by these international tourists that visited Spain in 2012. The number of workers hired in the Spanish tourism sector increased by 0. 6% in 2012. International tourism has also caused the growth of capital investment by 7. 4% to â‚ ¬14. 8 billion in Spain during 2012. Spain registered a growth of 22% in national tourism from 2008 to 2012, from 130 to 158. 9 million national trips. The fact that Spaniards are choosing national rather than international destinations makes Spaniards invest more money in the domestic economy. The rural sector of the Spanish national tourism has increased by 7. 5% in the last 10 years. This has created a new sector of tourism that creates jobs and gives opportunities to local areas to develop an emerging business. Conclusion The overall situation is perfectly described in an article written by Victor Barreira (2013), a journalist who works for El Pais, the most sold newspaper in Spain, which says: The national GDP fell by 1. 3% in 2012, unemployment raised to 26%, the bailout petition to the European Union was still active however, tourism is staying as a life-jacket to which Spain can keep held in order to ride out of the storm. It points out that the economic situation of Spain has affected the country in an extremely negative way. However, tourism has been the most important sector of the economy that has shown positive figures and has helped the country to better deal with the economic situation. It is important for the Spanish Government to keep working on the improvement of the countrys touristic attractions and promote Spain as a holiday destination. References Barreira, V. (2013, January 16). Espana registro en 2012 el tercer mejor ano de la historia en llegada de turistas [Spain registered in 2012 the third best year in history in arrival of tourists]. El Pais. Butler, M. (2013, February 27). Spain as an international tourist destination [Electronic version]. Atlas of the brands. Institute of Touristic Studies of Spain. (2013). Balance del turismo ano 2012 [Tourism balance year 2012]. Retrieved October 13, 2013, from www. iet. tourspain. es Pulido, P. , Cardenas,P. (2011). El Turismo rural en Espana [The rural Tourism in Spain]. Asociacion de Geografos Espanoles. Villanueva, A. (2012). Las nuevas formas de turismo como instrumento para lograr un desarrollo sostenible e integrador [The new forms of tourism as a tool to reach a sostenible and integrative development]. Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. World Travel and Tourism Council. (2013). Travel and Tourism, the economic impact 2013 in Spain. Scowsill, D.

Education in the age of globalisation

Education in the age of globalisation Introduction What does education have to do with globalisation? The answer is simple: everything. The most recent wave of globalisation, which began in the 1980s, is being driven by the knowledge economy and, in turn, this knowledge economy is being facilitated by globalisation. Without education, the knowledge economy collapses. So anyone talking about globalisation is also talking about the knowledge economy and education. First, globalisation. Sometimes the concept seems like a many-headed dragon (Giddens, 2000). To some, the phenomenon is as old as the world itself just think of the great kingdoms of antiquity, the voyages of discovery, the great waves of migration in the 19th century, etc.. After the world wars, international institutions were created which were supposed to lead to global governance, a type of world government which would establish a new world order. However, the most recent wave of globalisation has swept over this like a deluge. As a result of increasing internationalisation in production and distribution networks, sovereign states are suddenly being downgraded to water-carriers of international big business. The laws of the free market are imposed upon them, for fear of being ignored by investors. Some institutions that were supposed to guarantee the creation of the new world order are themselves preaching deregulation and worldwide competition. In other words, in debates about globalisation, we are not usually talking about the globalisation trend in its generic sense (the increasing trend towards worldwide interdependence, driven by telecommunications). The model of globalisation that is so controversial that it has become the target of fierce demonstrations, is one that is coloured by neo-liberal ideology. It is the globalisation of the free market, driven by competition and the quest for profit. Both heads of the monster also refer to the knowledge society. In the first definition, the Internet and the media play a key role: ideas move at the speed of light around the world and ensure that every innovation that catches on also takes on worldwide proportions. This means that anyone who can master the Internet and the media is at the source and acquires power. In the second definition, the establishment of the global neo-liberal market economy, knowledge, IT and information play just as important a role. A great many services that do not require physical proximity (such as information processing, accounting, financial services, translation, etc.) can indeed be produced anywhere in the world and delivered to the other side of the globe. Moreover, markets are connected across the world so that information about production, prices, innovations, etc., is distributed over the Internet in the blink of an eye. This significantly increases the transparency of the markets and boosts co mpetition. Our leaders have also understood that our competitive advantage in the global market economy no longer rests on the possession of raw materials or manpower, but on our grey matter: knowledge. The Lisbon Strategy: knowledge as both competitive weapon and social cement? During the 2000 spring summit in Lisbon, EU leaders elevated the knowledge economy to the ultimate goal of the decade: making the EU into the largest and most dynamic knowledge economy in the world, with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. The exegesis of this text is a fascinating activity. At first sight, one sentence contains the most obvious contradictions: on the one hand, the desire to be a winner in the global competitive struggle is clear while, on the other hand, we find the desire to counteract the social and regional polarisation that results from the neo-liberal market economy, using the same investments in knowledge. It seems to be a typically political sample compromise between heads of state on right and left, all wanting to put their eggs in the EU basket without checking whether their agendas are in any way reconcilable. The fact is that the Lisbon agenda can be taken in many different ways. For the marketeers, it is first and foremost about playing out comparative advantages on world markets. According to the Heckscher-Ohlin theorems of international trade theory, free trade will spontaneously cause trading partners to specialise in producing those goods and services in which they have a comparative advantage. Where necessary, the government may lend a helping hand. If we assume that Europe is relatively poor in raw materials and labour, but rich in brain power, then investing in education, research and development is indeed the recipe for success. Investment in RD has to be increased, up to 3% of gross domestic product. The innovative climate has to be nurtured, including by establishing innovation platforms, incubation centres, public investment in eco-technology, etc.. Information and communication technologies are key areas of economic development. The number of scientifically and technically educated people at secondary and higher levels must be dramatically increa sed. The connection between education and the labour market must be improved. The flow of unqualified school-leavers must be cut by half. Participation in life-long learning must be increased and every adult must have access to basic IT skills. By specialising in knowledge-intensive sectors according to the forecasts of neo-classical trade theory the European economy will grow further and the Third World will also benefit as a result because the flipside of the coin is that labour-intensive activities will be outsourced to low-wage countries. Both sides, North and South, can only benefit as a result. The World Bank looked and saw that it was good: according to the Bank, the new globalisers a group of 23 developing countries that have opened up their borders (China, India, Brazil and others) saw average economic growth in the 1990s (per head of population) of 5% per year. In the rich countries, where globalisation was promoted, this growth was 2% per year, while the stragglers, countries that sealed themselves off, experienced negative average growth (World Bank, 2002). At the same time, the OECD and the EU learned from research that the knowledge economy was once again to set them on the path of sustainable growth. Temple (2001) found that every additional year of education by the working population increases national income by about 10%. This effect can be broken down into a level effect and a growth effect: the former means that the working population is more productive and therefore generates more income. The growth effect can be attributed to the fact that the more highly e ducated have also learned to learn: even after leaving the classroom they continue to behave creatively and flexibly under changing circumstances, producing a snowball effect as a result. As far as investment in research and development is concerned, the figures are just as telling: Sakurai et al. (1996) estimate the average rate of return from RD activities at 15%, with exceptions up to 40-50% in some countries and sectors. In other words, every euro a company or government invests in RD is fully recovered in an average of 7 years. The observation that few investments are as profitable as investments in education and research is perhaps one of the most important findings to come out of social sciences in the past decade. The European Commission has also received this message loud and clear (de la Fuente Ciccone, 2002). So much for the good news. However, the way in which globalisation and the knowledge economy can be reconciled with social cohesion within the EU is not specified anywhere. Even the built-in pattern, that the global free market actually undermines social cohesion within Europe, is not discussed anywhere in EU documents. Indeed, the associated specialisation in knowledge-intensive sectors boosts the demand for highly specialised scientists and technically educated labour. The increasing shortages in these labour market segments will exert upward pressure on the wages of these workers. On the other hand, the outsourcing of low-skilled, labour-intensive production processes leads to reduced demand and a structural surplus of unskilled labour, which means that the wages and working conditions of these groups are also gradually undermined (Wood, 1994). Whether this polarisation on the labour market is caused by globalisation itself or by technological evolution or the tertiarisation of th e economy is more like a discussion of the gender of the angels: the three trends are after all dimensions of the same knowledge economy. Inequality in Europe, even in the whole of the rich North, has been systematically increasing since the mid-1980s (Fà ¶rster, 2000). According to Pontusson et al. (2002), some countries are still managing to curb inequality by a strong trade union movement and/or public employment, but these counteracting forces are coming under increasing pressure. The Lisbon strategy therefore seems like trying to square the circle. The more the member states encourage it, the less social cohesion there is. The EU does have structural funds available to promote social cohesion (both between regions and between the highly skilled and unskilled). Since the enlargement of the EU, however (itself also a stage in globalisation), these structural funds themselves have lost some of their influence because they have not grown in proportion to the size of the Union, certainly not in proportion to the drastically wider gap within the EU28. In our opinion, the only way to reconcile the knowledge economy with the objective of greater social cohesion and is through mass investment in education. The difference between this approach and the previous is that investment in education influences the supply side of the labour market, while globalisation and intensification of the knowledge-intensive production sectors influence the demand side. This difference is essential: perhaps it requires some explanation. RD investment and specialisation in knowledge-intensive trade (IT, financial services, pharmaceuticals, eco-technology, etc.), as we have said, boost the demand for highly skilled workers, while the outsourcing of unskilled production sectors causes a decline in the demand for unskilled workers. All other things being equal, this shift in the demand for labour causes a reverse redistribution of employment and income, from unqualified to highly qualified. Rather than stimulating this (spontaneous) trend, policy must be geared towards bringing about similar shifts on the supply side of the labour market. Education and vocational training are actually geared towards converting unskilled workers into more highly skilled workers: if this process can (at least) keep pace with the shifts on the demand side, inequality can be kept in check, or even reduced. It is a race against time and, if we claim that large-scale investment in education is needed, the distribution of this investment itsel f among the various sections of the population is also of great importance. The deeply ingrained Matthew effect in education and life-long learning actually threatens to undermine the effectiveness of this strategy. From a social perspective, the first priority in education policy is to eliminate the flow of unqualified school-leavers from education; the second priority is the literacy plan and the third is to increase the supply of engineers and those with scientific and technical skills. Not everyone will agree with this ranking. It is a question of social choice. The Lisbon strategy does not actually contradict this approach but nor does it lead automatically to the desired result. As we wrote in the introduction to this section, it seems like a sample compromise between diverging national priorities. Anything is possible with such compromises. We can characterise the contrasting policy alternatives described above as knowledge-intensive versus knowledge-extensive. The knowledge-intensive path, which gives priority to the development of advanced technology, will boost economic growth in the short term, but gradually become bogged down on the labour market, further dualisation of society and social unrest. The knowledge-extensive path, which gives preference to a raft of basic skills for as many people as possible, will perhaps deliver less visible results in the short term but, in the longer term, lead to more sustainable growth. The debate surrounding the correct mix has, to our knowledge, not yet been explicitly pursued. Free movement of education services The education sector is not only an involved party in the globalisation process; it is itself also partly the subject of it. In the 1990s, the WTO (World Trade Organization) launched an offensive (in the Uruguay round and again in 2001 in the Doha round) to involve a number of subsidised services in the negotiations about trade liberalisation as well. In principle, every service over which the government does not have a genuine monopoly can be discussed at the negotiating table. Education services are included here as soon as private organisers of education are admitted, even if they are 100% subsidised by the state. This is certainly the case in Belgium, given that the free education network alone is larger than the two official networks combined. International trade in education services can take various forms: from distance learning across national borders, international student or lecturer mobility, to the establishment of campuses abroad (Knight, 2002). Of course, it is up to the members themselves to decide, through free negotiations, whether they want to open up their education sectors to international competition. The EU commissioner for trade, who acts during the GATS negotiations on behalf of all EU member states, had given undertakings during the Uruguay round for privately financed education (in other words the commercial or at least unsubsidised education circuit). All compulsory education and most higher education therefore fall de facto outside the scope of GATS. Only entirely private schools and commercial initiatives in adult education were liberalised. What does this mean in practice? We are not used to talking about trade in educational services, even less about their liberalisation. After all, import tariffs are never charged Trade barriers do not, however, consist solely of import tariffs, but also of what are known as non-tariff obstacles (e.g. quota restrictions, quality standards, recognition procedures for fore ign qualifications, etc.). Once a party has opened up its borders, it must at least apply the general principles of GATS in this respect. Market access means that no quantitative barriers may be imposed, such as a ceiling of x foreign students or y branches of foreign schools. The most-favoured clause means that no privileges can be denied to one member if they are committed to another member of the WHO.  [1]  The principle of national treatment implies that, when there is free access to foreign service providers, no different standards or subsidy rules can be imposed on provisions of domestic or foreign origin. Furthermore, undertakings are irrevocable and WHO members hand over jurisdiction over any conflicts to a panel of international trade experts. The GATS initiative was not exactly welcomed with great enthusiasm. Its intentions were good: to increase prosperity by bringing burgeoning service sectors out of their national cocoons and to allow matching between demand and supply to take place across national borders. Liberalisation means diversification, greater freedom of choice, more efficiency and quality incentives and perhaps also less of a burden on the government budget. On the international stage, the major Anglo-Saxon countries were clearly in favour of the initiative. After all, they have had a strong comparative advantage right from the start because the working language of their education systems is the most important world language. E-courses, whether or not supported by specialist call centres, are very attractive as an export product because they are associated with huge economies of scale. However, the reception of foreign students can also be a lucrative business. For example, Australia is making big bucks with the tens of thousands of Asians attending university there. Even if this export education is partially subsidised, return effects can still be gained from other spending by foreign students and, if the best brains can then be retained in the host country, the picture is even more favourable. As importers, some major developing countries, led by China, can also make money from liberalisation. Thanks to the meteoric growth of its economy, the Chinese government cannot satisfy the increased demand for higher education. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students begin their studies abroad every year, possibly with a grant from their government. Most of them come back with Western qualifications and join the countrys scientific and technological elite. The Chinese government saves on higher education because most migrants pay for their studies abroad themselves. In some cases, multinationals investing in China establish their own colleges to train suitable executives. By contrast, in the European education sector, liberalisation and commercialisation meet with great reticence, not entirely without justification (OKeeffe, 2003; Hanley and Frederiksson, 2003). Not for nothing do governments curb market effects in education because of the risk of market failure. A free, competitive market also requires homogenous goods (a nursing qualification in country A should have the same value as in country B); at the same time, all those involved must be well-informed about the quality and cost price of the goods. Power concentrations (e.g. of large universities or associations) are out of the question, etc.. None of these conditions for healthy competition is truly fulfilled. Education is a very complex, opaque market. If all this applies to domestic provisions, how much more then to foreign provisions? Will liberalisation not lead automatically to privatisation and price increases? Does globalisation of the education sector not open the door to the suppressi on of national culture? It is not actually clear to what extent all these objections are founded. It is a fact that the EU pursues a somewhat ambiguous strategy in this area. It portrays itself to the outside world as the defender of a regulated, protected education sector but, internally, despite its subsidiary role regarding education, it promotes liberalisation by all means available. The Bologna process and the Copenhagen process should create a European educational space for higher and vocational education respectively, in which supply and demand can move freely. Harmonisation of structures, recognition of qualifications obtained elsewhere and the development of a uniform, transparent European Qualification Framework should help to enable EU citizens to brush up or refine their skills in other member states. Erasmus grants should boost student mobility and, last but not least, the EU services directive (the infamous Bolkestein directive) has led to the free movement of educational services within the E U, which that same EU is fighting at the GATS negotiating table. So what effects should we expect? To begin with, remember that compulsory education is also not subject to the services directive or the GATS rules, so that a great deal of movement should not be expected at this level. Secondly, higher education will also remain largely subsidised in the future. Free movement in this sector will perhaps lead to a downwards levelling off of subsidies (or an upwards levelling off of registration fees). After all, in an open educational space, a member state cannot allow itself to offer cheaper education than its neighbouring countries for very long. In the long term, thousands of students from other member states could benefit from this transnational generosity. After all, different prices cannot be charged to EU students and to domestic students. In higher and adult education, an increased registration fee is not actually undemocratic: it counteracts the misplaced redistribution currently ravaging these segments because the better-off make disproport ionately more use of education which is partly funded by less well-off taxpayers. The democratisation of higher and adult education is not threatened if increased registration fees are coupled with higher study grants. The creation of a more transparent, uniform European educational space can, we believe, only be regarded as a positive phenomenon. It is the task of the government, where the market fails, to ensure that the educational supply is more transparent. This allows the user to choose more freely. The competition between provisions is also heightened as a result, which should lead to better quality and/or lower cost price. Nonetheless, the impending commercialisation of higher education may also have detrimental effects: in this context, education is gradually reduced to its most utilitarian dimension. As the student himself finances a larger share of the cost of education, he will also be more likely to choose the more lucrative studies. In particular, humanities and cultural sciences could come under pressure as a result. If society attaches importance to an adequate balance between courses of study, it will also have to build in the required incentives for this (e.g. by differentiated registration fees). Another risk the intensification of the brain drain is covered in the final section of our paper. Last but not least, at international level, the risks of any forms of market forces in education are of course present, specifically increasing polarisation in quality and prestige among educational establishments. The Cambridges, Paris VIs, Munichs and Stockholms are undoubtedly becoming even more of a major draw within a unified European higher education space. It will not be long before they increase their registration fees and tighten up their entry conditions in order to cream off the European elite. Regional colleges, by contrast, will see a weakening of the target audience as a result of the same mechanisms. If access to higher education (and, even more so, adult education) is to remain democratic, European directives will also have to be enacted, as was also necessary for the liberalisation of other public welfare services. For example, Flemish higher education is already feeling the consequences of entry restrictions in the Netherlands. The question is whether this will be s ustainable in a context where international student mobility is on the increase. On the whole, the free movement of educational services does not look as scary as many make it out to be. It is important that a distinction be made between compulsory education, on the one hand, which belongs to the field of basic social rights, and further education and training on the other hand. In these latter segments, partial commercialisation should not automatically lead to social breakdown. It can even contribute to a more balanced financing mix, which is necessary to cope with the growing participation trend in the future. EU legislation will still have to ensure the required limit conditions to prevent negative social side effects. Education and Third World development In the above sections, we have largely confined ourselves to the European perspective. What do education and the knowledge society mean for the Third World? Curiously enough, the theory regarding the social role of education in the development literature is much richer and more subtle than in Western education literature. Whereas the Chicago economist Becker (1964) labelled education as an individual investment in human capital, with a financial return in terms of future income, the Bengali Sen (Sen, 1999) teaches us that education can also be regarded more broadly as an investment in capabilities which subsequently enable higher levels of functioning to be attained at the levels of health, family life, social participation, etc.. Empirical research underpins this position and demonstrates that a higher level of education also leads to better nutrition, health (e.g. AIDS prevention), housing, sex education, etc. (MacMahon, 1999; Saito, 2003). Moreover, investment in education generates many spill-over effects on the wider society. People learn from one another. Education also has a positive influence on security (prevention of high-risk and delinquent behaviour), social commitment, civil responsibility and the quality of democratic decisions. Research increasingly points to the role of education in the development of social capital (de la Fuente and Ciccone, 2002). These positive social effects are most clear in the context of gender-specific anti-poverty programmes. For instance, more education for women is associated with better family planning and better nutrition, health and training for children (for a summary of the results, see Behrman, 1997). In order to break through the vicious circle of poverty and disease, education and training programmes for girls and women are essential. In this context, UNICEF talks correctly of the multiplier effect of education for girls (UNICEF, 2004). These positive external effects ar e an additional reason for government intervention in education and training. Sufficient evidence exists that educational investment in developing countries produces a higher return than in developed countries (Psacharopoulos and Patrinos, 2004). This difference is a direct indication of the need for education in the acquisition of basic skills. In addition, Behrman (1997) points out that, as far as subsequent educational investments in their children are concerned, basic education or basic literacy for women is more important than achieving higher levels of education. Sen (2002) also emphasises the role of basic education and the role which this plays in increasing the required human security and further human and social development. Cost-benefit analyses have demonstrated that investments in pre-school education and basic education have a higher rate of return than spending on secondary and higher education particularly in developing countries (Psacharopoulos and Patrinos, 2004; Cunha et al., 2006). In multilateral development cooperation, these findings have been well received. At the World Conference in Jomtien (Thailand), in 1990, the Education For All (EFA) initiative was launched under the auspices of UNESCO. All parties agreed with the position that universal, compulsory, free, public and good-quality basic education is the cornerstone of an education strategy which also includes secondary, further, vocational and adult education. During the international Education Conference in Dakar (2000), the importance of education for all was again underlined and 6 objectives were formulated, two of which were later adopted as millennium objectives (completion of basic education by all young people and equal educational opportunities for girls and boys at all levels by 2015). The key target groups of the EFA campaign are the 80 million children who have never been to school and the 800 million illiterate adults in the world. Every developing country participating in EFA draws up a na tional education action plan that fits in with the national poverty reduction strategy (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper) and gives priority to basic education. This action plan is tested on all relevant social actors. A set of indicators is envisaged which can be used to test effective implementation. Monitoring and evaluation are entrusted to one single financier by the international community, per receiving country. In an attempt to accelerate the EFA train further, in 2002 the Fast Track Initiative (FTI) was launched, encouraged by the World Bank, which both international financial backers and receiving countries can join on a voluntary basis. In addition to endorsing the EFA principles, donors are asked for an additional commitment to long-term financing and receiving governments are asked to commit to transparent evaluation. The least that can be said about EFA and FTI is that they have the wind in their sails. Participation and invested resources are rising phenomenally. Since 2000, official development help for education worldwide has more than doubled. Nonetheless, the challenges are still considerable: the major enemies of education are poverty (and, associated with this, child labour), war, the debt burden, migration, mismanagement and disease. In crisis regions, education simply grinds to a halt. In some countries, the ravages of AIDS on teaching staff are so severe that it is barely possible to replace sick and deceased teachersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. In addition, it has to be said that the interests of financial backers and receiving countries, even if both groups have noble objectives, do not always coincide. The governments of developing countries are happy to make use of international support so that they can spend some of their own budgets on other priorities. On the other hand, the leading role of the World Bank in the FTI is not totally altruistic. One of the conditions for support, specifically, is that the national EFA action plans be linked to poverty reduction plans (PRSP): the latter are the World Banks key aid instruments. This means that multilateral educational aid serves as a lever to reinforce the influence of the World Bank on its customers. It is known that this external pressure is not always popular. Along with development aid, pro-globalist, liberal policy ideas are also dished out to receiving countries. In the past, for example, they were often obliged to reduce their import tariffs or food subsidies, which hit farmers and consumers particularly hard. Brain drain One of the reasons why the return on higher education in developing countries is relatively low has to do with the brain drain from developing countries to the rich North a phenomenon that does not exactly mesh with the predictions of international trade theory. In the first section of our paper, we referred to the theory of comparative advantages: every country will specialise in exporting goods and services for which the production factors are present in relative excess. Robert Mundell (1957) demonstrated that the international mobility of production factors can be regarded as a substitute for trade in goods, and with the same effect. In specific terms, this would mean that if developing countries have a surplus of unskilled labour and rich countries relatively large numbers of highly skilled people, we would expect a South-North migration of unskilled workers and a North-South migration of highly skilled workers. In both cases, migrants are attracted by the fact that, in the host country, they are relatively better paid than in their own countries because they are relatively scarcer there. In reality, the dominant pattern is a South-North migration of both unskilled and highly skilled workers. In 2005, around 4 million legal migrants (and an unknown number of illegals) flooded into the rich OECD countries (OECD, 2007). These figures do not include temporary migration. Upon closer inspection, the contradiction between theory and practice can be explained by a series of factors, of which we highlight only the most important. Firstly, the rich North dominates the world economy to such an extent that it also depresses demand for highly skilled people in the Third World. Secondly, governments in the North do not pursue a liberal policy when it comes to immigration. When push comes to shove, they place restraints on the laws of neo-classical trade theory, erect barriers to unskilled immigrants and are even actively recruiting the more highly skilled workers to fill existing bo

Lack of Vision in Carvers Cathedral Essay -- Carver Cathedral Essays

Lack of Vision in Cathedral The narrator in Raymond Carver’s "Cathedral" is not a particularly sensitive man. I might describe him as self-centered, superficial, and egotistical. And while his actions certainly speak to these points, it is his misunderstanding of the people and the relationships presented to him in this story which show most clearly his tragic flaw: while Robert is physically blind, it is the narrator who cannot clearly see the world around him. In the eyes of the narrator, Robert’s blindness is his defining characteristic. The opening line of "Cathedral" reads, "This blind man, an old friend of my wife’s, he was on his way to spend the night" (1052). Clearly, the narrator cannot see past Robert’s disability; he dismisses him in the same way a white racist might dismiss a black person. In reality, any prejudice—be it based on gender, race, or disability—involves a person’s inability to look past a superficial quality. People who judge a person based on such a characteristic are only seeing the particular aspect of the person that makes them uncomfortable. They are not seeing the whole person. The narrator has unconsciously placed Robert in a category that he labels abnormal, which stops him from seeing the blind man as an individual. The narrator’s reaction to Robert’s individuality shows his stereotypical views. The narrator assumed Robert did not do certain things, just because he was blind. When he first saw Robert his reaction was simple: "This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say" (Carver 1055). When Robert smokes a cigarette, the narrator thinks, "I . . . read somewhere that the blind didn’t smoke because, as speculation had it, they c... ...nd optimistic" (Watson 114). The few critics who have written specifically about "Cathedral" tend concentrate on that optimism, seen at the end of the story with the narrator’s "esthetic experience [and] realization" (Robinson 35). In concentrating on the final "realization" experienced by the narrator, the literary community has overlooked his deep-rooted misunderstanding of everything consequential in life. The narrator’s prejudice makes him emotionally blind. His inability to see past Robert’s disability stops him from seeing the reality of any relationship or person in the story. And while he admits some things are simply beyond his understanding, he is unaware he is so completely blind to the reality of the world. Works Cited Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 1052-1062.

Analysis of ”Good People” by David Foster Wallace Essay

Analysis of †Good People† by David Foster Wallace, 2007 The short story is set at a park by a lake. â€Å"They were up on a picnic table at that park by the lake, by the edge of the lake, with part of a downed tree in the shallows half hidden by the bank.† The downed tree sets the mood to be sad and dark. We also learn that the main characters Lane A. Dean, Jr. and his girlfriend Sheri Fisher are sitting very still on the picnic table, which tells us that the atmosphere is quite intense. It does not say for how long they sit by the lake, but it says that the right sides of their faces get shaded so it can be assumed that they sit there for a while. One of the main characters is Lane A. Dean, Jr., who is 19 years old and studies accounting and business. Lane is a very reflective person because he reflects a lot on how he is and how he thinks he should be. â€Å"He knew it was wrong, knew something was required of him that was not this terrible frozen care and cauti on, but he pretended to himself he did not know what it was that was required.† This shows that he is a conscientious person and that he has high expectations for himself. Through the whole short story thoughts like the mentioned quote are seen. It seems like Lane is not satisfied with the way he is and keeps comparing himself to his girlfriend, Sheri. â€Å"He was starting to believe that he might not be serious in his faith. He was desperate to be good people, to still be able to feel he was good.†The fact that he is moving away from his faith makes him question whether he is a good person or not. It makes him confused about his identity, about who he is. Lane is also confused when it comes to his love for his girlfriend and that could be the reason why they are not happy sitting together. Lane’s girlfriend, Sheri, is 20 years old, studies to become a nurse and has a hosting job. She is very serious in her faith and values and she is a girl who knows what she wants.So Sheri seems more secure than Lane and more comfortable in her own skin. In a way Sheri is more mature. But she also sits very still: â€Å"She was blank and hidden.† It is shown that Sheri is not happy because she sits with her face in her hands. So it can be concluded that they may have a problem with each other. It is a third person narrative. The narrator has an obvious focus on Lane and this we see because the narrator only includes Lane’s thoughts and feelings a lot: â€Å"Sometimes when alone and thinking or struggling to turn matter over to Jesus Christ in prayer, he would find himself (†¦)† â€Å"He could almost  visualize himself tiptoeing past something explosive.† Therefore the narrator has an inner view of Lane. We learn his opinions, and especially when Sheri is described – you learn that it is through Lane that she is described. The effect of the inner view is that we only learn how one of the main characters is feeling and is thinking. It also makes the information about Sheri subjective because it is Lane’s opinion about her and not her exact thoughts or feelings. We only have Lane’s opinion and actions and Sheri’s actions. Furthermore the short story is written in the past tense, and there are some flashbacks: â€Å"Two days before (†¦)†Some times when they had prayed (†¦)† The flashbacks can enlighten the reader about the main characters background, but also confuse the reader. The short story consists of both short sentences and long sentences. The sentences are short when something dramatic happens and the short sentences make it more dramatic and interesting to read and it also speeds up the reading pace. For example when Lane describes the battle within himself: â€Å"Two hearted, a hypocrite to yourself either way.† There is no direct speech, which makes it harder for the reader to interpret the characters because the writer influences the readers. The writer is presenting an interpretation of the characters’ speech and not their exact words. There is a focus on actions so there is a lot of verbs and also adjectives, especially in the beginning. There are some difficult words, but all in all the vocabulary is standard level. The main conflict is the conflict between Lane and Sheri. First of all both of them sit very still and we hear a lot of Lane’s thoughts – as if they are not talking to each other. â€Å"It was of two great and terrible armies within himself, opposed and facing each other, silent. There would be battle but no victor.† The battle inside of Lane could represent the battle between Sheri and him. You might say that they have a probl em when it comes to communicating with each other. The conflict is that Lane does not love Sheri. â€Å"(†¦) at the decision together did not ever include it – the word – for had he once said it, avowed that he did love her, loved Sheri Fisher, then it all would have been transformed.†18 â€Å"But neither did he ever open up and tell her straight out he did not love her.† Lane expresses that if he had loved her or said to her that he loved her, they would not have this conflict. The conflict is that Lane is not honest with Sheri about his true feelings and this leads to the unhappy and tense atmosphere. The reason why  Sheri does not say anything could be because she is waiting for Lane to come clean and be honest. At the ending of the story Lane imagines what he wants Sheri to say when he tells her the truth – that he does not love her. Lane wants Sheri to say that it is all right and that she wants the best for him. Lane has been praying for love and at the end he comes to realize that he h as been praying for the wrong thing. He should have been praying for courage – courage to tell Sheri the truth. The title â€Å"Good People† refers to the fact that Lane wants to be a good person by being honest with Sheri. It also refers to when Lane says that he is not that serious in his faith and that he wants to be good people, to feel that he was good. Lane does not want to lie to her or to himself. To be good is something every human being aspires to be. To be good, kind and loving to your family, friends and neighbours is something preached by the Christian church, but it is also how people generally want to be in spite of their religion. Lane finds out at the very end that he is not that serious in his faith, but that he is still able to be good by finding the courage to be honest with Sheri.

Woman as the Other and as the Other Woman

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), French existentialist, writer, and social essayist, passed on just over two decades ago. Putting it this way makes her ideas so much more alive. She did not just write about how she lived. She wrote, and she lived what she wrote about: she refused to be the Other, but she was also, in a manner of putting it, the Other Woman.Simone’s Life and Love(s) in Philosophy Simone de Beauvoir is now noted and appreciated as a philosopher. She was not always considered a philosopher however, but a writer, and has only been given the distinction of being a noted philosopher in more recent years.Her works became considered â€Å"philosophical† only after her death. Beauvoir was born in France in 1908. She belonged to a bourgeoisie family, and had one sister. As a teenager, she declared herself an atheist, and devoted her life to feminism and writing (Marvin, 2000). Apparently, her parent’s disposition and stature were a major influence on her. H er father was extremely interested in pursuing a career in theater, but because of his societal position (and with a noble lineage), he became a lawyer (which was expected), and hated it. Her mother, on the other hand, was a strict Catholic.Some authors have noted that Simone struggled between her mother’s religious morals and her father’s more pagan inclinations, and this purportedly led to her atheism and shaped her philosophical work. As a child, Simone was religious and had a relationship with God. She wrote in early work about her thankfulness that heaven had given her the immediately family that she had, but this feeling (at least the religious aspects of it) dissipated as she aged (Flaherty, 2008). When she was around 15, Simone de Beauvoir decided she would be a famous writer.She did well in many subjects, but was especially attracted to philosophy, which she went on to study at the University of Paris. There she met many other young creative geniuses, includin g Jean-Paul Sartre, who became her best friend and life-long companion. The group of friends that she spent her time with was considered a â€Å"bad† group, a circle of rebels. Such perceptions did not matter however for Simone and Sartre whose fondness for each other only grew over the years. Their works were frequently linked as they read and critiqued each other’s writings, and she was sort of considered as his ‘student’ — the Other.However, she was not just the Other, she was a significant Other, as it were. Their relationship became intimate and Sartre even proposed to her. She however declined the proposal because she felt that marriage was such a constricting institution and that they should, instead, be free to love â€Å"others† (Flaherty, 2008). After graduating from the university, Simone lived with her grandmother and taught at a lycee, or high school. She taught philosophy at several schools throughout her life, which allowed her to live comfortably. She spent her free time going to cafes, writing, and giving talks.In Berlin, she spent time with Sartre and they got linked with two female students, the sisters Olga and Wanda Kosakiewicz. Sartre initially pursued Olga but later had an affair with Wanda. Note that he and Simone had agreed that they would be free to love others. During this time, Simone got very sick and spent some time in a sanitarium. By the time she left the sanitarium, Olga was married, and Wanda and Sartre were no longer lovers (Flaherty, 2008). This phase in her life, one could perhaps say, highlighted her journey as the Other Woman. Simone traveled around the world later in her life, lecturing.She came to the United States in the 1940s and met another man, Algren. He proposed to her, but she opted to stay with Sartre instead. Also during her travels, Simone participated, with Sartre, in the 1967 â€Å"Bertrand Russell Tribunal of War Crimes in Vietnam. † There she met several note d leaders, including Khrushchev and Castro; however, unlike Sartre, she did not particularly enjoy being in the public spotlight. (Gascoigne, 2002) In 1981, when Sartre died, Simone wrote a memoir about him. After this, she continued to take drugs and drink alcohol, which contributed to her mental decay.She and Sartre had always taken drugs and alcohol. Simone frequently became drunk throughout her life. She died in 1986, and was buried beside Sartre’s remains (Gascoigne, 2002). Beauvoir’s Views: My Reflections Beauvoir strictly considered herself a writer, not a philosopher. Others did not see her as a philosopher because, in what may today be described as sexism, she was a woman and thus inferior in some ways. Moreover, she was also seen as merely a student of Sartre and not as a philosopher in her own right. On top of it all, she was a woman who wrote about women.It must be pointed out that this field of study was not truly accepted in the academe until very recentl y; hence, Beauvoir’s work was not accepted as being philosophical during her time. She was indeed heavily overshadowed by Sartre, especially because some of her work reflects his (Bergoffen, 2004). Beauvoir’s philosophical ideas focused on how truths in life were revealed in literature. She wrote several essays, including â€Å"Literature and the Metaphysical Essay† (1946) and â€Å"Mon Experience d’Ecrivain,† which translates to ‘My Experience as a Writer’ (1956).Her works include both fiction and non-fiction, all in regards to studying literature in reaction to human relationships and thoughts (Bergoffen, 2004). Truly life is mirrored by literature, but literature is also a part of life, and life can be shaped by literary work. In the life and works of this trailblazing feminist writer-philosopher, one can see the reality of literature as a potent force not only of self-expression but also of life changing. Feminism was of primary im portance to Beauvoir, and she is considered to be one of the pioneers of the movement.In fact, Beauvoir is best known for her feminist work, â€Å"The Second Sex,† now a classic of feminist literature (Eiermann). In this work, she looks at the role of women in society, and the advantages and disadvantages that she, herself, faced. It was initially not thought of as a philosophical work because it dealt with sex, which, during the Victorian era, was not a subject openly discussed. In reality, the book closely examines patriarchal society and its impact on women, and calls for women to take action against these oppressions.It fired up women of later generations to fight for political, social, and personal change. The book remains debated to this day because of the way it addresses the issues, but it is still considered a major early book on feminism (Bergoffen, 2004). Here she put an exclamation point on her observations of Woman in society being seen and treated merely as the Other. Beauvoir is also known for an earlier work, Force of Circumstance. â€Å"Within this piece she discussed vital issues of the day-confusion and rage regarding human freedoms and the French/Algerian War† (Flaherty, 2008).Human freedom was a big issue that was crucial in Beauvoir’s work. She was particularly concerned that people needed to be free. This is reflected in the way she lived her own life, and in the way she lectured others. She walked her talk, and was for some time describable perhaps (albeit from a rather sexist perspective) as being the Other Woman, with no rancor, in Sarte’s life. She Came to Stay (1943) is another work that deals with freedom. This is a novel that deals with â€Å"reflections on our relationship to time, to each other, to ourselves† (Bergoffen, 2004).The work doesn’t fit a traditional philosophical framework, where questions are brought to a close and fully answered. Instead it only explores questions by lookin g at the lives and interactions of the main characters. In this novel, a murder is committed because of a character’s desire for freedom, and the novel examines if the murder was just or not, among other issues surrounding the situation. This work is frequently considered her first true philosophical work (Bergoffen, 2004). How many times have this student been asked this question in real life by friends and particular circumstances: freedom or life?There is something profoundly unsettling in the questions that Beauvoir’s works raises. In She Came to Stay, purportedly a fictionalized chronicle of Beauvoir and Sartre's relationship with the sisters Olga and Wanda, we are treated to an exploration of complex personal relationships. Olga was one of her students in the Rouen secondary school where she taught during the early 30s. In the novel, Olga and Wanda are made into one character with whom fictionalized versions of Beauvoir and Sartre have intimate relationships.The novel delves into Beauvoir and Sartre's complex relationship. She wrote about her life, and she lived her writings. With what she wrote, she pursued her questioning, her philosophizing. Pyrrhus and Cineas (1944) is Beauvoir’s first philosophical essay and a major turning point in her life as a writer. This essay looks at questions like â€Å"What are the criteria of ethical action? † â€Å"How can I distinguish ethical from unethical political projects? † â€Å"What are the principles of ethical relationships? † â€Å"Can violence ever be justified?† The essay looks at the moral, political, and other implications of these questions, and further explores the notion of freedom, relationships, and violence. Simone was not sure if violence was truly justified, but concludes that it is ‘neither evil nor avoidable. ’ The questions are not truly resolved in this work, much like in her previous work (Bergoffen, 2004). Then there is Ethics of A mbiguity (1947), which further looks at ethical questions regarding freedom, and the difference between childhood and adulthood.According to Beauvoir, children ‘live in mystery,’ and they should. However, she posits that children should also be forced to be adults and there could be violations of freedom involved in this. This work expands on the idea of freedom from the previous work, and looks at new dimensions of it (Bergoffen, 2004). Two themes seem to appear most prominently in the work of Beauvoir: Freedom and Feminism. The Feminine is made an agent of freedom and is problematized so in the work of Beauvoir. Today, many still turn to her work for we can see the realities that her work reflects.We still find Woman as the Other — in some societies with her multiple burdens given her second-class status. Even in the supposedly modern nation that is the U. S. we find gender an unsettling concern in electoral politics. More broadly, freedom remains a problematic ideal in the globalizing world. Many states (e. g. , North Korea, China, Cuba, the young Republics in Eastern Europe) remain unstable at their core having had to grapple with forces of change and freedom from within and from outside their societies and territories.At another level, the world is not lacking with individuals and groups with their various advocacies aimed at expanding the limits of freedom in civil society. Today the woman question has become the bigger concern that is Gender. This student now more fully realizes that gender is a social-psychological thing while sex is a biological or physical matter. The Woman is more than her body after is all. To be Woman is a choice, is a matter of freedom. The definition of gender lies not in the body. Gender is the realization of what you think and feel you are, and what you prefer as a lifestyle, to put it broadly.