USA INSURANCE: October 2015

Wednesday 14 October 2015

The Music of Guillaume de Machaut

Guillame de Machaut was one of the foremost composers of the 14th century. His music presents a very clear picture of the changes that were taking place in the music and musical style in the 1300's. In this essay we will analyze one of Machaut's most famous secular songs “Foy Porter” and observe the techniques that he used. This can help us learn more about the new styles of music that were evolving during his life time and how they were used.
In Europe during the 1300's, new ways of thinking were beginning to emerge. People started to have new ideas about secular parts of life and sacred parts of life and what the relationship between the two should be. We can see that music followed a similar course. The Ars Nova is a term that describes a style of music being written in France during the period of these changes. It was characterized by more freedom in rhythm and melody. This period saw the invention of what would become the modern notation system which allowed composers to notate much more complicated melodies and rhythms. Songs that were based on chant melodies were given secular words and used for a secular purpose. Secular musicians, like the scientists of the time, were becoming more and more focused on the senses and the pleasure that could be perceived through them. It was quite a change from the church music, which was unaccompanied simply because it would have made it to enjoyable and therefore not spiritual enough. Professional musicians who entertained the nobility were interested in pleasing their audience in both poetry, and in complex melody and rhythm.
Guillaume de Machaut, was born around 1300 and died in 1377, so his life spans the Ars Nova. In fact it is his death that scholars classify as the end of the period. He was a priest but also served in the courts of the King of Bohemia and the King of Navarre during his life.

The Benefits of Music Education

Many band teachers will be happy to recount all of the ways that playing an instrument will make you smarter, but are they really true? Of course! Many studies have been done that show music education expediting learning in other subjects and boosting abilities that are sure to be used in everyday life (Brown 2). One of these studies was published by the Psychology of Music journal. It found that playing an instrument can improve reading and comprehension skills because of the music making process. In order to play a song, notes have to be read, the name of the note must be recognized, converted into the finger position or slide, and comprehend how much air is needed for a particular section (Matthews 2). Because math is used in every measure of music, playing an instrument can greatly benefit anyone’s math skills. Division, fractions, counting and pattern recognition are all math skills needed to play an instrument, and which can be improved by learning to play scales, reading time signatures, and counting beats and rhythms (Kwan 1). Music education can be especially beneficial in young children because it helps one learn to distinguish different sounds, pitches and frequencies, which plays an integral part in improving linguistic performance for everyday listening tasks and when learning a foreign language (Wilcox 2). Another study done by the University of Toronto in Mississauga found that the average IQ of six year olds went up three points after they took music lessons for nine months, versus no increase in IQ in the control group of children who had no music lessons (Brown 2). Not only did music education improve IQ, the University of Kansas has proven that playing an instrument improves standardized test scores

The Benefits of Education

Education is the method of obtaining knowledge and making use of that information; it is also an informative experience. When one talks about education, the significance of education is considered and in what way it influences the people in the world today. Furthermore, education plays an important part in the society; it is evolving rapidly and better still creating a world where people can understand each other without conflicts. As a result of these, there are more people in the society willing to learn something different and further their education. Plato emphasize, “Pouring of knowledge” is not education but rather a waste of time. Hence, I think that is true, because even though some people might argue against that statement, we humans cannot force knowledge on someone else. One should be willing to seek for an education without being forced; otherwise it would be like pouring water on a rock and expecting the rock to be fruitful. Education cannot be made compulsory on someone but with a slow and encouraging face, one can attain knowledge. An individual can be a good thinker and that describes an educated individual.
For someone to comprehend why “pouring of knowledge” is not education; the meaning of earning education should be understood. Education is about making chances and obtaining knowledge. When I say education is about creating opportunities, I meant that if necessary to find a job. Before I got my CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) license, I was not able to get a job as a nurse assistant in hospitals even at nursing homes; but as soon as I got my license, different hospitals were in need of my service and they offered me a job. By obtaining knowledge, I ask question in class if I do not understand and I also study ahead so I can go along with my professor in class.

The Importance of a Strong Education

Our educational system will never be perfect, especially not for our generation. We’ve been using the banking system for as long as education has been important, where we take in and store the information that we are told to know, and then withdraw it only for when we need to know it. Not much is seared into our minds, only the things we can relate too and that we think are important to us. We’re put onto assembly lines to have our minds all built the same and think the same. My educational experience has a lot to do with the banking system and with assembly lines. Within my first four years of school, I was already pointed in the wrong direction, far from correlating with the school system, all I wanted was to learn something I could relate too.
When I was born my family moved out of urban civilization and into the hills, far from any type of city. There, in the hills, I grew up and went to school. My life revolved around nature and the outdoors. When I was four, it was time to start school. I started kindergarten at a school called Montebello Elementary, only a few miles up the hill from where I lived. The school consisted of a total of seven staff members, 37 students, and three classrooms. The first teacher, she taught two grades at once, Kindergarten and first grade. The second teacher taught second and third. And the third teacher taught fourth, fifth, and sixth. The rest of the staff was the P.E. teacher and office faculty. While one grade was learning the other was sitting doing nothing, so only half of the times were you actually learning

Learning Disabilities and the Education System

This paper explores the topic of learning disabilities and how they are related to educators, parents, and the school system. Part of the research is based off of Professor of Psychology, Gavin Alessi's study entitled "Diagnosis Diagnosed: A Systemic Reaction." It examines the role of an educator and how they are responsible for the learning of their students with a learning disability. It examines the role of the parents and how they help and sometimes do not help when it comes to their child's learning disability. It also examines the role of the school board and how they help with this important issue. It is important to realize that no one is at fault for this, but more so, solutions need to be found for this growing problem in elementary and secondary schools.

Education and Learning Disabilities: The Relationship between Students,Teachers, and the Education System
Numerous studies have been conducted on students and their abilities to learn information in school settings. While some students thrive in academic settings, some students face difficulty learning the material. Students who face some type of learning problem are often classified as having a learning disability. According to the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (2011), a learning disability is " A general term that describes specific kinds of learning problems (Learning Disabilities, 2011).
Often, students who have a learning disabilities, have some type of high intelligence in a specialized area that may not reflect on a standardized test or other assessments. Galen Alessi, professor of Western Michigan University, conducted an experiment, which examines who is at fault for the students' disability

The Hidden Curriculum of the Education System

The education system as a whole has historically been known for predominately serving an economic or political agenda through any number of means stemming from the traditional albeit obvious method of teaching students through academic course work to helping them begin shaping identities due to socialization; but there is a far more intricate curriculum at work
beneath the surface of academia unbeknownst to most known as the “Hidden Curriculum” which helps not only to shape the individual in the system but the systems of society as a whole. In effect the “Hidden Curriculum” helps to maintain the established class systems found in society by keeping the inequality of power in place and placing the potential for distributing this imbalance of power to a minimal few.
Conflict theorists such as Karl Marx would agree that this imbalance and separation of power are definitive proofs that the education system is a key component in the continuing separation of classes. How are such classes continuing to remain strong despite the widening margin of public availability to education? Through selective means of division based on race, income and intelligence the education system hampers progress and promotes inequality more than other macro structure found within modern society. The evidence of such divisions is prevalent in daily monotony all around us ranging from requiring college degrees to work minimalist jobs with no relation to said degree to standardized placement testing used to pick potential students in universities.
The “Hidden Curriculum” helps to contribute to society by shaping young students into proper productive members of society in which those with better advantageous starts are more likely to succeed and those with fewer advantages are more submissive into entering the skilled trade workforce.

The Failing Education System

Education plays a large part in our lives, from when we first enter pre-school until we graduate college. We need education to gain knowledge, we also need education to get a good job. There are problems in our education system not only in the system itself but the schools as well. Some of the problems that the system is having is either they are not teaching the right material or they are making it too easy for students to pass the class and students are not coming out of school knowing what they should know. Jacob Neusner in the article “The Speech the Graduates Didn’t Hear” and Mary Sherry in the article “Praise the “F” Word” are both teachers at a High school and College level. They talk about how the school system has flaws and they share their opinions on them. This Essay will analyze the main arguments of Sherry and Neusner then will compare and contrast ideas, finally it will argue how there are flaws in the school system and why schools, and they society should fix these problems.
In the article written by Neusner he explains how students that go to Ivy League colleges are treated to well. Neusner believes that since they are paying exceptional amounts of money and they are very smart, that the school and professors are treating the students to easily and giving them some kind of special treatment. Neusner states “for four years we created an altogether forgiving world in which whatever slight effort you gave was all that was demanded.” (Neusner 1) The author states that the school and the professors just took what the students gave them and did not ask for anything more.

The Purpose of Education

What is the purpose of education in our current world? According to Martin Luther King in The Purpose to Education, education is not merely learning to succeed at a job, and be above others. He believed that education was about learning to think critically, logically and scientifically through what invades our mental life. He also saw that in school, one builds intelligence and character. King presents a good argument for the reason and necessary of education. Therefore, the purpose of education is to provide students with the opportunity to critically think about the world in such a way that it shapes how they live.
Education explores new ideas and teaches students how to think critically about the world. As students are introduced to new concepts their worldview changes and expands. Students look at the starry night differently after learning about constellations and the galaxies. The meaning and possibilities of what is before their eyes have expanded. The media is bursting with propaganda and prejudices. Education at its best, teaches students not to merely memorize and accept information, but to examine and see many sides of an issue. It is important to be able to question your own and other peoples positions in the process of making a decision. This enables people to see through discriminations and biases in media and in the world around them. With this knowledge, students can form their own opinion of the people group or issue versus blindly accepting biases as the truth. Students can be exposed to the world in a new way, and learn to critically think for themselves.

Education - Through a Child's Eyes

Ever looked at that old tore down building and thought of it as a great piece of art? Truth is, everything is art. The children in the documentary: Born Into Brothels, took photographs of their environment. As torn down, filthy and disoriented everything seemed, the children turned their own environment into works of art with the help of Zana Briski, an American woman who came to this part of India called The Brothels, specifically the red light district, to learn the life of these people and teach the children bound for a life of struggle, that there is something bigger and better outside of this environment and to show them something that will hopefully give their lives more meaning; art and photography.
Art is a non-avoidable object in everyone’s life. Art gives purpose to the things that wouldn’t have meaning otherwise. Art in my own life plays the role of music and scenery. Music is a big part of my everyday life and it brings a sense of peace to a hectic day. On GVSU’s campus, it is fall time now and the leaves are so beautiful from bright orange to deep reds. I call this art because it makes me calm when I look at the scenery and it can be easily photographed.
In the documentary, art is something the children are learning from Briski and are applying to their everyday lives. Most of the children’s photos were of their family, buildings and the more outgoing ones got some of the town. The documentary itself was presented in a way that shows the individual lives of each of the children, allowing them to talk about their peers and how they feel living there. It fades into scenes of Calcutta’s Red Light District where their life could and most likely will go without any outside help. Quick blurbs of their family fighting and name calling shows brutality and how much the children aren’t cared about.

Education Is The Wealth Of Highest Degree Education Essay

Education plays an important role in molding professional and personal life of each person. Mahatma Gandhiji said The purpose of education is to bring out the best in you. Swami Vivekananda defines education as 'the manifestation of the perfection already in man.' [3] Education determines the quality and standard of life of every individual. Hence, no one can deny that education determines the quality of life.

It is the education which makes a country developed economically and technologically. Education plays a key role in the development of human resources in the country and thereby enhances economic development also. Good Education produces employable youth in the country. There are lots of employment opportunities for the well qualified individuals in the country and also abroad. The creation of well qualified individuals is the result of quality education. Ultimately, making quality education is in the hands of the personality called 'teacher' who delivers it to the recipient in an efficient manner. It is said that the effectiveness of formal education depends to a great extent on the quality of manpower [4] . The quality of education imparted to children depends to a large extent on the quality of teachers in the schools and colleges. The responsibility is more for the higher education teachers than the teachers of school education.