Qualitative Research in Educational Processes Essay

Qualitative Research in Educational Processes - Essay Example The benefits of the use of qualitative research are also highlighted. The key social processes in educational environments are thinking, understanding, learning, studying, teaching, and interrelating. With respect to studying gender related issues in the primary school setting, all of these can show that there exist gender differences i.e. between boys and girls expressing their gender roles warranting a closer study of these social phenomena. The justification could be to prevent gender bias, stereotypes, discrimination, and so on. A study of these social processes especially requires a close examination of the phenomena of relationships within it. These relationships involve interactions mainly between students, teachers, the school management and parents. But the nature of these relationships is shaped by the context or environment and ethos within which they function i.e. the classroom and school atmosphere. For example, there are particular school rules that define these relationships, and children tend to behave differently at school than they do at home. In the latter, student behaviour is the phenomenon and the context is the classroom and school. ... The justification could be to prevent gender bias, stereotypes, discrimination, and so on. A study of these social processes especially requires a close examination of the phenomena of relationships within it. These relationships involve interactions mainly between students, teachers, the school management and parents. But the nature of these relationships is shaped by the context or environment and ethos within which they function i.e. the classroom and school atmosphere. For example, there are particular school rules that define these relationships, and children tend to behave differently at school than they do at home. In the latter, student behaviour is the phenomenon and the context is the classroom and school. If we distinguish between two sets of relations on the basis of gender, behavioural differences can be noted between boys and girls. These would typify behaviour associated with that gender although there could also be observed differences due to variations of the social context. In the process of learning too, there are observed gender differences. Qualitative research can help to understand these processes so that we can deal with the issues better. There is also a prevalence of stereotypes in the way boys and girls perceive different subjects and their contrasting attitudes towards them. A study of the role of gender can help to understand why certain subjects are regarded as masculine and others as feminine. Attitudes and study patterns differ between the sexes. The perceptions and attitudes formed early on can later impinge on their academic choices later in life. Gender differences and other gender related issues in a school could manifest not only whilst studying in

ASB 2104 Principles of Organisation and Management Essay

ASB 2104 Principles of Organisation and Management - Essay Example The discussion explains some prominent management theories, their similarities and dissimilarities and their present day relevance. The classical theory of management is the oldest and the most widely accepted school of management. The classical theory was propounded and practiced extensively between 1885 and 1940. The genesis of the theory can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution that necessitated the need for systematic and logical methods to manage organizations. Many factories were set up during the Industrial Revolution because of which the need for proficient planning, organizing, and controlling the activities of workers arose. The classical theory of management evolved with a view to enhance the worker-level productivity and that of the entire organization. The classical theory of management consists of two major schools: There were many contributors to the theory of scientific management. However, the most prominent work in this sphere was that of Frederick W. Taylor who is regarded as the father of scientific management. Taylor, who worked at the Midvale Steel Company, felt a pressing need to cut costs, analyze work methods and develop labor and management co-operation. On the basis of his time studies, Taylor recommended a differential piecework plan wherein workers were paid higher wage rates for above standard performance and low wage rates for below standard performance. The concept of minimum basic wage rates can also be attributed to Taylor’s works, for till that point of time, there was no guarantee of minimum wages to workers. The contribution of Henri Fayol forms the backbone of the theory of general administration. Fayol termed planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling as the basic functions of management. According to the author, all activities in industrial projects could be classified into six broad categories: technical, commercial, financial, security, accounting and managerial. Additionally, Henri

Motivation Plan. About my mentor Essay Example for Free

Motivation Plan. About my mentor Essay Tangie Stevenson works for Medicredit Corporation, which is a Management and Recovery Agency, better known as The Outsource Group. This agency is a third party collection agency which a third-party collection agency is as agency that was not a party to the original contract between a creditor first-party and a debtor second-party. In most cases, a third-party collection agency is used once internal first-party collection efforts have been considered unsuccessful. First-party collection agency usually lasts for a period of months before the debt is turned over to a third-party collection agency. A creditor assigns accounts to a third-party collection agency for a fee. The fee differs depending on a wide variety of factors ranging from the collection agency that the creditor chooses to work with, to the number and type of accounts that will be submitted on a routine basis. The fee can be as simple as a flat fee per account submitted or a performance percentage fee on each amount that is collected. In some cases, it may be a combination of both. It is dependent upon the relationship that is agreed upon. As a collections manager Tangie oversee’s all activities related to the company’s credit and collections. She is responsible for formulating, implementing, and maintaining credit and collections policies, monitoring collections and past due accounts, reporting on the activities of the accounts receivable department, and ensuring timely collection of customer accounts receivables. She also provides training, direction, and evaluation of credit and collections employees. In addition to overseeing the collection department staff, she tracks customer feedback through the review of incoming letters, emails, and phone calls and the analytical data collected through outside reporting agencies. She also identifies errors or glitches in collection procedures and recommends solutions to increase collections on delinquent accounts while ensuring customer satisfaction and retention. The Plan I have established a plan to keep the employees in Tangie’s department motivated and satisfied. Keeping employees motivated and satisfied are important elements of not only getting the most out of your employees, but also in retaining your best employees. The best employees are always in high demand, and will change companies if they are not kept motivated and satisfied at work. It doesn’t matter what you build, invent or sell; your organization can’t move forward without people. CEOs, company founders and managers the world over know that keeping the teams beneath them moving forward together in harmony means the difference between winning and dying. The plan that can be applied to Tangie’s department that would increase the motivation, satisfaction and performance would be to first, have the team members build ownership among themselves. They must feel as if they own the place and not just work here. Once of the principles of self-managed teams is to organize around a whole service or product. One way to inspire this feeling is to have each of the members become familiar with what the other members are doing, allowing them to bring their ideas for improvement to the table and have input in the entire process. If the roles are too specialized, have each of the members of the team exchange responsibilities often. This all makes them feel like â€Å"it’s mine†, and most people, when it’s theirs, really don’t want to fail. Next, you must trust the employees to leave their comfort zones. This means to allow them to do more than one specific task, it will allow them to grow and become more confident in their abilities while making them feel more valuable to the organization. Even though as a manager it may feel like allowing individuals to try new things presents a risk to productivity or places workers outside of their established place, it heads off other issues. The bigger risk is having people get burnt out or bored. Then, is to keep the team informed; business leaders have a clearer perspective on the bigger picture than their employees do. It’s really important to tell subordinates what’s going on. What a manager may take for common knowledge about how things are going or what challenges are down the road, employees should be informed of. Spreading the intel lets everyone in on the lay of the land and at the same time strengthens the feeling among workers that they are an important asset to the organization. Then, is the fact that your employees are adults so treat them as such. This is also important when it comes to motivation and satisfaction in the organization. Employees need to be dealt with in a respectable manner. In any organization there is going to be bad news. It could have to do with the individual or the company as a whole but just remember to treat employees accordingly. As a manager, if you choose to keep people in the dark about trying times or issues, the fallout could be more serious than the issue itself. When people are left out, they tend to make things up. An important part of the plan is to remember that money matters, but not as much as you think. Compensation packages are a big deal when employees are hired, but once hired the motivation tends to go downhill. The motivation then comes from things like the challenge of the work, the purpose of the work, the opportunity to learn, and the opportunity to contribute. Last, is to reward and recognize employees if they’ve done something truly outstanding. Instead of telling others that your employees are doing such a great job, take the time to bring a specific person into your office or write an email or note along with that person’s paycheck to let him know that his work is truly outstanding. Rewarding them with small gifts like tickets to a movie, a gift certificate to a grocery store or even highly wish for tickets to a sports game is a good reward. Reward employees with time off, you will be astounded to see how quickly your employees get to work when you offer to let them leave a little early or if you give them the option of coming to work a little late the next day. Reference Forbes. (2013). 7 Ways to Keep Your Employees Happy (And Working Really Hard). Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2013/09/08/7-ways-to-keep-your-employees-happy-and-working-really-hard/

Adaptive User Interface Framework: Android Mobile Platform

Adaptive User Interface Framework: Android Mobile Platform Mr. Tulip Das Abstract—Adapting a graphical interface (GUI) to a range of resources with completely different capabilities is exciting topic of mobile computer. The user interface created for an application ought to modification its layout and parts to the user need and changes for every user. We propose a framework for mobile applications to form the user interfaces adaptable for user. This identifies an appropriate expertise level to a user by learning his/her history of interaction. Dynamic App Shortcut is to be provided on Mobile Devices serving to user to swipe the screen many times to search out the required app. The prediction model utilizes multiple options together with recency, frequency, duration, time distribution and app sequence launch. Keywords—HCI in Mobile; AI and expert systems; Adaptive user interface framework; k-means algorithm; dynamic shortcuts; mobile app usage; personalization.) I. Introduction An adaptive user interface (also known as AUI) is a user interface (UI) which adapts, that is changes, its layout and elements to the needs of the user or context and is similarly alterable by each user. These mutually reciprocal qualities of both adapting and being adaptable are, in a true AUI, also innate to elements that comprise the interfaces components; portions of the interface might adapt to and affect other portions of the interface. The user adaptation is often a negotiated process, as an adaptive user interfaces designers ignore where user interface components ought to go while affording a means by which both the designers and the user can determine their placement, often (though not always) in a semi-automated, if not fully automated manner. An AUI is primarily created based on the features of the system, and the knowledge levels of the users that will utilize it. Figure 1: Adaptive Graphical User Interface The advantages of an adaptive user interface are found within its ability to conform to a user’s needs. The properties of an AUI allow showing only relevant information based on the current user. This creates less confusion for less experienced users and provides ease of access throughout a system. Depending on the task, we can increase the stability of a system. An adaptive user interface can be implemented in various ways. These implementations can differ between the amount of information available to certain users, or how users utilize the application. Adaptive presentation: The goal behind adaptive presentation is to display certain information based on the current user. This may mean that users with only basic knowledge of a system will only be shown minimal information. Conversely, a user with advanced knowledge will have access to more detailed information and capabilities. A way that the AUI can achieve this differentiation could be to hide information to be presented based on the users experience level. Another possibility is to control the amount of links to relevant sources on the page. Adaptive navigation: Adaptive navigation intends to guide a user to their specific goal within the system by altering the way the system is navigated based on certain factors of the user. These factors can include the user’s expertise level with the system/subject, the current goal within the system, and other relevant factors. Examples of adaptive navigation can be achieved in many ways, similar to adaptive presentation. These can include examples such as providing links to help achieve a user’s specific goal, giving reference on a page to where a user is, or altering the resources available to the user. II. MOTIVATION In the last few years, an ecosystem of devices and heterogeneous services has emerged with a huge variety of capacities and characteristics. These new devices, along with applications and services, must be used to enhance the quality of life, making the users daily activities easier, as well as increasing their personal autonomy. User interfaces in mobile applications are complex since they need to provide sufficient features to variety of users in a restricted space where a small number of components are available. When user acquires expertise in the system they expect user interfaces which satisfy their unique needs. Therefore, user interfaces in mobile applications should be adapted to different users. Since this problem exists in various applications a general solution is required to make user interfaces adaptive using user context history. Figure 2: Different Mobile Devices In this sense, there is a clear need for creating interfaces that adapt themselves taking into account characteristics of the user, context, application and device. One of the aspects to consider when adapting interfaces is the set of preferences of the user. When using different applications or devices, each user has different preferences, mainly related to their limitations. III. Problem Statement Using mobile and its application is a personalized experience. Each user has different preferences, mainly related to their limitations. Hence it is quite essential to account characteristics of the user, context, application and device while designing a Graphical User Interface for mobile platform. It is quite difficult to manage when there are many applications (apps) installed on a mobile device, the simple task of launching an app could become inconvenient, as the user may need to swipe the screen several times to and the desired app. Hence an adaptive user interface solution for mobile devices, which uses dynamic shortcuts to facilitate app launching is needed. In this context, personalization of applications, i.e. applications that adapt themselves to users capacities and limitations is essential. IV. Problem Modeling A. Overview Rather than providing adaptive user interfaces for a specific mobile application, it is more valuable if it would be a common solution to make any UI adaptive. So it is encouraged to provide a framework which can give a common solution which can be used by all developers to create applications which provide adaptive user interfaces. This framework provides Adaptive User Interfaces based on users experience level. The experience levels are classified by Inference Engine which is explained in the subsection Inference Engine. The system will learn the user experience level based on user actions performed on each component of the application with the algorithm. Figure 2: Concept of Adaptive User Interface Figure 3: Module diagram for the system with Adaptive User Interface B. Components of Solution The proposed adaptive user interface is mainly focused on hiding group of unwanted components for corresponding experience level of user on that application. The framework consists of three main phases such as 1. Data preprocessing step 2. Learning step 3. Execution and rendering step Data preprocessing step 1. Location Data: One of the factors to adapt the UI is the location of the user. This is based on the premise that the type of applications a user is expected to access when at home is different from the type of applications accessed when the user is at work. The location is determined by means of the GPS sensor on the mobile device. 2. Device Data: Output of other sensors on the device including the ambient light sensor (to infer whether the user is indoors or outdoors), accelerometer and gyroscope (to say if the user is stationary or moving) can also be used to derive additional contextual information in order to better predict the users chosen application and modify the UI appropriately. 3. App usage Data: Logs of the past application usage, the frequency at which the particular app was accessed and the user actions and interactions while using the app can act as another source of contextual information. 4. Time Data: The type of applications accessed on weekdays might be different from the applications accessed on a weekend or on holidays. Similarly, in the morning the user may access different apps than the ones they do at night. A logging service running in the device would have to log the types of apps accessed at specific times of day or day or the week, and use it to make the appropriate UI modifications. C. Learning step The main purpose of inference engine is to collect the data provided by the data-preprocessing module and provide an experience level of the user according to the current user context. To infer the experience level of the user, the inference engine should behave as an intelligent system which should be trained by data related to user experience level and user interactions between the applications. Figure 4: A High level architecture of adaptive user interface framework Execution and rendering step K-means clustering engine is capable of setting the number of clusters needed. When the number of clusters is set, the engine can cluster the dataset when the squared error becomes minimized. This will give each clusters center points as output. Once the cluster centers are found these cluster centers will be delivered to user type selector. User type selector will appoint each experience level to each center sent by K-means clustering engine. Currently we have manually appointed the experience level for identified centers using natural knowledge. As mentioned earlier who masters the system can suggest these levels for each cluster values. Current user context data will be feed into the User type selector and user type selector will infer a suitable experience level which is closest. This final output will be delivered to the execution and rendering step. D. Implementation In order to practically show the behavior of the framework a proof of concept (POC) application will be developed. A simple application which can be used as an online ticket reservation system for aircrafts will be developed as the application. This application was developed in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) and JavaScript. Android platform has given enough features and Application Programming Interfaces (API) to create an Android application using HTML and JavaScript. Android web application can be created by converting a HTML page to an Android web application using WebView class. Currently there are many third party frameworks and plug-ins are available to convert HTML and JavaScript pages to Android application. This application will be connected to adaptive UI framework using a component called UIhooks. UIhooks are some methods which can be used by the developer during the application development. For example these methods can be used when some events are fired on UI components. When UIhooks are called they are developed in a way to measure the user actions performed on corresponding UI component and store them. For example when a UIhook method is called on a button on click event, the Uihooks is implemented to measure how many time the button was clicked and what is the recent time it was used. If UIhook method is called on a textbox on submit event the Uihook can inspect and store the value submitted and the count of submit action performed. This application is sent to a user study to collect training data. This is elaborated more in User study section. The collected data were organized and feed to inference engine as the training dataset. Inference engine learned the data as elaborated b efore and gave the suitable experience level. Once the experience level is feed to the rendering engine it finds the related rendering logics inside the UI clusters. For example if the experience level is provided as intermediate it checks for the corresponding rendering logics and UI clusters. If it is said as If user Type is intermediate render cluster2 it will build a new UI using what is mentioned in cluster2. Then it renders it to the user. When the user is provided with new adaptive UI a question will be provided to the user asking whether they are satisfied with the new UI or they want to go back to the earlier stage. This is to measure their satisfactory level and the accuracy of the algorithm predictions. V. Mathematical Modeling Let s (be a main set of) ≠¡ {SDB, LDB, C, A, S, MR, AO} where, SDB is the copy of the server database. This database is responsible for storing user information related to cloud interactions. LDB is a set of local database that a user owns. It consists of data tables having data items related to the products and their sales transactions. C is a set of all clients using the server database and mining services from the server. And (c1 , c2 , c3, cn) à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ C. A is a set of algorithms applied on the input data to get mining results. S is the server component of the system. The server is responsible for registering, authenticating and providing associations to the end user. MR is a set of mining rules that are applied on the input dataset provided by the client from his LDB. And (mr1 , mr2 , mr3, mrn) à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ MR AO is a set of associations that are extracted from the input and a form the output of the system. Functionalities : SDB = RegisterUser(uid, password, fullname, address, country, contact, email); password = SHA1(input_password); U = AuthenticateUser(uid, password, SDB); LDB1 = ManageProducts(pid, product name, cost); LDB2 = ManageBilling(transactions, items); LDB = LDB1 + LDB2 ED(Encoded data) = EncodeTransactions(LDB2, EncodingAlgorithm(EA)); UPLOAD(ED); AO = Apply Mining(ED); Results = Decode(Download(AO)) VI. Results Expected Figure 5: Dynamic Shortcuts Figure 6: Adaptive UI VII. Conclusion The aim of our study was to propose a high level architecture for a framework to provide adaptive user interface for mobile applications. This framework includes data preprocessing step, learning step and execution and rendering step to deliver a  suitable user interface. The learning is done by an intelligent system which is unsupervised and trained using user context data. This delivers k number of experience levels by clustering the collected data set using K-means and ANN algorithm. It will also allow dynamic shortcuts to facilitate app launching. Some other options to enhance the proposed dynamic shortcuts solution such as gesture based control will also be explored in the future. VIII. References Aztiria, A. ; Castillejo, E. ; Almeida, A. ; Lopez-de-Ipia, D.Adapting User Interfaces Based on User Preferences and Habits, Intelligent Environments (IE), 2014 International Conference on DOI: 10.1109/IE.2014.9 Publication Year: 2014 , Page(s): 9 – 15 Nivethika, M. ; Vithiya, I. ; Anntharshika, S. ; Deegalla, S.Personalized and adaptive user interface framework for mobile application, Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI), 2013 International Conference on DOI: 10.1109/ICACCI.2013.6637474, Publication Year: 2013 , Page(s): 1913- 1918 Jain, R. ; Bose, J. ; Arif, T. Contextual adaptive user interface for Android devices, India Conference (INDICON), 2013 Annual IEEE DOI: 10.1109/INDCON.2013.6726014 Publication Year: 2013 , Page(s): 1- 5 Ye Xu et al. Preference, Context and Communities: A Multi-faceted approach to Predicting Smartphone App Usage Patterns, In the 17th International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC 2013). Zurich, Switzerland. Mejia-Figueroa, A. ; Juarez-Ramirez, R. Towards a User Model for the Design of Adaptive Interfaces for Autistic Users, Computer Software and Applications Conference Workshops (COMPSACW), 2014 IEEE 38th International DOI: 10.1109/COMPSACW.2014.47 Publication Year: 2014 , Page(s): 264 – 269 Leichtenstern, K. ; Andre, E. User-Centred Development of Mobile Interfaces to a Pervasive Computing Environment, Advances in Computer-Human Interaction, 2008 First International Conference on DOI: 10.1109/ACHI.2008.10 Publication Year: 2008 , Page(s): 114 – 119 Chang Tan, Qi Liu, Enhong Chen, Hui Xiong. `Prediction for Mobile Application Usage Patterns. Nokia Mobile Data Challenge Workshop 2012. Matthias Bhmer, Antonio Krger. A Study on Icon Arrangement by Smartphone Users. In Proc. ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Paris 2013, France N. Andrew, Clustering with the K-Means Algorithm, video tutorialJ.S. Augusto, transcript writter, June 2012. T. D. Bie, T. T. Maia and A. P. Braga, Machine Learning with Labeled and Unlabeled Data, European Syumposium on Arti_cial Neural Networks- Advances in Computational Intelligence and Learning, Bruges, 2009. Y. Fukazawa, M. Hara, M. Onogi, H. Ueno, Automatic mobile menu customization based on user operation history, 11th International Conference on HCI with Mobile Devices and Services. J. Brooke, SUS: a quick and dirty usability scale. In P. W. Jordan, B. Thomas, B. A. Weerdmeester, A. L. McClelland (Eds.), Usability Evaluation in Industry (S. 189 -194). London: Taylor and Francis,1996.

Achromatopsia :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Achromatopsia When I was young, I was told that "color blindness" did not mean that the person saw the world like an old movie, but rather it meant that they could not distinguish between green and red. I thought that this understanding was very advanced and would quickly share my knowledge with any less-informed children. After looking into the matter, I have been forced to reject this generalization in favor of a broader range of diseases resulting in very different types of inabilities to perceive color in a "normal" fashion. While the typical color blindness I was told about affects 8 percent of men and less than 1 percent of women in the United States (1), there are many other types. The most common types of color blindness, effecting red and green vision, are not too serious for the sufferers, who can function normally and do not have overly impaired vision other than an inability to distinguish between certain colors. There are, however, more serious forms of "color blindness", such as blue cone monochromatopsia, partial rod monochromatopsia, and total rod monochromatopsia (3). The rod monochromats are also known as achromats, meaning they see no color at all. Only about 1/33,000 Americans has this disease, and women and men are effected roughly equally (3). This most severe variety of color blindness has many interesting symptoms which reveal a lot about rod vision. Achromats have what can be called "night vision" or rod vision. This means that the only functioning receptors in their retina are rod photoreceptors. The cones are either absent entirely or are present but the signals are not being processed for some reason. There are two types of achromatopsia, one is congenital and the other can be caused by brain damage, called cerebral achromatopsia (3). There are also varying degrees of achromatopsia, with some sufferers being able to distinguish some color and others absolutely none. I will focus on the congenital version since cerebral achromatopsia varies in its symptoms and cause quite a bit, as well as being much more rare and so fewer cases have been studied. Congenital color blindness has more regular symptoms which can be used to demonstrate how rod-vision works. One of the most noticeable things about an achromat that reveals their vision deficiency is sensitivity to light (8). Cone vision is what most people use during the day, since cones have less light sensitivity, meaning they can absorb more light without discomfort, although they too can be overloaded with light (like looking into the sun).

Plato Vs Shelley :: essays research papers

Many works of literature provide responses to much debated topics. Opinions are brought forth by means of rhetorical devices and supported by some type of accepted truth. In two such pieces, The Republic by Plato and â€Å"A Defense of Poetry† by Shelley, Plato expresses a belief about poetry that Shelley disagrees with and responds to. Through rhetorical devices such as metaphors and symbolism and the use of deductive logic and Socratic writing, Plato provides a strong, very supported argument while Shelley’s long sentence structure, analogies and metaphors are weak in comparison.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The way in which Plato uses deductive logic to express his opinion allows him to fully develop his ideas without making assertions that are incredible. Plato begins with the idea of the ultimate â€Å"maker of the bed†, which he refers to as G-d which is easily accepted by the majority of an audience. Plato believed that there is only one who â€Å"makes the essence of the bed,† (44) the single idea and therefore that is the truth. From there he goes to the carpenter. â€Å"There is another (bed) which is the work of the carpenter.† (44) And finally Plato defines his thesis through metaphor. He uses a metaphor that compares the work of a poet to a mirror. â€Å"Turning a mirror round and round – you would soon enough make the sun and the heavens, and the earth and yourself, and other animals and plants, and all other things of which we were just speaking, in the mirror†¦but they would be appearances only.† (44) The way in wh ich the writing is interactive with two people creates contradictions, which challenge Plato’s beliefs, yet they are still proven throughout. â€Å"Why not? For the duller eye may often see a thing sooner than the keener. â€Å"Very true, but in your presence, even if I had any further notion, I could not muster courage to utter it.† (43) While this Socratic writing helps Plato to make his argument even more concrete, Shelley uses essay form to portray his ideas somewhat in response to beliefs like those of Plato.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Shelley’s writing differs in form from Plato’s in that Shelley’s is more straight forward and seems almost as if it were meant to be preached. â€Å"Reason is to the imagination as the instrument to the agent, as the body to the spirit, as the shadow to the substance.† (429) The analogy that Shelley uses portrays that reason is the basis of the imagination, implying that poetry holds truth, yet it is an idealized truth, which is determined by Plato in The Republic to be essentially false.

Christ the Savior Essay

Augustine took birth on 13 November, 354, at Tagaste. He was born in a respectable, middle class family. His father, Patricius who was one of the curiales of the city was still a pagan. However, his wife, Monica was an ardent Christian and her devotion and faith brought her husband too to follow Christianity before he died in 371. It was in a Christian atmosphere that Augustine received his formal education. . It is said that once when he was very ill, he asked to be baptized, but, as he recovered fast he did not want to receive the sacrament then. Augustine’s friendship with â€Å"men of payer† gave him three great ideas which he deeply engraved upon his soul: â€Å"a Divine Providence, the future life with terrible sanctions, and, above all, Christ the Savior. † In Confessions I, he writes: â€Å"From my tenderest infancy, I had in a manner sucked with my mother’s milk that name of my Savior. Thy Son; I kept it in the recesses of my heart; and all that presented itself to me without that Divine nature, though it might be elegant, well written, and even replete with truth, did not altogether carry me away† (Augustine) Augustine was doing well in his school and his father Patricius wished to send him to Carthage to study forensic medicine, but it took Patricius many months to make the necessary arrangements. Augustine, in the meantime had to spend another year at his school at Tagaste in total idleness. It is said, â€Å"an idle mind is the devil’s workshop†, (Proverb) and Augustine plunged himself wholeheartedly to the pleasure of the flesh. Even when he joined Carthage, the many seductions of this great city which was half pagan pulled him towards untoward things. He had a great desire to excel in everything, even evil. Very soon he made his confession to his mother that he had a son outside wedlock. Augustine had a certain dignity about himself even in his fall. By the age of nineteen he had got over his problems and in 373, when he read Cicero’s Hortensius he imbibed a love of the wisdom which Cicero speaks of. He was now heart and soul into philosophy. But this faith underwent a great crisis when he along with his friend Honorataus became prey to the Manichaeans. He was taken up by the promise of free philosophy. They claimed that they had found a scientific explanation to nature and Augustine’s inquiring and probing mind was attracted towards it. Moreover it was alluring as it â€Å"propagated a moral irresponsibility resulting from a doctrine which denied liberty. † Now Augustine devoted himself fully to the sect. He read all their books and it was during this period that he developed his literary faculties. When his student days at Carthage were over, instead of practicing forensic, he returned to Tagaste to teach Grammar. He was an excellent teacher and his students adored him. One of his students, Alypius followed him to the wrong path but later along with him was baptized at Milan. His mother Monica was so upset about him joining the Manichaeans that she would not have him in the house, but a saintly bishop told her, â€Å"the son of so many tears could not perish. † ( Bishop Ambrose) Augustine went back to Carthage where he taught the students rhetoric. He pursued liberal arts and his intellect sharpened and gained full maturity at this time. His first works on aesthetics were completed around this time and it was now that he started deploring Manichaeism. According to him Manichaeism philosophy —– â€Å"They destroy everything and built up nothing. † (Augustine, Confessions) Their arguments he found feeble now and he could find no science in them—â€Å"science in the modern sense. † (Augustine, Confessions) When he met Faustus of Milve, the Manichaen bishop, the spell was broken and he left the sect. He had been with them for nine years. It was in Italy under the influence of Bishop Ambrose, whose kindness made Augustine attend his sermons that he embraced the faith. For three years his mind underwent a struggle. First of all he turned towards the philosophy of Academics, then neo-Platonic philosophy. Finally it was the reading of the Holy Scriptures which told him that Jesus Christ was the true Savior. In 386 Augustine took himself to the country side of Verecundus, where he devoted himself to true philosophy which he considered was all about Christianity. He slowly studied Christian doctrine and became acquainted with it. In his book, ‘Against the Academics’ Augustine had described â€Å"the ideal serenity of this existence, enlivened by a passion for truth. † He held philosophical conferences where they discussed truth, certainty, true happiness and God and soul. In 387, during Easter time, Augustine received the sacrament of Baptism. In the Dialogues he tells us about his conversion, the progress he made in the Faith, his conferences with his friends on the Divinity of Jesus Christ, the transformation of his own soul, the calming of his passions and his decision to choose wisdom as his spouse. Frankly his philosophy is neo-Platonic, but he never hesitates to subordinate his philosophy to religion. He was a Christian first of all, and he tried to find harmony between the two doctrines, but it was the fundamental points of Christianity that he sought. â€Å"First— the great mystery, the word made flesh and then love, resting on the basis of humility. † He sought Divine grace in Christian baptism. Though he and his friends resolved to retire to Africa in solitude, it was his mother Monica who retired to Africa in solitude. Augustine was in Milan writing his works, On Music and On the Immortality of the Soul. In 387, his mother Monica left this world to be with her maker. Confessions IX tell us about Augustine’s grief and her saintly death. In 388 Augustine returned to Tagaste, here he wanted to lead the perfect life, so the first thing he did was to sell all his worldly belongings and give the proceeds to the poor. He then went to his estate and there with his friends lived a life of prayer, and poverty. It is during this time that he wrote De Vera Religione, De Genesi contra Manichaeos and De Magistro. Augustine never thought of entering priesthood, however he was called to Hippo by one of his friend’s who wanted him to pray over him. Augustine was praying in the church when the people gathered round him and begged the bishop of Hippo Valerius to ordain Augustine as a priest. He was ordained in 391. He went back to Tagaste to resume the religious life and there he preached for five years as a priest. He fought against Manichaeaism now and his success was great. Valerius at this time was getting old and he took the permission of Aurelius, Primate of Africa to have Augustine preach with him as coadjutor. Augustine was Bishop of Hippo for thirty four years. Augustine now combined his pastoral duties with the ‘austerities of the religious life’ he lived in a monastery with his clergy and they all bound themselves in poverty. He thus founded the order of monks who had their training with him and then went out and founded monasteries throughout Africa. Augustine was the defender of the truth and so he combated the Manichaean, the Donatists, and the Pelegian Controversies. In 426 the holy Bishop of Hippo, at the age of seventy-two chose deacon Heracles as his successor and departed from this land on 28 August, 430. He was seventy six years old. In Confessions a notable thing about it is Augustine’s confessions about his sexual career. As a young man, he was sexually alive, lived out of wedlock with his mistress and had a son through her. Critically observing, he was not much different from other youngsters but the difference lay in that his sexual exploitations were a source of immense pain to him. This may be the reason why he emphasis on it. He describes his sexual impulses in the negative form. â€Å"Thorns, (2. 3) desire in the mud (2. 2) an open sore (3. 1); he feels he cannot control his sexual feelings until he has help from God. Augustine was not unique in this negative attitude. There were many wealthy young men in Rome who gave away everything they had when they converted to the faith. Confessions represent a literary milestone. According to A. F. West it â€Å"dates the entrance of a new kind of autobiography—the autobiography of introspection, the self registered record of the development of a human soul. † In his Retractions Augustine says of his Confessions, â€Å"The thirteen books of my Confessions whether they refer to my evil or good, praise the just and good God, and stimulate the heart and mind of man to approach unto Him. And, as far as pertaineth unto me, they wrought this in me when they were written, and this they work when they are read. † Augustine clearly meant that Confessions was not a book of his confessions only, but one which the reader should ponder upon and praise the one who is to be praised, the just and good God. He says that his account of his past sin is to draw attention to the love of God: â€Å"I will now call to mind my past foulness, and the carnal corruptions of my soul, not because I love them, but that I may love Thee, O my God. For love of Thy love do I it. † (2. 1. 1) ( Augustine, Confessions) His intention of his book is to focus the reader’s attention on God and not on his life. â€Å"Why, therefore, do I place before Thee so many relations of Things? †¦ that I may awaken my own love and that of my readers towards Thee, that we may all say, â€Å"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. † (11. 1. 1) (Augustine, Confessions) This was the purpose of his book. Yet it would be wrong to say that he did not confess and there is no repentance. â€Å"But yet do Thou, my most secret Physician, make clear to me what fruit I may reap by doing it. For the confessions of my past sins, – which Thou has â€Å"forgiven† and â€Å"covered,† that Thou mightest make me happy in thee. † (10. 3. 4) Bonner comments â€Å"The Confessions first and foremost a work of praise, as is made clear by the opening words, taken from Psalm 145: ‘Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised: great is Thy power, and infinite is Thy creation. ‘ ‘Confession,’ then, for Augustine, is primarily confession of praise and thanksgiving to God for his mercies. Confession of sin has its place, but in relation to God’s grace and not in its own right. † In conclusion, we can summarize his book by his words: â€Å"For Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee. † (Augustine, Confessions) He is talking about his spiritual journey when his heart was restless till it found rest in God. Works Cited: Augustine. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2002. 1222. Web link: www. cce/org/a/Augustine/confessions/html