Abstract This paper provides a thorough summary of this chapter. It shows how the author, Peter Edelman, examines what he believes are the major economic and societal shifts that significantly changed America's view of youth. Through a linear examination of time periods over the last century Edelman focuses on the various forces that shaped our views of adolescence and policies addressing youth and policy today. The paper explains how, by examining changing cultural, political and racial attitudes toward adolescence, Edelman continually connects them to economic forces instrumental in shaping these attitudes. In the end of his examination he laments that there is an inconsistency between states and state agencies and that policy is fragmented along class and racial lines, a bifurcation of policy.
From the Paper "Edelman begins his linear examination of the time periods and period forces that shaped today's policies in the section titled, ?Youth in the Early Twentieth Century.? During the first third of the century initial attempts at protecting and prolonging childhood were undertaken. He states, ?The child savers of the time invented a series of institutions and policies that focused more public policy attention on children and responded to economic changes that reduced the demand for work by children.?2 He notes that before the 1900s the terms "youth" and "adolescence" were not in common usage and that young people commonly assumed adult responsibilities at younger ages.3 Per Edelman, the notion that childhood had come to include a period of ?Strum and Drang,? in which the young struggled to define their own personal identities, was first purposed in a study by G. Stanley Hall and led to public discussions on the role of children and childhood in society. Edelman points out that most jobs of the period did not require a high school education and most people entered the work force while still in their adolescence.4 As America moved through the early 1900s economic opportunities, a reoccurring theme by Edelman, along with demographic changes, provided increasing opportunities for America's young to spend more and more time in the outside world. As a result socialization was sought less from the family and more from the outside world. While young men were the primary beneficiaries of these changes, larger numbers young women began working outside of the home during this time period as well. Edelman states that public social behavior, typical adolescent behavior today, was considered to be on the brink of prostitution. Public concern resulted in many states raising the legal limit of consent.5 Responding to a surge in unattached youth in the cities, children of immigrants and a general perception that increased moral guidance was needed local communities started assuming greater responsibilities in socializing the young. Organizations like the Boy Scouts, YMCA, Campfire Girls, etc. helped meet these needs. The idea of "youth" became much more meaningful, Edelman states during the early 20th century.6 While public policy did exist that concerned the adolescence years at the turn of the century they addressed mostly issues of child labor, compulsory education and the juvenile court itself. But these issues were overshadowed by a growing concern of the way young children were being dealt with through orphanages or other residential institutions.7 Policy shifted during this time to address the idea that young children were better off staying with their mothers then being shunted off to the various child institutions. Early attempts by the federal government to address public concerns about children resulted in the creation of the Children's Bureau. These early activities focused on infants, children and young teens but failed to address the needs of older youth."
Abstract The philosopher Thomas Nagel became famous for his advocacy of the idea that human consciousness and subjective experience cannot be reduced to a discussion of "mere" brain activity and that the human brain is bifurcated into two hemispheres. The paper shows that in his essay on ?Brain Bisection & the Unity of Consciousness,? Nagel stresses that merely because this is the case, the sum or interaction of human being's two brain hemispheres of left and right is essentially greater than the catalogued capabilities of the two parts. Nagel stresses this as proof of his thesis that the human consciousness is more extensive than simply a list of the respective components of the brain's left and right hemispheres. The paper critically analyzes Nagel's view. It also touches on the growing research on gender differences between the interaction of brain hemispheres
From the Paper "Even if human beings are indeed all ?brain,? this does not mean that human beings will not vary in the ways that the different components of their brain interact in an interesting, varied, and compassionate manner. Nagel fears the potential predictability of the human consciousness as reducing the mysteries of human subjectivity to a catalogue of components. But to suggest, for instance, that the right brain might deal more with abstraction, as to the hemispherical components of left brain which are said to deal more with verbal capacity, can hardly predict the relative ability of any individual to use those abstractive or verbal capacities."
Abstract This paper explains that one of the most important theories posed by gender identity scholars is that the distinction of two sexes, male and female as well as the distinction of two genders, man and woman, is questionable. It points out that the existence of hermaphrodites and other bodies of indeterminate gender calls into question the bifurcation of gender, as well as the division of "sex" into male and female categories. The writer also discusses how gender roles tend to be solidified fairly stringently in our culture along lines of male and female alone.
From the Paper "Sex is a biological given. Some animal species have one sex, some have two, and some have more than two. This is interesting to scientists perhaps, in terms of its physical construction. However, gender is what culture "does" with these distinctions of physiology. Gender is how culture interprets the apparent biological differences between particular human bodies of different sexual anatomy. What does it mean, for instance, that a certain body may be capable of giving birth later in life, and another body may not? It is here, in the distinctions between bodies observed and imposed by our culture, where sociologists and theorists of gender identity find their theoretical interests aroused, poised for deconstructive action."
Abstract This paper looks at how Chaucer and the Pearl Poet before him, create and make ample use of, a type of literary paean that facilitates a figurative movement from the temporal to the celestial. Emphasis is given to Chaucer's "Parliament of Fowles", the "Duchess", et al., and to the "Pearl" and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by the Pearl Poet." It also looks at how this thematic construction proposes a bifurcated paradigm of the universe to mimic the heaven/earth continuum.
From the Paper "Chaucer and the Pearl Poet before him, create, and make ample use of, a type of literary paean that facilitates a figurative movement from the temporal to the celestial. This construct, typified in the prologue format, consisting of both textual introduction and, in some cases, definitive invocations, is a preamble illustrative of the dichotomy of heaven and earth, and in others, indicative of one or the other. The end result being, that Chaucer and the Pearl Poet have created, textually, metaphorically, and figuratively, a celestial model that is meant to be both didactic and entertaining. "
Abstract This paper explains that, even if Canada is not at all a world leader in terms of rewarding its IT workforce, IT workers have seen their wages rise sharply compared to the wages of other Canadians. The author points out that computerization and technological advancement have made many jobs obsolete and many workers redundant. The paper relates that the rise of computerization and the concomitant rise in new communication, conceptualization and manufacturing technologies paint a bleak picture for workers who are not facile with the latest software or tools. The author concludes that technological change in Canada has deepened the cleavages between various groups and that the country is rushing towards a serious crisis if something cannot be done to better facilitate the entry of millions of Canadians into the twenty-first century economy.
From the Paper "Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing businesses in Canada have become more prevalent in recent decades. In fact, a study conducted in the late 1980s underscores just how daunting the job prospects were even then for workers who lacked the requisite training in computer technology. To wit, "CAD/CAM" firms by even the middle 1980s were profoundly re-shaping their organizational structure and functions because of new computer technology; in a similar vein, expenditures in the area of technological innovation were being pushed even then as a means of eliminating costly and "superfluous" workers."
