Spy Games Creative Essay Example For Students

Spy Games Creative Essay Being an international spy is no walk in the park. Death canbe waiting for you around the corner or around the world. Howeverwhen youre only 17 years old, death is the furthest thing fromyour mind. So here we were on a hot summers day playinginternational espionage. Of course to six of us playing, it wasjust another Saturday of playing spy. Myself, Tim Wolfe, David Sullivan, Peter Shore, JenniferStrong (who was the only female to be amongst us) and Frank Robbmade up the group. At this age it was suppose to be above us toplay in these spy games. We were going to be graduating in a year or so after all. Thuskeeping the game secret was good practice for all of us. It alsomeant lying to a lot of people as to why we were always busy onSaturdays. Mind you, we never considered it lying. We preferred torefer to it as clouding the truth. Many of us wanted to becomeemployed in the intelligence area. So really, we though of it moreas an act of deception. We will write a custom essay on Spy Games Creative specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We took our game very seriously. In fact we never evenreferred to is as a game. Mostly because we were working ourmaneuvers on real people who didnt know we were just a group ofteenagers pretending to be spies. Every week wed have at least onemeeting at my house to talk about how things were going. Sometimesdepending on the case or goal we were pursuing, the meetings wouldrun on into the late of night. I guess it could be said that I was leader of our group. Themeetings were held at my house, and I was the one who broughttogether the present group of agents. In the theme of espionage,we referred to everyone as an agent. Never as a friend. However wepreferred to think of our agency, which we had given the name ofthe Renegades, as a collective. That is, everybody had a say inwhat we did. My bedroom was in the basement of our house, and I had theentire basement at my disposal. Against the far wall was a roomwith my bed, stereo, and the usual stuff youd find a bedroom. Perhaps the one difference being I had posters of famous spies onmy walls rather than sports heroes. Igor Grouzenko is a goodexample. Outside my room was a large table where we held most, ifnot all, of our meetings. Thanks to a door located in the cellar,it made for easy access to the outside. In most cases my parentsnever knew we held meetings on into the dead of night. The dooralso made it easy to sneak out at night. Agents do their work bestunder the cover of darkness you know. Today our meeting was going to be a good one. Last Thursdaywe had decided to draw up entire new names and careers forourselves. Agents usually have more aliases than friends, so wedecided to change ours every month. It was kind of hard jugglingschool work and memorizing new alias information each month. Yetwhen we were out in the real world doing maneuvers it all seemsworth it. The table was round, so there really was no one at the headof it. From left to right there was Tim, David, Peter, Frank, Jen,then myself. I trust everyone had no problem coming up with a newalias I asked. Everyone nodded in agreement. From there we went about thetable saying who we now were and what our profession was. My aliaswas John Inglis, and I went to one of the local high schools. Asa part time job I supposedly worked for McDonalds. Everybodysmain story was that they went to high school. It helps givecredibility to your story. Perhaps the only thing that varied fromperson to person was their name, and their part time job. After some more talking, we decided on our next target. Wewere going to find out how much money the local computer storetakes in on a daily basis. Naturally they would not divulge suchinformation to a bunch of teenagers. The way we go about gatheringour information is the basis for our intelligence game. Finding outstuff about people and things which theyd rather have us not know. Since many of us had a chemistry test next morning, we keptthe meeting short. We all agreed to meet back at my house tomorrow Friday night to discuss our plan of action. As a parting wordI suggested that a cleaning of our guns during study breaks woulddo us some good. Both to help us relax to study, and ensure theguns worked properly. With that we said our good-nights. When I mention gun, Im not talking about the kind that carrybullets and actually kill people. The guns we carry are of a muchless harming sort. We carried CO2 powered paint guns which firedpaint pellets. Although they could do some damage if they hitsomeone in the eye, we always ensured that the enemy was hit on thebody. Preferable in the heart to ensure what would normally bedeath. We could carry the guns where-ever we wished, under onecondition. They must always be concealed. If your weapon could beseen, it was considered that you were as good as dead. Personally,I carried mine tucked into my pants behind my back. After a few hours of studying, I didnt think any more chemwould sink in. So, it was off to bed. Tomorrow Id write the test,and then get to thinking about our weekend of intelligence work. * * * * *The test went ok. Its always hard to concentrate fully whenyou know that youre doing spy techniques the following day. Withthat I went home around 3:30 and waited for my fellow agents toarrive. Eventually everyone showed up and we began to plan out whatwed be doing tomorrow. The plan was to have Jen and Frank headdown to the store tomorrow with the front of wanting to buy acomputer. The rest of us would wait out in the car and watch whowent in and out of the store. Saturday rolled around and Tim came by around 10am. Since Timwas the only one who owned his own car, he ended up doing most ofthe driving. It seems I was the last one to be picked up, aseveryone else was present and accounted for. By the time 10:30 hadrolled around, we were all down at Compu-Tech. Jen and Frank left the car, leaving the rest of us to sit andlisten to the radio. Time drags slowly when youre sitting and notphysically partaking in a mission. I mean aside from watchingwhose coming and going, there wasnt much else to do. About half and hour later Jen and Frank emerged. Chit chattingabout what they had seen and what the salesman had told them. Asalways we decided not to talk about anything concrete until we wereback at my place. Arriving home, we descended into the basement and took ourusual seating. Jen started the meeting by telling everything andeverything about the store. Frank sat beside her and interjectedhis opinion every now and then. By the time Jen had given us herreport we felt fairly comfortable with the information we hadheard. Yet we still didnt know what their daily income was. One more thing Jen said. One of the sales people was TammyContenda. Maybe she can give us the information were after. Tammy Contenda was a girl we all knew from high school. Although she was fairly popular, none of us could be considered hergood friend. Acquaintances is perhaps a better word. None the less,we had our lead. Now all we had to do was pump the information fromher. If she could tell us about Compu-Tech without any of usentering the building ourselves, so much the better. It was decided that myself and Dave would approach her. Afterall, she may recognize Jen and Frank from the store if they decidedto talk to her. We spent the rest of our day figuring out step bystep what we would do in the following weeks. Many of our missionstook about a month to finish, sometimes even longer. So speed wasnot of the essence. * * * * *On Monday I began Dave and I will approach Tammy to seewhat we can get find out about Compu-Tech. Chances are good thatshe wont volunteer the information readily. So, it may take sometime.What, instead of waiting a week for this project to come toa close we may end up waiting three or four? This was Petertalking. Pete always was in a rush to get our missions over anddone with. Were it not for the fact that he was an incredibleagent, and excellent at recruiting people, we might have let himgo. These factors alone were enough to keep him in the Renegades. Unfortunately it just might I replied. You know as well asanyone else that having Tammy tell us how much money the storebrings in lessens the risk to us. I know I know said Pete. I just wish it wouldnt take solong. Monday arrived before we knew what happened. Saturdays arealways dedicated to Renegade work. That means Sundays are left todoing homework. At school, Dave approached Tammy under the guiseof needing help in Algebra. As luck would have it, her and Davewere in the same class. Later on into the conversation, I happenedby and Dave introduced me to her. Bingo, contact had been made. Thegroup of us dont hang around together at school, so there waslittle chance of Tammy associating our intentions with Frank andJen. Still we decided to play it safe, so they ate lunch on theother side of the cafeteria. By Wednesday, Dave and Tammy had made arrangements for algebratutoring outside of class time. I had more or less fallen from thepicture as Dave had become good friends with her. Aside from aguest appearance here and there, that was it for me. At our regularThursday meeting though, we found just how good a friends theyreally had become!She what? exclaimed Frank from across the table. She asked me to go to prom with her repeated Dave. A chorus of laughter could be heard coming from the rest ofus. The prom wasnt for another two months, and tickets had justgone on sale at the beginning of the week. Its a safe bet that noneof us had even thought of getting a prom date. Plus considering ouroriginal plan was too just involve Tammy and then end it, this wasan interesting turn of events. Have you decided what youre going to tell her? Frankcontinued to probe the issue. I couldnt help but pick up a hintof jealousy in his voice. Of course. I told her that Id love to go with her. Silence echoed through my basement for what seemed like aneternity. At last I asked Have you found out anything about Compu-Tech? This seemed to throw everyone for a loop. Wed all beenwrapped up in the gossip concerning Daves life that we forgotabout Compu-Tech. Yeah, Ive been able to find out a bit about the place. Tammys told me about the establishment. Its owned by a husbandand wife team Linda ; Jason Proton. Business seems to run inspurts.How long has Tammy been working there? asked Jen. In thisshuffle of prom dates, everyone had forgotten to consider hermatters on the situation. She told me shes been there for about a year and a half. Business seems to come and go in spurts according to her. Thesummer months including September along with Christmas time aretheir peak times.Any complaints with regards to her treatment from them? Jencontinued. None really. Just the usual you know. More pay, not to workon Friday nightsYeah yeah I interjected. Any word on what were after?Nope, not yet. I plan on asking her Friday night.Friday night? we all seemed to ask in unison. Yeah, when we go to the movies together.Again, laugher could be hard all around the room. * * * * *Saturdays meeting was relatively short one. Everyone was atmy place by 1pm, and the meeting begun. How was your date lastnight, stud man? asked Frank. You could tell from the tone in hisvoice that he was mocking Dave. Fine thanks Dave replied, not lowering himself to reply withany snide comments. Incase you were wondering, I asked her aboutthe information were after. Oh yeah, asked her between kisses I suppose eh? quipped Frank. Now listen Dave began. My love life is none of your, orfor that matter anyones business, so if you dont mind IdDaves voice was tensing as we could sense his anger. Ok, ok Dave. We understand your point I stated. Now, if youwill continue your report on what Tammy told you, Im sure wedall be glad to hear it. Well, according to her, Compu-Tech pulls in around $500,000a year. Mind you, keep in mind that these figures are just comingfrom the top of her head.Would it possible for her to find out the exact amount ofmoney the store pulls in? Jen inquired. I suppose she has access to that kind of information. Yet howto propose I ask her? Wouldnt you become a bit suspicious ifsomeone asked you to find out the exact financial position of thebusiness you worked for?Well, I suppose I would Jen continued. What if you askedher to take a look at one of their accounting programs, under theguise that you wanted to buy a computer system. Then you could askher to use the real numbers from Compu-Techs income.I suspect it might. Yet I dont really dont want to putmyself in such a position. It could jeopardize my relationship withTammy.Mind you, it could be done, right? I asked. Ok, ok. Ill see about doing it. If I lose my prom date overthis though, you can count me out of the Renegades.Well take that chance Tim commented. After that comment, the meeting broke down. Jen and I stayedback to do a bit of target practice in my back yard. The targetswe used were of cut-outs of people which we propped up. Ideallywed like to have them jump out at us; as in real target practice,yet such a feat was not possible. So, we stood about 40 feet back from the target and began totake aim. We aimed for the heart area and the head. In real lifethough, with a real gun, youd aim for the persons head. Afterall, leaving any witnesses around was sealing your fate. Howeverwith only paint pistols, we didnt want to take any chances onhitting someone in the eye. For that reason we concentrated ourshots to the persons heart region. Jen was a much better shot than me. Where 8 out of 10 shotsof mine would hit the proper area on the target, all 10 of Jenswould land perfectly. I was jealous yes, but there wasnt much thatcould be done. We worked on various techniques. Such as doing aforward summer salt, standing up and shooting at the target. Another one was to walk by the target unsuspiciously, the quicklyremove your gun and shoot. The later was my strong area while Jen seemed to have masteredthem all. In a while, both targets were covered in red paint. Aquick hose down with water, and they looked as good as new. Nothing like an afternoon of target practice to relieve a bitof stress eh? I said. Yeah, now all we have to do is improve your aim.Thinking to myself, I decided that this would be a good timeand place. Jen I began. Already I could feel the sweat formingin my palms. I mean I could pull of this spy stuff with noproblems. Yet when it came to asking a girl out, I was as weak asthey come. Would you like to go the prom with me? There, Id saidit. Now all that was required was the word -yes- and everythingwould be perfect. Well its really sweat of you to ask oh oh, here it comes Ithought to myself. Yet Ive already said Id go with Dan Scoff. .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 , .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 .postImageUrl , .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 , .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940:hover , .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940:visited , .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940:active { border:0!important; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940:active , .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940 .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u90c0d83f99974c531ccd92630ec26940:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Tell Tale Heart Analysis EssayI hope youll understand.Sure I replied. Inside my heart dove to the bottom of mystomach and began to be burned by its acid. Shot down again. Ahwell, thats life. Jen helped me put the targets away and I bid her good-bye. Looking at my watch, I noted the time was close to 4pm. I decidedto head inside and help Mom with dinner. For a guy whose supposeto feel great about his accomplishments, I sure never felt lowerin my life. * * * * *Sunday evening I found myself staring at my Physics book. Nothing was sinking in. My mind seemed to race everywhere. School,girls, Jen, the prom, the Renegades, everything. Suddenly the phonerang. How soon can you get over to my place? It was Dave. From thesound of his voice something was up. If I can get the car, Ill be over in about 5 minutes. Soonenough for ya?Perfect. and with that Dave hung up. Usually Dave can go onand talk your ear off. In fact the two of us usually sit around andchat on the phone from time to time. Out of everyone in the groupId say I knew him the best. Putting on my Levis and grabbing a baseball cap I proceededupstairs. A quick check with Dad that I could take the car, and Ifound myself headed towards Daves place. In my rush to get out thedoor, I didnt bother phoning any of the other Renegades. Nomatter, if Dave had wanted them at his place, he would have calledthem himself. Arriving at Daves I saw the familiar appearance of everyonescar with the exception of Pete. Since Tim and Pete live on the samestreet, I assumed that Tim had brought Pete along with him. Parkingmy car I walked up to the door and rung the bell. Within a matterof seconds Dave was standing at the door. Quickly, come in, come in Dave said closing the door behindme. In all my years of being friends with Dave Id never seen himso pale. Go on upstairs, everyone else has already arrived.Whats up Dave? I asked. Just get up stairs. Ill tell you once were in my room.I climbed the stairs to Daves room, passing family portraitsof him and his brother growing up. The odd family portrait of thefour of them. Kind of makes me wonder why my parents stopped at onechild. Anyway, before I knew it I was walking into Daves room. I walked past Jen and sat beside Tim. Whats going on here?I asked him?Beats me. I just received a call telling me to get my buttdown here. Yourself? replied Tim. Same.Now, youre probably asking yourselves why I called you hereat this time of night. began Dave. Well, its about Tammy. ShePete cut in She what? Found out you have frog lips?No you monkey head. howled Dave. Shes been kidnapped!* * * * *Kidnapped! I exclaimed. Are you sure? Who told you this?When did you find out? The questions just seemed to roll off mytongue. All I know is that when I called her tonight her Mom told methat Tammy hadnt come home from work on Saturday. She figured thatTammy had gone out with me or was spending the night at a friendshouse. Yet when I called at six tonight she still hadnt comehome. replied Dave. We all sat silent for a few moments. Everyone seemed takenback by this information. I was letting it sink in. Trying to findsome hole or something that I could say to indicate it may not havebeen a kidnapping. Then Jen spoke up. Have you tried to contact the owners of Compu-Tech? Perhapsthey know what happened to her.Mr Mrs Contenda tried to contact them. Yet she doesnthave their home number written down. Besides, its an unlistednumber so information is out of the question. We have to dosomething!! exclaimed Dave. This is what weve been training forall these years. To actually get out and use our talents. Well,nows the time!Hang on a sec here Dave I began. Were not even sure thatsome foul play has happened here. Why dont we wait until Mondayand find out what the police have to say. Then we can take it fromthere. Agreed?Agreed everyone said in unison, although Daves may havebeen a bit less then enthusiastic. Slowly we stumbled out of Daves house. On way out we mumbledour dont worry, everything will work out speech and what haveyou. We had decided to hold a meeting tomorrow after school and getorganized. The original plan of finding out the income of Compu-Tech seemed to be of minor concern in the recent news. I was home and in bed in no time. Sleep though didnt smileupon me tonight. My mind was racing through the potentialkidnapping that Dave had dropped on our laps. Although I issued mywords of encouragement to Dave along with the others, I couldnthelp but think Dave was on to something here. * * * * *School came and went. By 4:00pm everyone was assembled in mybasement, ready to figure out our next step. Tammy wasnt in algebra today Dave began. I called herplace when I arrived home from school and still no luck. None ofher friends have seen her either.Have the police been contacted yet? asked Frank?Yeah, Mr. Contenda said he went down to the station thismorning and filled out a missing person report. The officer on dutytold him theyd be in touch if anything turned up.Well, calculus was not the most exciting class today. So,rather than pay attention I came up with a game plan of sorts. Doyou folks have any objection to hearing me out? I said. Everyone seemed to nod in agreement, so I proceeded. Now from the way I look at things Tammy was a good kid. Theonly reason someone would want to have her kidnapped would be ifshe found out something she shouldnt have. As I understand it, theContendas are not the richest people in the world. So a possibleransom reason may be hard to swallow. For that reason this is what I propose. Jen and Dave head downto the hall of records. Photocopy or write down everything you canfind on the owners of Compu-Tech Mr. Mrs. Proton. Maybe theyvehad some bad dealings or what ever. Ill head down to the police station and see if I can get alook at the missing person report. I doubt theyll just show it tome, so I may have to push a few buttons if you will. Pete, Id like you to head down to Compu-Tech and see what youcan find out. Just kind of browse around and look and/or listen foranything. If youre approached talk like you want to purchase acomputer. In the small talk that ensues, ask about Tammy. You know,as any nosey customer would. Anyone have any questions?Yeah, what am I suppose to do? asked Frank. You and Tim are in charge of coordinating all the informationwe gather. Go over everything with, as the saying goes, a finetooth comb. Maybe youll be able to tie things together and makesome sense out of it.Ah bummer man said Tim. How come we stuck with the loserjob while the rest of you get to rock and roll? If we lived neara beach, Tim would have been on the waves 24 hours a day. Ihonestly think he should have been born in California rather thanOntario. From the way he talks youd think surfing was all he livedfor. Come on Tim, give it a break. Not everyone can have theglamorous jobs you know? I replied. Yeah yeah, I know dude. Its just Id rather be out rockenand rollen with you catsWe sat around for a while and talked about the specifics ofour assigned missions. Everyone seemed happy with theirassignments. Even Tim and Frank seemed pleased with what I hadassigned them, albeit they did grumble a bit. Dinner will be ready in 15 minutes my Mom yelled down thestairs. Will your friends be staying with us tonight?I glanced around the room and everyone shook their heads. No,they have to be heading home. I replied. With that we decided to call the meeting to an end. Wed haveour usual meeting on Thursday when everyone could tell us whattheyd managed to find. I saw everyone out the door in thebasement, and reassured Dave as he left. As Jen approached the doorI turned away and half heartily said see ya. Ever since shedsaid no to me about the prom Id been treating her coldly. Notintentionally mind you. I just couldnt relate to her anymore. Ifelt like shed ripped my heart out by saying no. Dave she began. Ah, look. Dinners almost ready otherwise Id love to sit andchat with you I interjected. Yeah, right Jen snapped back. Tim was the last to leave, and he closed the door behind him. I stood for a moment in silence and starred at the meeting table. For about 1 year we had been doing our spy stuff. In all the timewed never actually tried a real case. I chuckled to myself in thesilence. Just to think of it. A group of kids calling themselvesThe Renegades, was going to try and solve a possible kidnappingcrime. It all seemed a bit hard to believe. * * * * *I arrived home from school around quarter to four. Dad washome, so I asked him for the car. I fabricated some excuse aboutgoing to the library for research a school project. Telling himthat I was on my way to the police station would just result in abunch of questions which I was not in the mood to answer. Before I left the house I gave Dave a call. I wanted to knowif hed had the presence of mind to ask the Contendas if they knewthe officers name who took the missing person report. Dave toldme the name was Lublanski. I thanked him and hung up the phone. Thedrive to the station was a relatively short one. In the area offifteen minutes at the most. Parking the car, I walked up to the front desk and asked foran Officer Lublanski. Over there replied the desk Sergeant in a deep voice. Ithanked him and made my way over to the corner of the building. Sitting at a desk with what mounds of paper folders everywherepossible, was Officer Lublanski. She seemed like a fairly youngcop, fresh out of the academy. I guessed her age at 23 maybe 24. A pen wedged behind he left ear indicated that she was a lefty. Intelligence officers notice everything. Well, at least we had thatin common. Officer Lublanski? I asked as I approached her desk. Yes she replied. What can I do for you?Hi, my name is John Inglis I began, giving her my aliasrather than my real name. I was hoping you could give me someinformation on a friend of mine. Her parents seem to have reportedher missing to you a couple of days ago.In reality they had filed the report only yesterday. I didntplan on telling the cop any more than I had to though. Hmm, whats the name? she asked. Contenda, Tammy Contenda.The officer opened up a drawer and started flipping though afew files. Before long she pulled out a file and placed in on herdesk. In the corner was written Contenda, Tammy K. K must have beenher middle name. I was beginning to wonder what it may be when Iwas brought down to earth again by Lublanskis voice. What interested do you have in this case? she asked me. Doyou have any information that can help us out?Unfortunately I dont I began. Great. How was I going totell her I was interested with the case without looking like acomplete fool. Then, I remembered Tammy worked at a computer store,I decided to go at it from that angle. Tammy sold my Dad acomputer when she was working at Compu-Tech. The two of us struckup a friendship for a while. When we moved I kept in touch withher. My dad had to come to Toronto for business and I decided togive her a call. When I found out she may be missing, well Idecided to come down and see what you people could tell me.The cop looked at me for a while. Trying to figure out if Iwas for real I guess. None the less, she swallowed my story becausethe next thing I know she handed me the file. So far, its all weve got. Do you have any idea of the numberof abductions we get on a daily basis. Then their man power cuts,and what have you. It all makes for an increasing pile of work.I mumbled my yeah, I can relate reply, and poured myselfover the file. It contained the usually information such as age,hair colour, address, etc. nothing out of the ordinary really. Iwas just about to hand back and thank her when something caught myeye. It seemed that the last reported citing of Tammy the policehad was one of in a red pick-up parked outside the local 7-eleven. To our knowledge the last time anyone had seen Tammy was when shewas at work. I handed back the file and asked It says here the last timeshe was seen was at 7-eleven.Yeah. One of the workers saw her sitting in the passengerseat of the truck. He thought it odd that the girl was sitting withthe windows up when it was such a hot day outside.Windows up eh? Could indicate the driver of the truck didntwant Tammy making a scene of anything. Id tell my friends aboutthis info later. Thanks for all your help I said. Before I go, do you havea business card I could have? Ill be in town for a while longerand if I find anything out Ill give you a call. Sure, here you go. Thanks.Youre quite welcome she replied. From there she dove backinto the files piled up on her desk. * * * * *Jen and Dave arrived at the Hall of records shortly afterfour. Upon entering the building, they noticed that was close toempty. I guess not many people care about history Dave remarked. They made their way down the hall into a room containing thecomputer catalogs. Dave having the more experience with computersystems sat down. The main screen presented him with many choices. Lets see Dave began. What do you say we pick name search.Sounds good to me replied Jen. The question was a rhetoricalone, although Jen must have felt compelled to answer. Dave typed in Proton where it asked for last name andpressed return. The next display on the screen contained a listingof five people with the last name of Proton. Not know the firstname of the Protons who own Compu-Tech, Dave decided to print outthe information on all of them. Returning to the main screen, the next choice was a businessinquiring. Dave typed in Compu-Tech and was greeted with a screenshowing all of the information about the business. A print-out ofthis information was also obtained. Well, I guess thats about it eh? said Dave. Should we findout any thing else while were here?Na. We can always come back if we have to replied Jen. * * * * *Pete walked in to Compu-Tech and walked around for a while. Looking at the various IBM computers that were on display. Aftera while, an older looking gentleman approached him. The name on theclerks tag read Rajiv. May I help you he asked. Yeah, Im heading off to university next year and wasinterested in buying a computer. What can you tell me about them?From there the man started spouting off information ofmegahertz, memory, and everything under the Sun. Pete was quitebored with the information being thrown at him. He already owneda computer and knew everything the sales clerk was telling him. None the less, he put up with it and let him finish. Ok, so this one here is a 386, right? asked Pete. Correct replied the salesman. Hmm, Im kind of torn between the 386 and 486. A friend ofmine Tammy Contenda works here. Is she around? I love to hear whatshe has to say on this issue Pete said. Looking a little flustered and nervous the man replied Tammyhasnt been in to work since Saturday. I was under the impressionshe had gone missing. Hadnt you heard?No, I hadnt heard. Replied Pete. Do you know anythingabout it?Nothing. Now look. The police have already been in hereasking me questions and everything. Just whats your connection toher? asked the clerk. .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 , .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 .postImageUrl , .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 , .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37:hover , .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37:visited , .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37:active { border:0!important; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37:active , .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37 .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u9ddb1606966092ba163b562352af9e37:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: My Filipino Heritage EssayIt was obvious form his reaction and tension that somethingwas bothering him. Pete decided to play it cool. Nothing, were just friends. Anyway, thanks for theinformation on the computers. Ill get back to you. With that he shook the clerks hand and left the store. Drivinghome, Pete couldnt help shake the feeling that the clerk knewsomething which he wasnt letting on to. * * * * *Thursday and our meeting came before I knew what had happened. Suddenly everyone came running in to my basement. After the usualround of pleasantries were sorted out, we sat down to business. Hey dudes, check this out echoed Tim. These cats, theProtons are heavily into debt. Check out the mortgage the have ontheir pad. Theres also this problemo of all the computer surplusthey have on hand at the stores. Whenever Tim started talking, I always had the shivers. Something about his surfer persona bothered me. I think it was thefact he actually look like a surfer. The long blonde hair, the airheadish attitude, everything. None the less, he was right. What are you suggesting then Tim? That the Protons kidnappedTammy for ransom? asked Jen. Uh, no way dudette. I was just making a causal observation. Chill out will ya?Id have to agree with Tim on this one I began. So what do you propose then, McDuff? asked Pete. I sat in silence for a while trying to think. Things hadbecome so clouded all of a sudden. Issues with Jen and I were stilltense. I think we should head down to Compu-Tech and see if we cantalk to the Protons. Maybe theyll crack under pressure and saymore than they should. Comments?Everyone sat and nodded in silence. Good, then its agreed. I propose that Pete and Dave be the ones to go in the store andtalk with them. Dave is already known to be with Tammy, so theowners will not be curious is Dave goes in there asking question. Pete, I just want you to look for anything suspicious. Ok?Both Dave and Pete nodded. Hey, I was talking with Tammysfolks last night began Dave and they told they found a computerdisk in her room when they were looking for clues as to where shemay have gone.Well bring that sucker in here. It may have valuable stuffon it! I replied. From here the meeting deteriorated. We decided to order insome pizza and sit around shoot the shit. I tended to keep mydistance from Jen as she did from me. It seems that when she shotme down for the prom I was more hurt than I realized. * * * * *Monday afternoon we met at my place and went down to Compu-Tech. After fifteen minutes Dave and Pete came out. Both haddefeated looks on their faces. Nothing they said as they entered the car. What happened dudes? No wave action or what? said Tim. Naw, the Protons have taken off for an unspecified amount oftime. It appears that this Rajiv guy is going to be running thingsuntil they return.Did he mentioned why theyd be returning?Naw, the guy said nothing. Then he tried to sell us somecomputer. Dave and I spent the entire fifteen minutes trying toleave the bloody place.Hey said Dave. I have that disk from Tammys place back atmy own. Why dont we go get it and take it over to Petes. Maybetheres something on it we can use. Shortly the six of us were al crowded around Petes computeras he drew up a directory on his disk drive. Nothing here but a bunch of lotus 1-2-3 files said Pete. Dude, do you have Lotus asked Tim. Yeah. I suppose I could load them in to the computer and seewhat theyre all about.A few whirls of Petes hard disk brought up the Lotus programand in a short while we were starring face to face with the Lotusfiles from the disk dave obtained from Tammys folks. Hey, do you realize what this is I screamed out. A bunch of meaningless numbers?Naw, this is the financial report for the company. This isthe stuff we were original after. And look at this. Looking atthese files shows their company is making major bucks. Yet when welooked at their government records, it showed they were loosingmoney. My fellow Renegades, I think weve found what we wereafter.* * * * *I think everyone felt better now that we knew the Protons werebehind Tammys appearance. We all agreed that Tammy must havediscovered the Protons were taking money off the top of theircompany and falsifying their tax records. Scared that Tammy wouldexpose them, they decided to get rid of her. This news did not sitwell with Dave. He was still pretty upset over her disappearance,and knowing her life may be in danger did not quell his nerves. However it was decided to call it night. Tomorrow wed hold anemergency meeting of the Renegades to figure out what to do. At 4pm sharp everyone arrived at my place. Ok, we know the Protons are behind this I began. Now thequestion is what to do from here. Ideas?Like, lets take this to the police cat. remarked Tim. And what? Tell them a bunch of 17 year olds know whokidnapped Tammy Contenda. Do you honestly think theyd believe us?A chorus of nos went around the room. Tim could be heardletting out a muffled bummer in the background. Suddenly Jenstood up. I have a plan she boldly said. We listened to her idea, and after and hour of hammering outthe details, we knew exactly what we were going to do. The planwent something like this. I was to call Compu-Tech and tell them I knew all about theirplot involving Tammy. From there Id tell them if they valued theirbusiness, they should meet me Friday night behind the local AP. Even though Rajiv told us they were on vacation somewhere, we feltthat he was relaying messages to them somehow. The next day when I arrived home from school the plan was setin motion. Rajiv told asked me my name, which as all good spies do,gave him a false one. I always warmed up to the name of JimMackinnon, so that was the name I gave him. Rajiv told me he didntknow what I was talking about, but hed try to get the messageacross to the Protons. I thanked him an hung up. Quick phone calls followed to my fellow Renegades telling themthe trap had been set. I think calling Jen was the hardest call inmy life. None the less, I made it. * * * * *Friday seemed to take for ever to arrive. However when it did,everything was planned out. Jen being the crack shot, hid herselfbehind a few milk crates. Derek was there with her hold a taperecorder. Tim was nearby in a parked car ready to pick them up. Over a bit closer to me were Dave and Frank. Again, the two of themwaiting in a parked car to get me. Everything was in place. Suddenly, from across the parking lot, a pair of car lights cameat me (us). Slowing, the car eventually came to a stop. Out emergedthe Protons. Who are you Mr. Jim Mackinnon and what have I done againstyou?Slow down there Jason Proton I started. The only thing Ihave against you is that youre endangering the life of a friendof mine. I want to see her returned.What are you talking about? The police are handling theContenda investigation as a teen-age runaway. I have better thingsto do with my time than stand here and be insulted by the likes ofsome 18 year old. In reality I was only 17, but hey. Jason Proton thinks Imolder, so much the better. Slowly, the two of them began to getback in their cars. I know about the imbezeling I screamed. That comment surestopped them in their tracks. Even from where I was standing Icould here his jaw hit the ground. WhatWhatTammy had no right to tell you that. the wordsseemed not to flow so easily for Mr. Proton now. Oh it wasnt Tammy. YOu see I have this little computer diskhere I said holding up a computer disk. You scum, thats breaking and entering!! he began to runafter me. Daves car engine roared to life as I dove in the back seat. Tims engine could be heard starting up as well. Then the noise ofa gun going off a few times was heard next. Not an ordinary gunhowever. Jens CO2 powered gun. I looked up from the back seat ofto see Jason Protons shirt covered in paint. I honestly believehe though he was shot. Argh!! he screamed as he fell to the ground. Im not sureif he was playing up the effects for all they were worth of ifphysiologically his mind told him a bullet had ripped through him. Whatever the case, Jen and Derek jumped intos Tim car and bothcars sped off into the night. We met no more than ten minutes back at my place. Quickly Ipulled out officer Lublanskis business card and called her athome. Even though it was 12:30am, I still felt she should know whathe had found out. To say the least, she was not amused that I hadwoken her up. She did however remember my name (luckily Iremembered the alias I had given her) and that shed be glad tohear what we had to say tomorrow morning. After begging andpleading my case she finally relented to see us tonight. Hurriedly I jotted down the directions to her house and within10 minutes were at her house. With bed head and all, officerLublanski came to the door and welcomed us in. I didnt even botherintroducing my companions. Tammys life is in great danger I blurted out. What do mean? she asked kind of sleepy like. We have proof that her employers may have done something withher spurted out Dave. Wait, who are these people? she asked. These are fellow Renegades. Look, I dont have time toexplain it all to you now. Please, just get a police car over tothe Contenda house hold. Please!!Officer Lublanski looked at us like we were nuts. However shemust have figured we had a good reason for being there. After all,why else would we wake up a police officer at 12:30? You guys hadbetter be right about this she mumbled. Stumbling off to the kitchen she invited us in to sit down andrelax. We looked exhausted as she put it. She was right to. Thesix of us clasped in the furniture she had set about her livingroom. In a few minutes she was on her way back over. Ok, a squad car is on its way over. Now, John do you care totell me what this is all about?With the mention of the name John, looked at me. They neverever though Id actually give a false name to a police officer. Well, its a long story I began. For starters, my real nameis not JohnI guess the story didnt take as long as I though, becausejust as I was finished up with how we had met the Protons tonight,her phone rang. After the usual yeahs and okays she hung upthe phone. I dont believe it she was saying as she approached us. Ijust dont believe it. We all jumped up as she came back. Well, dont keep ushanging' exclaimed Tim. I dont know how to tell you this, but the police found Tammyalive and well. It seems that when the Protons found out theirscheme was up, they didnt bother going back home. Tammy hadmanaged to take off her gag and was screaming at the top of herlungs for help. The police took her home. Shes going to be ok. The group of us let out a collective sigh of relief and sankback into our chairs. Speaking going home, I should be heading outmyself said Derek. Everyone murmured their agreement and we stoodup to leave. Id like to see you all down at the police station tomorrowis you dont mind officer Lublanski began. You know, to clear upall the lose strings and stuff. Sure, no problem. Good night we more or less said in unison. * * * * *We agreed to meet as a group and head over to the station at9am. When we arrived reporters and journalists were everywhere. Thepolice kept saying no comment. As we emerged from our car, theyall ran over to us. A tad intimidated with the rush of media types,we ran at full tilt into the police station. Bursting though thedoors we found ourselves face to face with the Protons. You little scum bag. I dont even know a Jim Mackinnonscreamed Jason Proton. Officer Lublanski was standing beside him and looked my way. I just smiled and said old habits are heard to break.I bet they are she replied. We caught these two at theairport. It seems they were making a run of Brazil. We arrived justin time to foil their plot.At the moment Tammy came running into the room and ran up toDave giving him a huge hag. Dave, its so nice to see you again.The rest of us turned away politely, not wanting to stare. If you dont mind, Id like all of you to come into my officeplease.We looked over to our left and saw an older type man with grayhair standing infront of an office. It didnt take a genius tofigure out it was the chief of police. I cant speak for theothers, but I was pretty scared. I mean we had interfered with apolice investigation. We had shot a firearm at someone. Technicallywe could be in a lot of trouble. Entering the office we noticed seven chairs infront of thechiefs desk. Pease, take a seat he motioned us as he closed thedoor behind him. Dave and Tammy sat together, holding hands. Forthe first time since Jen shot me down I sat beside her. For somestrange reason it felt good to be beside her. Id like to begin by saying that Im very glad miss Contendais ok. The last thing we need in this area is another homicide. Inthat respect Id like to congratulate you group, the Renegadesisnt it, on a job well done. began the Chief. Whew, that wasntso bad I thought. But as yes, theres always a but what youdid was terribly dangerous. Shooting off a fire-arm without apermit. Stealing personal information, endangering your lives,interfering with police workUh, sir asked Tim. For me it was the first time I hadntheard him talk like he was out at the beach. Are we going to berockin and rollin in jail. Ah there it was. Rockin and Rollin. I knew the surfer in Tim couldnt stay hidden. The Chief of Police let out a little chuckle. No, youre notgoing to be rockin and rollin as you so put it. In fact Im goingto honour you all with distinction medals. How does that sound?Totally tubular exclaimed Tim. I think our comrade speaks for all of us sir said Derek. Great. Then lets go outside and give the press what they camehere for. With that, we stood up and proceed to meet the media * * * * *It was a dream come true. Although spies dont want theirpicture published on the front page of a daily paper, that didntbother us. After all, its not every day a high school student helpssolve kidnapping cases. The group of us decided to put Renegade activities on holduntil school was out for the summer. The prom turned out to be afun time for everyone. I ended up going stag, which wasnt too bad. Derek and I managed to share costs for a limo as he went stag aswell. I had the front page of the newspaper in which we our pictureappeared framed. It now hangs at the head of my bed, reminding methat all the hard work wed done over the years finally amountedto something. The six of us, Tim Wolfe, David Sullivan, PeterShore, Jennifer Strong, Frank Robb, and myself Edward Cohagen. Nomore would we be embarrassed to tell our friends we were playingspy. Although we were no longer a spy agency. Now we were TheRenegades Private Investigators for Hire.

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis †Literature Essay

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis – Literature Essay Free Online Research Papers Main Street by Sinclair Lewis Literature Essay Evil and corruption can lurk just below the surface where we least expect it, the intensity and fever of living in places one might propose as perfect and peaceful can drive people to act in very disturbing ways. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis is the tale of a woman from the city who marries a small town man and moves into that town with him. As the book discusses, it has always been an American myth that the small towns were idealic, prosperous and peaceful. â€Å"This is how people keep up the tradition of the perfect home-town, the happy boyhood, the brilliant college friends. We forget so.†1 However, the picture that Lewis paints of the small town is one of racism, fear, and hatred. One where hate crimes are readily accepted so long as done in the name of the Republican Party and what they view to be biblical. Where neighbors spy on each other, watching for anything to gossip about, and use this gossip to destroy people’s lives. Where women are held to an unrealistic standard while men are allowed to do as they please, so long as what they please does not involve socialism. But perhaps most dangerous of all, it is an environment that slowly absorbs those who come to it and bite them with th e â€Å"Village Virus† until they become as twisted and wicked as those around them. Yet, from non-fictional sources it appears as though Lewis was not exaggerating his case at all. That in fact, these attitudes and these acts were embraced, where performed and the Gopher Prairie that Main Street resides within is not even the worst of all possible cases. One of the biggest topics the villagers of Gopher Prairie talk about with a sense of fear is that of Socialists. The town lives off of milking the farmers, if the farmers were ever to organize then those of the small town would lose quite a bit of their wealth. As put in the words of the character Jack Elder â€Å"Lord knows what’s come over workman, nowadays- don’t appreciate a good job†¦ What they ought to do is simply to hang every one of these agitators, and that would settle the whole thing right off.† 1 Although Jack Elder’s suggestion of hanging is said in frustration rather than a declaration of real intent, in reality there were such an attitude in the United States in those days and sometimes those words were acted upon. Fredrick Lewis Allen in his book Only Yesterday describes an event where â€Å"the patrioctic citizenry took out of the jail a member of the I.W.W- a white American, be it noted- and lynched him by tying a rope around his neck and throwing him off a bridge.† 2 Although this was a single event, it certainly showed that socialists in general were being targeted and summarily executed by mobs. This seems to be a strange contrast, mobs of the lower classes attacking and killing those who would work for the good of the lower class. However, business men have the ability to speak much louder than a ragtag group of political uprisers and can stir up quite a bit of fear and discontentment. The citizens often stood not so much against what the socialists wanted for fear of their own loss of profit like Jack Elder, but often because of fear of their own safety. The socialist movement in Russia had taken off and was quite successful. It seemed to many Americans that socialism would sweep across Europe and jump over the Atlantic. â€Å"They seriously thought- or at least millions of them did- that a Red revolution might begin in the United States the next month or next week, and they were less concerned with making the world safe for democracy than making America safe for themselves.† Thus the American people as a whole quickly turned on and viciously assaulted those amongst them who would stand up against their oppressors and try to create a better world for them and their children. During World War I, the difference between a socialist and a German could hardly be understood by the average American citizen. Despite the fact that the Germans were in an imperialistic system that put them directly at odds with the Socialists, the average citizen was ignorant enough of the world to not be able to understand the difference. Further, any American with German descent would be targeted and attacked as they were expected to be a German sympathizer regardless of what else their family had done. This is illustrated very blatantly in Main Street when it states â€Å"Cy got much reputation by whipping a farm boy named Adolph Pochbaur for being a ‘damn hyphenated German’†¦ This was the younger Pochbauer, who was killed in the Argonne, while trying to bring the body of his Yankee captain back to the lines.† 1 Thus the village cheered on the brattiest child in all their midst for beating a very patriotic and heroic American citizen simply for his racia l heritage. However, a person with a different heritage and who would be critical of the United States in time of war may well have been considered to have a death sentence on their head. In Only Yesterday it mentions an event where â€Å"a jury in Indiana took two minutes to acquit a man for shooting and killing an aien because he had shouted ‘To hell with the United States’† 2 German descendants were not only attacked and beaten, but often they were forced to buy war bonds even if they could not afford to do so. This too is illustrated in Main Street when after his wife dies a near-penniless Sweedish Socialist leaves town and it is said of him, â€Å"the citizens’ committee ought to have forced him to be patriotic- let on like they could send him to jail if he didn’t volunteer and come through for bonds and the Y.M.C.A. They’ve worked that stunt fine with all these German farmers.†1 Thus the anti-German fever was at such a high point that they were considered to be freely open to be beaten while at the same time expected to prove themselves to be more patriotic than any of the Yankees would themselves. The roles of men and women were kept very separate and stringent as well. While the walls preventing a woman from going to college had been broken down, a woman was expected to dress a certain way and was immediately to blame if anything should happen to her. In the clothing area, one area that seemed to have obsession in the early years of the twentieth century was a woman’s ankles. When Cy is speaking of Carol early in the book he says â€Å"some ankles she’s got, heh?† 1 which causes Carol in turn to feel like â€Å"she was being dragged naked down Main Street† 1 Later it is spoken about the new dances and clothing, â€Å"We used to waltz and dance contra dances. None of these new jigs and not wear any clothes to speak of. We covered out hides in those days; no tight skirts like now.† However, if they did not like the cut of Carol’s dresses then, they would be appalled at what could come shortly later. In Only Yesterday it says â€Å"a f ashion-writer reported in the New York Times that â€Å"the American woman†¦ has lifted her skirt beyond any modest limitation,† which as another way of saying the hem was now all of nine inches above the ground† 2 The skirts continued to go higher and higher during the twenties. However, the fashions of men were similarly held in check. When a Swedish tailor comes into down they speak of him â€Å"isn’t he the perfect lady though! He talks so refined, and oh, the lugs he puts on- belted coat, and pique collar with a gold pin, and socks to match his necktie† 1 They refer to this boy, Erik, as ‘Elizabeth’ for the rest of his stay in town. However, he is soon chased away only to end up becoming a movie actor later. Only Yesterday states that â€Å"Short-haired women, like long-haired men, are associated with radicalism, if not with free love.† 2 Actions of women were similarly held in check. In Main Street, it tells of the town school teacher who is escorted to a dance by one of her students. The student gets drunk and then tries to molest her as he drives her back home. Yet, despite that she did everything as she should have as soon as rumors surface she is fired from her job and finds it impossible to get work elsewhere. It is said by the most sympathetic party, â€Å"Not any of us would believe a word Cy said, not if he swore it on a stack of bibles, but still, after all this gossip, Miss Mullins wouldn’t hardly be the party to chaperon our basket-ball team† 1 Thus gossip itself would prove to be a woman’s undoing. These acts were brought to light through the small town tradition of watching one’s neighbors looking for anything that could be construed against them. Carol feels in the book as if â€Å"Enemies leered through the windows, stole on her from the hall.† 1 Only Yesterday says t hat the code of the day was that â€Å" â€Å"Women were the guardians of mortality; they were made of finger stuff than men and were expected to act accordingly. Young girls must look forward in innocence (tempered perhaps with a modicum of physiological instruction) to a romantic love match which would lead them to the alter and to living happily ever-after; and until the â€Å"right man† came along they must allow no male to kiss them. It is expected that some men would succumb to the temprations of sex, but only with a special class of outlawed women† 2 A good deal of this break-down was from those who has returned from war. â€Å"In France, two million men had found themselves very close to filth and annihilation and very far from the American moral code and its defenders; prostitution has followed the flag and willing mademoiseels from Armentieres had been plentiful; American girls sent over as nurses and war workers had come under the influence of continental manners and standards†¦ It was impossible this generation to return unchanged when the ordeal was over.† Thus the very war that those of the old ways had encouraged and shouted on, the war they had attacked and killed dissenters over became the wooden stake to end the old ways themselves, or at least put them under for a time. However the most insidious thing about small town life that Main Street speaks of is that which it calls the Village Virus. â€Å"The Village Virus is the germ which- it’s extraordinarially like the hook-worm- it infects ambitious people who stay too long in the provinces.† It goes on to describe that the virus cuts people off from the literary and political world until they have found that they have become as small-minded and simple as the people they looked down upon. Those who lived in the town of Gopher Prairie always spoke of it as if it, and they in turn, were perfect. It would seem as though from looking at Only Yesterday as though all contained within the pages of Main Street was not at all an exaggeration of the situation. The people of the town were so caught up in mob mentality while watching to make sure no one else strayed from the flock, that they were completely oblivious to their own problems and short comings. But while they professed all was perfect in their town, none were truly very happy. When asked for help to fix up the town, one of its oldest residents unknowingly lets out his true opinion, â€Å"I’ve had people that have traveled all over the world tell me time and time again that Gopher Prairie is the prettiest place in the Middle-west. Good enough for anybody. Certainly good enough for Mama and me. Besides! Mama and me are planning to go out to Pasadena and buy a bungalow and live there.† 1 Research Papers on Main Street by Sinclair Lewis - Literature EssayNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This Nice19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraWhere Wild and West MeetThe Spring and AutumnEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationTwilight of the UAWHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andQuebec and Canada

3 Cases of Superfluous Wording

3 Cases of Superfluous Wording 3 Cases of Superfluous Wording 3 Cases of Superfluous Wording By Mark Nichol Certain types of words that may be of no use nevertheless often stealthily make their way into sentences like gate crashers. In conversation, to mix metaphors, they serve as pothole fillers, meaningless placeholders that allow speakers to gather their thoughts and navigate an extemporaneous statement without stumbling before the finish line, but in writing they are expendable. The discussion after each sentence below describes why one or more words in the example do not contribute to the construction of the statement; revisions demonstrate how the sentences stand just as well without the omitted words. 1. More than half of all companies are currently pursuing some form of major information-technology transformation. Currently, which echoes the present-tense verbs it invariably is associated with, is rarely necessary or helpful; retain it only if it clarifies an ambiguous statement (in which case an alternative solution is to revise the statement to eliminate the ambiguity): â€Å"More than half of all companies are pursuing some form of major information-technology transformation.† 2. Management must then determine whether or not the activities for recording, accumulating, and summarizing material information are designed and operating effectively. Some writers don’t realize that the second and third word in â€Å"whether or not† should almost always be omitted. Others know this but automatically write it without noticing or don’t know when it is valid and when it is not. However, a simple test exists- if â€Å"whether or not† can be replaced by â€Å"regardless of whether,† the usage is valid, but if the phrase can be replaced by if, â€Å"or not† is extraneous: â€Å"Management must then determine whether the activities for recording, accumulating, and summarizing material information are designed and operating effectively.† 3. We have managed projects for both healthcare providers as well as medical-device manufacturers. Sometimes the solution is revision rather than omission. For example, in this sentence, â€Å"as well as† is redundant to both, so retain one or the other, but not both: â€Å"We have managed projects for both healthcare providers and medical-device manufacturers† or  Ã¢â‚¬Å"We have managed projects for healthcare providers as well as medical-device manufacturers.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Beautiful and Ugly Words10 Types of Transitions48 Writing Prompts for Middle School Kids

Animal Rights in Islam Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 9000 words

Animal Rights in Islam - Research Paper Example Animals should not be exploited under any circumstances1. Whether animals can talk or whether they can reason cannot be a matter of consideration, because animals have equal capacity like human beings to feel pain, sorrow, love, frustration, fear and pleasure. As human beings, people have the moral obligation to think twice before engaging in any sort of activities that will damage the environment and basic needs of animals2. People who support the rights of animals believe that animals have worth that is inherent and it is completely separate from their usefulness and service to human beings. They believe that every living being on earth has the will to live and so should be given rights and freedom to live life on their own terms that is devoid of pain and suffering3. Animal rights is not only a subject for philosophy, it is a moral issue that challenges the traditional belief of the society that animals are born on this planet only to serve human kind in various manner. Ingrid New kirk who is the founder of PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals) said that â€Å"When it comes to pain, love, joy, loneliness, and fear, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. Each one values his or her life and fights the knife.† Human beings because of their own prejudices refuse to believe that other living beings have equal rights and so do not hesitate to eat the meat of animals4. Human beings have the tendency to show respect and love to animals according to their own convenience and moral thinking. While in some cases they show moral support to certain animals, at other times they turn blind eye to the cruelty and suffering inflicted on animals. For example, people demonstrate anger when they hear about â€Å"puppy mills†, because they feel that dogs are not given proper treatment by the operators of such places.

International marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 4

International marketing - Essay Example Coming up with novel, more competitive products and continuously improving its offer strengthens Asseco Group position while opening new market and client opportunities. As of January 2010 the Asseco Group employed over 8500 people. Asseco Poland SA is in the process of trying to introduce its Customer Care Integration and Operation system in to renowned big banks and financial institutions in the UK, but without much success at the moment (Bennett, & Blythe, 2002). This is a system that aims to integrate customer care operations of the bank in to the main functions of the bank –that is seamless integration. That is if a customer calls the bank, their calls will be automatically recognized by the system and routed to the proper area of the bank. Asseco Poland SA is interested in targeting the UK market, London in particular as it’s the number one financial center in the world, as there are a number of small and medium scale banks and financial institutions. It is aiming to target these medium and small scale banks and financial institutions in UK. Product placement strategy related opportunities. Company can place the product in well researched market segments like small and medium scale banks and financial institutions in cities such as London. The current UK legislation may have a negative impact due to increase in taxes. If taxes increase this increase may have to be passed down to the customer. Thus price of the product will increase. This will affect the business of the company. The threat of new software companies coming to the market is mitigated to a great extent by the fact that investing in the software industry is an expensive deal. Developing sophisticated software is expensive, thus this is a barrier against new companies entering the market. While many stakeholders – internal and external – would show an equally great amount of interest in the successful outcome of the event, there can

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Essay Example for Free

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Essay Oliver Twist is a novel written by Charles Dickens. The novel follows an orphan boy named Oliver through many trials and tribulations he must endure. Through this he does have a few kind, compassionate, and stable people to rely on. Two of the most important were Nancy and Rose Maylie. Within this essay I will give a detailed description of both Rose and Nancy and also compare and contrast the two. First I would like to introduce you to Nancy. Nancy is the only female character of Fagin’s group. Being a part of this group Nancy must steal from the rich in order to make money for basic necessities and keep her relationships with the crew. This lifestyle puts he in the criminal social class or otherwise know as the lowest of the low social class. Nancy, much like Oliver, was also an orphan growing up. She acquires no formal education; therefore she can neither read nor write. Even though Nancy was not blessed with the luxury of the basic upbringing, she maintains very impressive street smarts. She displays this when bringing stolen goods to Fagin that are bundled like a baby so it is not witnessed as suspicious. Nancy may have been a criminal but she had a great heart. She had a great relationship with all of Fagin’s boys and cared for all of them. She also cared greatly for her boyfriend Bill Sikes who, in my opinion, did not return this love. Bill was very abusive towards Nancy and seemed to threaten her on a regular basis. When confronted with the question, â€Å"Do you love me Bill?† by Nancy, he did not directly answer and proceeded to ignore the question. In the end it was also Bill who ended up murdering Nancy. Apparently, Bill Sikes thought Nancy telling Mr. Brownlow and Rose where to find Oliver was punishable by death. By following through with the action of â€Å"peaching†, Nancy shows how much she truly cares about Oliver. Another major character in Oliver’s life was Rose Maylie. Rose Maylie was a ward of Mr. Brownlow, therefore also making her an orphan. Mr. Brownlow was an Upper Middle Class man, which made Rose and Upper Middle Class â€Å"Victorian woman.† She, like many others from her social class, was well educated. She even was very talented at playing the piano. Mr. Brownlow’s grandson, Edward, wanted to marry Rose. Rose, seeing that Edward’s thinking was wrong, expressed to him how against the idea she was; something very uncommon for that day in age. Oliver was brought into the home by Mr. Brownlow after Oliver was wrongfully accused of pick pocketing him. While Oliver is changing into clean, more appropriate clothing, Rose notices scars on Oliver’s back due to beatings. From then on Rose feel obligated to protect poor Oliver. She becomes somewhat of a sister figure to him. Throughout the novel Rose protects and defends Oliver. As you can see Nancy and Rose are different in many ways. However, both women do have a few things in common. Rose and Nancy both had very different social classes.

Essay on The Theme of Rappaccini’s Daughter -- Rappaccinis Daughter E

â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter† – The Theme  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale, â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter,† the dominanat theme is the evil within mankind. This essay intends to explore, exemplify and develop this topic.    Hyatt Waggoner in â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne† states:    Alienation is perhaps the theme he handles with greatest power. â€Å"Insulation,† he sometimes called it – which suggests not only isolation but imperviousness. It is the opposite of that â€Å"osmosis of being† that Warren has written of, that ability to respond and relate to others and the world. . . . it puts one outside the ‘magic circle’ or the ‘magnetic chain’ of humanity, where there is neither love nor reality (54).    Waggoner’s theme of alienation does play a part in â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter† in reference to the doctor and Beatrice, and Giovanni after he has been rendered poisonous by prolonged contact with Beatrice. But alienation is not, in the opinion of this reader, the dominant theme in the tale. The overriding theme would be the evil residing within human beings, regardless of how attractive they appear outwardly. â€Å"Everything he has to say is related, finally, to ‘that inward sphere’† (McPherson 68-69).    Giovanni’s love for the beautiful daughter blinds him to various indications of her poisonous nature, to the evil nature of her father and to the intent of her father to involve Giovanni as a subject in his sinister experiment. At the climax his blindness is removed and he sees, with Beatrice’s help, the truth of the situation; he sees the evil within man.    The tale takes place in Padua, Italy, where a Naples student named Giovanni Guascanti has relocated in order to attend the medical school there. His modes... ...es Press, 1968.    Hawthorne, Nathaniel. â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter.† ElectronicText Center. University of Virginia Library. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed-new?id="HawRapp"&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public    Kazin, Alfred. Introduction. Selected Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Fawcett Premier, 1966.    McPherson, Hugo. â€Å"Hawthorne’s Use of Mythology.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Waggoner, Hyatt. â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne.† In Six American Novelists of the Nineteenth Century, edited by Richard Foster. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1968.    Williams, Stanley T. â€Å"Hawthorne’s Puritan Mind.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.

The Perfect Breakfast

The Perfect Breakfast Nowadays people don’t give making breakfast at home a second thought. With places like McDonalds and Burger King how could you think about cooking? These fast food restaurants have made many people lazy when it comes to cooking. Eating artificial eggs and meat, that’s not real food, that’s a waste of money. As a passionate breakfast eater, were going to tell you confused and deceived people how to prepare your breakfast at home. The ingredients you are going to need are†¦.Turkey Bacon, water, butter, pancake mix, eggs, bread. The utensils you’re going to need are a toaster, a pan, a baking pan, spatula and a skillet. The first thing you’re going to do is prepare the turkey bacon. You’re going to preheat your oven at 350. Next place some wax paper in the flat pan, and then place the strips of bacon on the wax paper. Put the bacon in the oven for about 10 minutes or less. After the bacon is finished take it out the ov en. The next thing is preparing the pancakes.To prepare the cakes you’re going to need butter, water, pan, a spatula, and the pancake mix. The first step to making pancakes is preheating the pan place a small amount of butter in the pan. The butter gives the pancakes flavor and stops them from sticking to the pan. Next mix about a half cup of water with your pancake mix and after the butter has melted some, pour small amounts of the mix in the pan. Flip the cakes over about every minute or until you see bubbles forming on the top.When this process is complete, take them out of the pan and place them on a plate. Stack them to the perfect height, and prepare to go to pancake heaven! Next are the eggs and there’s two ways you can cook your eggs, Sunnyside up, or scrambled. To prepare the eggs you’re going to need cooking oil, about four eggs, a skillet and a spatula. The first thing you do is preheat your skillet and put ? tablespoon of the cooking oil into the pan . Then you check your eggs and put them in a bowl and beat them until, you feel satisfied.After the skillet is ready you pour the eggs into the skillet and fry them until they are a bright yellow color, or to your satisfaction. Last, but not least is the toast. Preparing toast is quiet simple. You will need a toaster oven, bread in the toaster, press the level, let the bread brown, or until you are satisfied. After the toast is toasted apply small amounts of butter or as much as you feel is needed. Then pour up a cold refreshing glass of VA orange juice. After all that, your perfect breakfast is done and now it’s time to eat!

Technology and education

Introduction: Disability and TechnologyAccording to the U. S. Department of Commerce, more than half of all Americans use the Internet in some way, but â€Å"persons with a disability are only half as likely to have access to the Internet as those without a disability†¦ [a]nd while just under 25% of those without a disability have never used a personal computer, close to 60% of those with a disability fall into that category.† In addition â€Å"[a]mong those with a disability, people who have impaired vision†¦ have even lower rates of Internet access and are less likely to use a computer regularly than people with hearing and mobility problems† (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 2000, p. xv).Cyndi Rowland, director of the Web Accessibility in Mind (WebAIM) project at Utah State University's Center for Persons with Disabilities, calls for a â€Å"national solution† to the problem of inaccessibility, especially â€Å"if we are t o abide by civil rights legislation, federal rulings, and common ethics† (Rowland, 2000, p. 10). Understanding the specific needs and concerns of students with disabilities may aid educators, information technology designers, and educational institutions to ensure that students with disabilities, particularly those who are blind or visually impaired, are not left behind in this technological â€Å"revolution.†The Internet and the web have become an integral part of higher education, transforming the educational experiences of all   students. In 1997, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the international body that oversees the protocols and operations of the Internet, created the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). WAI is responsible for promoting web functionality for people with disabilities and establishing accessibility guidelines. In this age of computer technology, many of the tools needed to enable students with disabilities to obtain equity in education and be yond already exist. For those involved in educational institutions, these tools can provide opportunities and independence, eliminating the obstacles and barriers that many of the current systems still enable.A review of the literature related to attitudes and other barriers that people with disabilities must contend with every day at school and at work, the integration of computer technology in postsecondary education, and the needs and concerns of students with disabilities, in particular those who are blind or visually impaired, may provide some insights for future policies and guidelines regarding access and use of computer technologies for students who are blind or visually impaired.Technology: Enhancing Modern EducationExperiences of people with visual impairments in the workplace and their use of computer technology and the Internet was the focus of a qualitative study conducted in Australia by Williamson, Albrecht, Schauder, and Bow (2001). Primarily through focus group rese arch, the researchers presented the perceived benefits and concerns of the study's participants. Most agreed that the Internet enabled them to participate in an information and communication format that is becoming a primary source for many people. Many also saw the Internet as enabling them to be less reliant on others and, therefore, facilitating an increase in their own privacy.However, some were concerned about a reduction in social contact and an increase in isolationism. An additional concern was that there would be a decline in the quality of services from such entities as the government and banks because more is being done online. Training was viewed as critical to successfully using the Internet and computer technology. This, it was believed by many, was the key to achieving equality in the workplace, yet many felt it was a low priority by agencies and workplaces. Cost was also viewed as a barrier to accessing computers and the Internet.With various Internet advances, more individuals in all sectors of the community are working from home.   For visually impaired members of community the Internet has the potential to free them from the restrictions they have experienced in the past while seeking to obtain employment. â€Å"Once the challenges of access have been surmounted, [visually impaired] users can take their places in the digitalized workforce† (Williamson et al., 2001, pp. 693-4).With computer technology becoming a part of all college students' educational experiences, how are postsecondary schools preparing students for a computer-integrated future? To determine how the use of various technologies affect student learning, Shuell and Farber (2001) conducted a study of 728 sighted undergraduate and graduate students at a large northeastern university, where they found that, in general, students perceived the use of computer technology in their courses to be very beneficial. Students also believed that the use of communication technology brought an increase in their sense of involvement in a course.Eighty-eight percent of the sample indicated that their use of computer technology helped them learn materials and skills, and 75 percent indicated that using computer technology improved the quality of interaction with their instructor. Students also viewed the use of dynamic computer presentations and the Internet in lectures very favorably; it kept their interest, and the students believed that it improved their learning.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Students also favored electronic forums as a way to interact with their peers (e.g., email, listservs, and newsgroups) and believed that the use of these forms of computer technology increased the quality of these interactions.Another interesting finding in this study was that students who considered themselves to be more independent tended to respond more favorably to these technologies and the learning benefits associated with them. One theme of this study was the appreciation that stude nts had of the ability for computer technologies to enable independent learning. When serving the needs of students with disabilities, independence is a key factor to consider.Lewis, Coursol, and Khan (2001) examined the use and effect of computer technology on student development and education. They surveyed 124 sighted undergraduate students who attended a regional public institution in the Midwest. Technology choices, which included use of email, the Internet, and multimedia, were based on technology trends in higher education.Results indicated that the majority of students were comfortable with computer technology, using such tools as email and the Internet for both academic and social purposes. Both men and women spent about the same amount of time on email, class assignments on the computer, playing computer games, and shopping on the Internet. However, women spent significantly fewer hours surfing the Internet than men did.Consistent with Shuell and Farber (2001), Lewis et al . (2001) also confirmed that students believe the use of email increases their frequency of communication with faculty, which, in turn, enhances the faculty-student relationship and enables faculty to be more accessible. The issue of accessibility was discussed in this report and how there is a need for higher educational institutions to address this issue, which the authors indicate to be a social problem that has significant economic and social implications. They point to the need to recognize that there are some students, including those with disabilities, who may be at a disadvantage when a course requires the retrieval of materials from the web.The use of computer technology has become an accepted and expected component of every student's postsecondary educational experience. To better understand the use and effectiveness of these technologies, all of the studies used in this paper that focused on computer technology in higher education examined one or more aspects of the integ ration of these technologies into the educational system. The Arant (1996) study focused on the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web in higher education.Employing both qualitative and quantitative methods (phone interviews and a survey), it concluded that, while using online components to traditional courses did not support the apparent belief that online education saved time and money, it did change the way in which courses were taught, with additional online portions being incorporated into courses. For students who are visually impaired or blind, this could result in additional barriers.Computer Technology and Visually Impaired StudentsIn an extensive two-year study in Canada, Fichten, Barile, and Asuncion (1999) investigated the computer, information, learning, and adaptive technology needs and concerns of Canadian postsecondary students with disabilities. Of the findings from this study, computers were found to be critical to the success of students with disabilities, and the vast majority of students, regardless of gender, age, program of study, or type of disability, could and did use computer technologies to help them succeed. An important development that emerged from this study was that students often â€Å"cross-used† technologies. For example, while students with visual impairments are expected to use screen reader software, students with learning disabilities also used this software.The students in this study considered computers as â€Å"electronic curb cuts,† enabling technologies that allow students with disabilities to better prepare for and participate in the information-based economy of tomorrow. Fichten, et al. (1999) urged postsecondary education institutions to design for accessibility and to consider the needs of students with disabilities before making purchases.   What the authors describe as â€Å"troubling† is â€Å"the absence, in many cases, of planning for access† for students with disabilities by postsecondary institutions (Fichten et al., p. 179).  As some technological barriers fall, others are slowly erected as new technologies continue to become part of a student's educational experiences. One suggestion the authors had for government funding bodies to help raise awareness of these issues was to take accessibility issues into consideration when reviewing grant applications and to create incentives for businesses to develop and market technologies that are accessible to all students. The authors wrote: The enormous potential of computers to remove barriers to students with disabilities and concerns over barriers posed by limitations in access were central issues noted by respondents in all categories in all phases of the research (p. 180).Shaw and Giacquinta (2000) used a questionnaire that was very carefully developed, field tested, and revised several times before being used for this study. The sample consisted of 412 sighted graduate students. This study was very well thought out and documented.  Ã‚   The authors suggested that faculty integrate more computer technology into their curricula (e.g., with the use of such tools as Blackboard, WebCT, and course web pages). They did not, however, take into consideration the ramifications of that suggestion as it applies to students who are blind or visually impaired.  Ã‚   Unfortunately, unless having been asked to consider it, most faculty do not think about students who are blind or visually impaired (or who have any other disability) when they begin to integrate technology into their curriculum.Shuell and Farber (2001) piloted a questionnaire and discussed it within two focus groups before using it for the study. Their sample was composed of 728 sighted undergraduate and graduate students.  Ã‚   Both qualitative and quantitative data showed a link between active, participatory learning and the positive perception of students regarding technology as a learning tool; they also confirmed tha t the use of technology made the classes seem more personal to the students.However, the authors caution that the apparent relationship found in their study between a positive perception of computer technology by students and students' actual learning is still unclear. Lewis et al. (2001) used an author-constructed survey, which they described as â€Å"a self-report, forced-choice survey.† One of the problems with this study is that a self-report is subject to response bias, although the results of this study were consistent with the others regarding a positive perception and use of computer technology by students in postsecondary institutions. Both Shuell et al. and Lewis et al. recommended that future research focus on the impact of technology on student learning. Lewis et al. also recommended the need to examine the use of technology among specific groups, such as students who are Hispanic, African American, and commuters.ConclusionGiven the state of existing literature in the area of postsecondary students who are blind or visually impaired, combined with the overwhelming integration of computer technology into the academic environment, there is still a need for a more substantive exploration into how postsecondary institutions are supporting and serving the best interests of these students. Disability scholars Susan R. Jones and Julie Smart point out the relationship between individuals who have a disability and how society views people with disabilities. They assert that disability is a universal issue, and yet there is no single disability experience.With a focus on the prejudices, discrimination and stigma experienced by people with disabilities and their responses to their disabilities, Jones (1996) and Smart (2001) define disability as a socially constructed phenomenon that combines the experiences of those living with a disability together with their environments. Goggin and Newell (2003) further state that â€Å"in the name of inclusionâ₠¬  society builds disability into digital technologies, arguing that disability has been constructed in the technological world of computing and computer networks and that there is a need to critically analyze the ways in which it is constructed within contemporary society.ReferencesArant, Jr., M. D. (1996, August). Going online to teach journalism and mass communication.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED399596)Fichten, C, Barile, M., & Asuncion, J. V. (1999). Learning technologies:Students with   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   disabilities inpostsecondary education [Montreal: Final Report to the Office of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Learning Technologies]. Adaptech Project,Dawson College. (ERIC Document   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Reproduction Service No. ED433625)Goggin, G. & Newell, C. (2003). Digital disability: The social construction of disability in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   new media. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Jones, S. R. (1996). Toward inclusive theory: Disability as social construction. NASPA   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Journal, 33(4), 347-354.Lewis, J., Coursol, D., & Khan, L. (2001). College students @ tech.edu: A study of comfort and the use of technology. Journal of College Student Development, 42(6), 625-631.National Telecommunications and Information Administration. (2000). Falling through the   Ã‚   net: Toward digital inclusion. A report of American's access to technology tools. Retrieved March 18, 2009, from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ntia.doc.gOv/ntiahome/fttn00/Falling.htm#6Rowland, C. (2000, October). Accessibility of the internet in postsecondary education:   Ã‚   Meeting the challenge. Paper presented at the Universal Web Accessibility   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Symposium 2000, San Antonio, Texas. Retrieved March 18, 2009, from   Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.webaim.org/articles/meetchallenge/Shuell, T. J., & Farber, S. L. (2001). Students' perceptions of technology use in college      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   courses. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 24(2), 119-138.Shaw, F. S., & Giacquinta, J. B. (2000). A survey of graduate students as end users of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   computer technology: New roles for faculty. Information Technology, Learning, and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Performance Journal, 18(1), 21-40.Smart, Julie (2001). Disability, Society, and the Individual. Gaithersburg, Maryland: Aspen Publishers.Williamson, K., Albrecht, A., Schauder, D., & Bow, A. (2001). Australian perspectives on the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   use of the internet by people who are visually impaired and professionals who work   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   with them. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 95(11), 690 – 701.

Contemporary issues in Forest Schools The WritePass Journal

Contemporary issues in Forest Schools   CONCLUSION Contemporary issues in Forest Schools IntroductionChild well-beingObesityBehavioural problems and poor social skillsForest School in the local area.  CONCLUSIONRelated Introduction This report explains the philosophy behind ‘Forest Schools’ and why it has been introduced in England and its relevance to the Early Years National Curriculum.  Ã‚   It will outline the History and benefits of ‘Forest Schools’ in the Early Years; how it can address current crises in the U.K.; and explains the problems encountered in delivering the initiative.   Ã‚  It looks into the implementation of ‘Forest Schools’ locally, taking into consideration the necessity to change attitudes and the complications with logistics of putting this approach in place. ‘Forest School’ approach has not been a Government led initiative, although they do appreciate its benefits.  Ã‚   The Department of Health (DOH) and Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCFS) have realised ‘Forest Schools’ are a positive step towards the health and education of young children (Alexander and Hargreaves, 2007). The UK Parliament House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Skills, agreed with the principle of outside classroom education saying, â€Å"we are convinced that out of classroom education enriches the curriculum and can improve educational attainment† (U.K. Parliament, 2004;   part 7, para. 1). The Early Years Curriculum has seen many alterations in the last ten years to accommodate the changing requirements for educational settings.  Ã‚   The British educational culture is formal, lessons are planned and children assessed routinely.  Ã‚   As   the need for children to attend educational settings at an earlier age and pedagogy changes to keep in line with new research, the curriculum changes accordingly. The UK Government believes parents should return to work as soon as possible after Maternity Leave to help to eradicate child poverty and childrens’ learning would benefit from early intervention too.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ball (2010 p, 49) states Surestart emerged as an early intervention to â€Å"†¦give children†¦ a good start†¦. in their learning and development†¦ and combined with Child Tax Credits, is intended to enable more mothers to return to the workforce.† To allow mothers to return to work, Government felt it their responsibility to provide adequate provision for affordable, flexible childcare in Childcare Act 2006 and so the DCSF was set up in June, 2007.  Ã‚   Its role was to promote educational excellence, raise standards in education, reduce child poverty, re-engage disaffected children and to ensure integrated services.  Ã‚   The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) became statutory in September, 2008, it is central to the development and welfare of children   and also acknowledged the importance of outdoor learning (DfES, 2007).  Ã‚   This policy combined the ‘Curriculum for Guidance for the Foundation Stage’ (QCA/DfEE, 2000), ‘Birth to Three Matters Framework’ (DfES, 2002) and also ‘National Standards for Under Eight’s Day Care and Childminding’ (Sure Start, 2003). There has been much discussion questioning the approach to educating the under 7’s (Yelland, 2005).  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Cambridge Primary Review made 75 recommendations. (www.guardian.co.uk/education accessed 21.2.2011)  Ã‚   In comparison in other countries children do not start formal education as early as in the U.K.  Ã‚   In Primary Review interim report, 2008, it indicates that these countries reap social and emotional benefits, without any delays in education. Over time children have become disconnected from nature according to   Richard Louv (2005). He identified this as ‘nature deficit disorder’.  Ã‚   An article in the Spring 2011 National Trust magazine states, â€Å"there is growing empirical evidence to show that exposure to nature brings substantial mental health benefits†. Policy makers, education services, health care providers, residential developers and organisations such as Natural England, British Mental Health Charity and the National Trust are beginning to realise there needs to be a deep cultural change to connect children back with nature. In the 19th Century outdoor life was a normal part of a child’s life and this was where they learnt their skills for life and, therefore, they did not need the educational system for guidance.  Ã‚   However, industrialisation meant that families moved to urban areas to find work which resulted in children being separated from the countryside and fresh air. (Knight,2009)  Ã‚   Thence, mainly the middle and upper classes used the countryside and educationalists and health professionals began to notice the effects caused by the lack of outdoor space. The MacMillan sisters founded outdoor nurseries to counteract this insisting quality time to play and fresh air were needed for healthy bodies and minds (Pugh and Duffey,2010).  Ã‚   Susan Isaacs started a nursery for privileged children, based around the outdoor environment.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Badon Powell initiated the Scout Movement to improve the welfare of boys in our society and he encouraged them to engage with the environment.  Ã‚   The Outward Bound Movement was introduced by Kurt Hahan in response to the moral decline of young people.  Ã‚   These educationalists initiatives were in response to crises in society caused by industrialisation.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Practitioners are always looking for new ways of helping children learn.  Ã‚   Rudolph Steiner schools’ endorse outdoor play for learning (Pound,2009).  Ã‚  Ã‚   Froebel realised the importance of play and Stalozzi the importance of physical education (Pound, 2009).Over time society seems to have lost sight of the importance of regular outdoor opportunities, e.g. playing fields have been sold to boost funding.  Ã‚   Recently there is talk of the Forestry Commission selling forests to private enterprises and charities – Article in the Daily Mail, 2011, â€Å"Outcry stalls  £100m forest sell off†.  Ã‚   The government identified the need to be active outdoors but their actions do not confirm.  Ã‚   Increase in reports of crime in society means parents no longer feel it is safe to let children play, outdoors, unsupervised.   There are many reasons for the lack of outside play but children need fresh air and exercise for their wellbeing. Research endorses outside play as being essential to children’s learning and well-being. (Bilton, 2008)  Ã‚  Ã‚   One response to learning in the outdoors, is ‘Forest School’, an idea derived from a culture of education in an outdoor environment in Scandinavia (Knight, 2009). Williams-Siegfredsen (20 05, p.26) acknowledged   â€Å"for Foundation Stage children Forest School exactly addresses their developmental needs, fostering skills that then help them to succeed in our conventional learning environments†. Practitioners from the Early Years department of Bridgwater College visited a nursery in Denmark in 1990.  Ã‚   Children were playing outside in all weathers, being in woodland, close to nature.  Ã‚   They learnt about the environment, how to look after it and how to respect each other.  Ã‚   Their physical skills were developed as they ran and balanced, they had open fires and whittled with knives.  Ã‚   It was noted that when the children attended formal schooling, after Forest School, at the age of 7, they arrived with high self-esteem and strong social skills and were confident and competent learners, attributes that would boost their academic learning. (Knight, 2009)  Ã‚   The Bridgwater practitioners brought the idea back to England and developed it in their college nursery. The Forestry Commission paid The New Economics Foundation (NEF) to research the benefits of ‘Forest Schools’ (See Appendix 1)  Ã‚   They found children who attended ‘Forest Schools’ took pride in their surroundings, had improved confidence, could work well in a team and had more motivation to learn and so in 2002 The Forestry Commission saw the relevance of ‘Forest Schools’ and supported it by piloting ‘Forest Schools’ in England, replicating the research.  Ã‚   In 2003, Green Light Trust (GLT) launched ‘Forest Schools’ across England and ran Open College Network (O.C.N) courses to train practitioners. Knight (2009) recognised that not only could ‘forest school’ approach help with educational attainment but could also help tackle other current social crises in the UK, such as child well-being, obesity, child behavioural problems and poor social skills. Child well-being One in three children are living in poverty in the United Kingdom (UK) this rate is the highest in the industrialised world.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Child poverty creates problems in education, employment, mental and physical health and social interaction.  Ã‚   Tony Blair set targets to end child poverty, in the UK, by 2020. The Government introduced ‘Every Child Matters (ECM)’ (DfES, 2003) to protect all children and improve their well being it was intended to â€Å"personalise learning to meet the full diversity of learners needs† (Chemisnais, 2008). The child’s wellbeing in ECM (2003) is defined as: being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieve, making a positive contribution to society achieving economic wellbeing. Since 2003 ECM has underpinned all government initiatives. ECM (2003) was designed to bring together all relevant agencies and share information to protect the wellbeing of all children by â€Å"encouraging a holistic approach to children and young people, with the possibility of support for parents and carers through universal services such as schools, health and social services and child care† (Ball, 2010, p.190). However in 2007 UNICEF reported that England was 21st out of 21 industrialised countries in a survey on child well being. Child wellbeing cannot eradicate child poverty but motivates children to want to better their life.  Ã‚   ‘Forest Schools’ has been identified as a philosophy which will â€Å"encourage and inspire individuals of any age through positive experiences and participation in engaging and motivating achievable tasks and activities in a woodland environment, helping to develop personal, social and emotional skills:   independence, self discovery, confidence, communication skills, raised self-esteem† (www.foresteducation.org).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The government promoted outdoor learning in its ‘Learning outside the classroom’ manifesto (DfES, 2006).  Ã‚   It aimed to identify weaknesses and strengths in educational settings so as to share practice and overcome barriers to learning in the outdoors, but it did not prescribe how to go about it. The report did not recognise that not all educational settings have the facilities needed for out door learning, e.g. inner city schools find it harder to access a woodland environment and logistics could prove costly.  Ã‚   The Forest school approach was not mentioned in this report and is not known about by many practitioners it seems – â€Å"only a handful of British schools have fully embraced the Danish model† (The Independent www.independent.co.uk. Feb. 2010).  Ã‚   It has proved challenging for the researcher to access information as to how many settings practise the Forest School ethos in the U.K. Obesity Obesity in children has been identified as a National priority.  Ã‚  Ã‚   The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts there will be 700 million obese adults in the world by 2015 (www.news.bbc.co.uk.) Childhood obesity is constantly in the news for example an article in www.news.bbc.co.uk/health stated ‘childhood obesity soars in UK† It is a modern problem, data on obesity was not available fifty years ago. (see appendix 1) The DOH quoted â€Å"one in four children is obese† (DOH, 2006).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Early interventions are being sought as part of an anti-obesity campaign to counteract this costly problem.  Ã‚   The Government recognised the need to reduce obesity in its report â€Å"Healthy weight, healthy lives† in January, 2008.  Ã‚   The DOH and the DCSF,   have also endorsed the need to increase levels of exercise in children.  Ã‚   Many causes of obesity have been recognised.  Ã‚   The two obvious causes being eating too much and lack of exercise.   Another reason for obesity is â€Å"sedentary behaviour/low energy activities† suggests Knight (2009, p.32), e.g. using motorised transport, sitting in a classroom, listening to music, using the computer.  Ã‚   The issues of TV viewing and use of computers contributing to the lack of exercise is discussed by Sue Palmer in ‘Toxic Childhood’ (2006).  Ã‚   Slage says that lack of exercise is more the cause than the food intake, agreeing with BUPA, (2007), who say â€Å"it’s habits in eating and exercise† and these trends need to be reversed.  Ã‚   Children are not getting outside playing time so government suggests it is down to schools to give the children time for outside play and the opportunity to make decisions.  Ã‚   DCSF increased the amount of Physical Education (P.E.) in schools in 2007.  Ã‚   However, P.E. is often sacrificed due to curriculum constraints and lack of time, suggesting exercise has a low pri ority in society. The BMA report ‘Preventing childhood obesity’ considered competitive sports are not for all children.  Ã‚   ‘Forest Schools’ offers a good alternative.  Ã‚   Children appreciate walking in the countryside and ‘Forest Schools’ encourages children to form good habits they can take into later life.  Ã‚   Knight (2009) says, it is easier to change habits whilst they are young.  Ã‚   The DOH says that habits and attitudes to exercise are formed whilst they are children and stay with them when they become adults.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Not only do the children form good habits, but children take the idea home to their parents, therefore, it could be considered as part of an anti-obesity campaign for the whole population (O’Brien and Murray, 2006, p.44) However Forest School developed from a Scandinavian lifestyle and culture, one which is family orientated, with a love of the outdoors and being active, in a country which has a natural abundance of woodland unlike the UK.  Ã‚   Not only does the environment impact on the implementation of ‘Forest Schools’ in the U.K, but the traditional cultures of countries affect it too, e.g. attitudes towards maternal employment, views of the child, source of funding and control over provision (See Appendix 4).  Ã‚  Ã‚   Forest School sessions run for short periods of time, (normally 10 sessions, half a day each week) it is unrealistic to think that the Forest school experiences will remain with them into later life.  Ã‚   Adults are needed to supervise and take their children out walking in the countryside, on a regular basis, to instil these habits but parents do not always have the time or the inclination, even if the child is keen to continue, therefore, making it an unlike ly solution to solving obesity. Behavioural problems and poor social skills ‘Forest Schools’ not only act as an early intervention to obesity but are recognised as a means to tackling behavioural problems.  Ã‚   BUPA, 2007, realised obesity not only caused chronic illness but also affects children’s emotional wellbeing, causing depression, low self-esteem dissatisfaction and dislike of their appearance. Consideration to social and emotional issues needs considering.  Ã‚   Children used to play on building sites, this was not allowed but in the past adults turned a blind eye to it, whereas this would now be considered, ‘bad behaviour’. Has society changed its perception of ‘bad behaviour’?  Ã‚   Children seek adventure and because of all the boundaries and restrictions their behaviour is identified as anti-social.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As children have lost their outside play spaces, e.g. closure of school playing fields, they have also begun to lose their independence and freedom, which means children are losing their ability to be decisive and take risks.  Ã‚   Outside places where children can play are (parks or forests) are often not open to unaccompanied children and are bound by so many restrictions, e.g. the necessity to lay soft surfacing.  Ã‚  Ã‚   As the UK has become a ‘risk averse’, litigious society, playgrounds have been made so safe that the excitement has been taken out of them.  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Play Safety Forum (www.hortweek.com Jan. 2009) now encourages parks to be a little more adventurous and slowly loosening their approaches to safety, to encourage risk taking opportunities, e.g. parks now have skate boarding ramps. However outdoors is perceived as more risky than indoors but in taking away the chance for children to learn about danger, we are taking away children’s rights (UNCRC, 1989).  Ã‚   Children need to learn how to take safe risks and how to assess dangers and respond accordingly.  Ã‚   ‘Forest Schools’ offer them the opportunity to take risks in an area that is as safe as possible and in so doing it might change the perception of what ‘anti-social behaviour’ is. The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum (DfES, 2007) describes how government initiatives have impacted on children’s poor social skills.  Ã‚   As parents return to work whilst the child is still very young, the child does not get devoted, uninterrupted attention and the relevant positive feedback from one consistent person needed to develop self awareness.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Continuity of care isn’t always possible in childcare settings due to changes in staff, making children’s boundaries inconsistent which are needed to learn right from wrong and for developing self confidence and self-esteem.  Ã‚   As a child builds in confidence their self-image improves and they respect themselves and then they can respect other people’s diversities and cultures. (Knight,2009) ‘Forest Schools’ as an early intervention helps children prepare for the stress of modern day living.  Ã‚   ‘Forest Schools’ can help children to boost their confidence, self-esteem, self-control and improve their attitude whilst building relationships to encourage a sense of community.  Ã‚   But Forest School mainly happens within the school community.   However, Sue Palmer (2006) links the way children are raised by their parents, to their behavioural problems and says that it leads to lack of motivation and social skills.  Ã‚   Children spend more time at home with their parents than in school.  Ã‚   QCA 2000 identifies the role of a parent partnership and suggests that settings â€Å"extend relevant learning and play activities, so that they continue at home† (Devereux and Miller,2004).  Ã‚   It is unrealistic to think that the short time spent in a Forest School experience can replace children’s day to day life experience.  Ã ‚   Brofenbrenner (1979) suggests that the mesosystem (government initiative), macrosystem (educational setting) and microsystem (family), combined, can impact on a child’s experiences. Forest School in the local area. As previously mentioned, there appears to be little information regarding â€Å"Forest Schools† within the local area.  Ã‚   Nursery settings appear to be the main users of this approach.  Ã‚   Funding is more available for nurseries or schools where the need is seen as greater.  Ã‚   Grants are offered by the Forest Education Initiative, One Planet Living, Green Watch and Big Lottery, in the local area. Individual settings are responsible for incorporating ‘Forest Schools’ approach into their outdoor routines as appropriate.  Ã‚   Some use local outdoor centres, others have land-owners permission, some use woodlands on school grounds, whilst others share their grounds.  Ã‚   Provision is patchy but is spreading quickly with little written evidence to support it.  Ã‚   The responsibility of the NEF is to research social issues and support proposals for change, developing ways of researching to measure outcomes (Murray, 2004).  Ã‚   They have gathered short-term evidence but need to further research the long term.   Murray and O’Brien (2005, p.79) acknowledge the lack of research on the long-term effects of ‘Forest Schools’ on young children.  Ã‚   It is difficult to identify behavioural or educational achievement as being due to outdoor education.  Ã‚   (Swarbrick, Eastwood and Tutton, 2004) report that in one of the longest running ‘Forest Schools’ projects, in Somerset, children going into the primary phase of schooling are going in with increased confidence.  Ã‚   The NEF have provided a self-appraisal tool kit, consisting of a project story board, reporting templates and the evaluation poster workshop, for local settings to gather evidence on the eight outcomes of ‘Forest Schools’ (See Appendix 3).  Ã‚   Effective Early learning programme (EEL, 2003) suggests assessing children’s involvement as an excellent measure of the quality of the experience and their mate rial could be used to evaluate the quality of children’s involvement and adult interaction with children on Forest School visits (Swarbrick, Eastwood and Tutton, 2004).   Evidence is needed to persuade head teachers, staff and parents to support the concept and ethos.  Ã‚   FEI has set up a group to maintain the ethos of the ‘Forest Schools’ approach in the U.K., as it is likely the original idea will be lost due to the lack of understanding.  Ã‚   It has been deemed important to keep checking that settings are adhering to its unique ethos.  Ã‚   Knight (2009) developed a description of   a   true ‘Forest Schools’ ethos and the researcher   has compared the local rural co-educational pre-preparatory independent school to her criteria, below: On hearing about ‘Forest Schools’ the setting decided that a member of staff would go on an Open College Network (OCN) level 1 course to access more information about this philosophy and to find out how the school could make the most of its existing facilities.  Ã‚   The member of staff has now taken the OCN level 2 course and the information acquired has been circulated throughout the pre-preparatory department and put into practise with every child fortnightly in place of a PE lesson. The setting tries to keep the ethos of ‘Forest Schools’ but does not meet all of Knight’s (2009) criteria. To protect the ethos of ‘Forest Schools’ it is important to discuss the problems in collaboration with practitioners and parents in the local community.  Ã‚   Some schools find it difficult to fund the logistics, for example, wheelchair access and transporting the children to the Forest School can be expensive, therefore they bring the idea into the school grounds and try to create a natural area within it.  Ã‚   O’Brien (2004) would consider this as unsuitable as it does not provide the greenery to allow opportunities of creating ‘secret places’, which he regards as important for a child’s development.  Ã‚   The setting needs to be different to get the atmosphere and encourage creativity.  Ã‚   In the report ‘A school becomes a Forest School’ an inner city urban Primary School has converted ‘a nearby patch of abandoned woodland into their very own natural setting’.  Ã‚   This was assisted by a Park Ranger wh o believes that ‘any school is never far away from a natural setting, whether it is a local park or an abandoned allotment’ (www.tes.co.uk June, 2010). Head teachers need to know that the investment is worth it (staffing, outlay for clothing, equipment, transport), but it is difficult to prove the success that ‘Forest Schools’ claim.  Ã‚   ‘Observations’ are time consuming and removes an adult from participating with the children.  Ã‚   If sessions are recorded then it is difficult to transcribe due to background noise and tricky to record information about individual children. Head teachers and staff are conscious of the need to achieve targets.  Ã‚   Adults generally agree with the concept that ‘Forest Schools’ improve confidence and self-esteem but feel the need for academic justification for taking a day out of the classroom to go into the woodland.  Ã‚   The question might be asked, do children learn a lot in ‘Forest Schools’?   Hovelynck Peeters, (2003) argue that outdoor education needs to be examined for educational value as well as pleasure.   The Curriculum for Excellence advocates that ‘real life’ learning has always proved successful in different ways for different children (DfEE, 1997 cited in Ball, 2008, p.90).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During a Forest School session there is no need to have separate PHSE lessons as this is incorporated with academic skills such as numeracy and literacy, which is initiated through the children’s interests.   Ofsted report ‘Learning outside the classr oom’ (DfES, 2006) found that outside education ‘when planned and implemented well, learning outside the classroom contributed significantly to raising standards and improving pupil’s personal, social and emotional development’. However, according to Knight, a true Forest school should be ‘play-based, and, as far as possible, child-initiated and child-led’ as that is when children learn the skills needed to socially interact (Knight, 2009).   The Early Years Foundation stage agrees children need to initiate and lead play (DfES, 2007) and is supported by Bruce, who also adds that the children need a varying degree of intervention and support from adults, as â€Å"sensitive co-ordinators† Bruce (1997, p.48). Practitioners realise children get a deeper understanding of the world when they use all their senses to explore, but it takes courage to let the children lead the learning and to change their perception that children can be outdoors all day and still learn, e.g. mark making equipment is not only for indoor use and outdoor space is not just for letting off steam.  Ã‚  Ã‚   ‘Forest School’ approach has been perceived as more beneficial for students who struggle in the classroom but Maslow (1949) would argue that the skills acquired are beneficial for self-actualisation, which benefits all students. Sue Palmer (2008) identifies that all real play involves an element of risk and the more ‘real play’ is allowed the better they become at managing the risks, agreeing with Lindon (1999, p.11).  Ã‚   Staff and parents are inevitably concerned about the risk involvement when letting children loose in a woodland environment.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Parents are reassured and many settings have twilight meetings for practitioners and parents to meet and access the woods to identify the risks.  Ã‚   The teachers explain to the children how to avoid accidents and practise being safe.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lindon (1999, p.10) takes the view that â€Å"a well intentioned focus on keeping children as safe as possible has shifted towards looking for anything and everything that can go wrong†.  Ã‚   Practitioners and parents need to be educated about the need for risk taking.  Ã‚   New policies are called for to allow for more risk and all practitioners need to be involved.  Ã‚   It is challenging for practitioners to learn to trust the children to test their boundaries, rather than to intrude.  Ã‚   However, we live in a culture of ‘safety first’, where children aren’t encouraged to play outside due to the fear of abduction, blame or legal action.  Ã‚   In other countries such as Scandinavia, Forest School type activities are a normal part of early education and they worry less about litigation.  Ã‚   In reality self-preservation is instinctive in children and they tend to stay quite close to an adult in an unknown environment until they have built their confidence.  Ã‚   An article â€Å"I climbed right up to here† (www.forestschool.com March 2011) says that the word ‘risk’ would be better named ‘challenge’ and c hildren should be allowed to work through the challenges.  Ã‚   Practitioners can make more informed decisions regarding risk taking as they observe the children they work with.  Ã‚   Blair recommends that schools use generic risk assessment forms in â€Å"It’s safe to go outdoors† (TES, 2005).  Ã‚   If the children are not allowed to take risks because of Health Safety regulations they may express themselves in challenging behaviour.  Ã‚   Mortlock (2000, p.22) believes ideal learning should be adventurous but hazards manageable. True ‘Forest Schools’ have a saying, â€Å"there is no such things as bad weather, only bad clothing† (Knight, 2009).  Ã‚   Parents are inevitably concerned about their children’s wellbeing and the risk of becoming ill if allowed to be outside in all weathers.  Ã‚   Waterproof clothing is usually provided for only one group of children at a time and one size has to fit all.  Ã‚   The clothing is ideal for wet weather but in summer the children often wear short sleeves and short socks, leading to small scratches and grazes.  Ã‚   If the clothing is not stored on the site, it is impractical to think young children will carry the clothes to the site, to allow for England’s unpredictable weather.  Ã‚   It can also become colder as children walk deeper into the woods, therefore it proves difficult to decide which clothing is suitable for the weather.  Ã‚   Adults also need to be suitably attired depending on the weather.  Ã‚   Realistically ‘Forest School’ experience does not appeal to all practitioners. Training the staff can also be costly and once the training has been paid for staff may move onto another school, leaving the setting without an O.C.N. Level 3 trained member of staff, required for a Forest School.  Ã‚   The model needs to be sustainable once the funding has gone, it must not rely on one enthusiastic, well trained, member of staff.   CONCLUSION O’Brien and Murray (2006) called ‘Forest Schools’ a marvellous opportunity for children to learn.  Ã‚   This report has looked at the advantages and disadvantages, both nationally and locally and found that the approach works well in Denmark but is difficult to adapt to our National culture and climate.  Ã‚   Swarbrick, Eastwood and Tutton (2004) recommend â€Å"a secure justification for Forest School would need to include some measurement of progress and attainment in order to place the project firmly in the arena of measuring quality in ways that would justify investment on a national scale†. Locally an up-to-date data base of schools and settings engaged in Forest Schools would be necessary.  Ã‚   Government is promoting outside learning to improve attainment of which ‘Forest School’ approach has been identified as a possible initiativebut it would seem that the main target is in improving childrens’ attainment rather than improving the learning experiences and well-being of each child.