Reading Response 7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reading Response 7 - Essay Example ocial networking sites are obvious—students feel more connected and display more confidence when they are active participants on social networking sites. From my point of view, teachers who discourage the use of social networking sites only turn students against them. While social networking sites can be used for purposes other than schoolwork, which takes away from studies, there are many instances where social networking sites can assist students’ performance. Say for example than a student does not understand a concept completely and requires some additional help. If this is so, that particular student could ask for help from their peers and receive almost an instant response. The article does mention the downsides of using Facebook, such as lower grades, less money from part-time jobs, and loneliness. While all these things must be taken into consideration, I believe that the positives outweigh the negatives, and so social networking sites are something that should be encouraged. Lori Aratani’s article â€Å"Teens Can Multitask, But What Are Costs† discusses an issue that is rarely brought up. I can relate to Megan Casady because my life follows a similar trajectory. I am always moving from one task to the next while trying to juggle a few things at a time. But I don’t think that it is all bad because it shows how productive young people can be. Teenagers are at an age where they have the energy to go out and do all sorts of stuff, so why not let them have the freedom to do that if they wish? I admit that I do not really think about the consequences of multitasking; it is just something that we do. I think it comes from the pressure to be more than we currently are. I mean, there are only so many hours in the day, and it seems like a race to get as many things done as possible. If people took the time to slow down and concentrate on the small tasks in life, it may lead a healthier individual. This is something that I should maybe take in to

Changes in the international system and the right to choose Essay

Changes in the international system and the right to choose - Essay Example However there are groups and cultures that do not feel this way and do not adhere to these norms contesting that human rights agendas reflect western civilization. Women's rights are surrounded by much debate when it comes to cultural values and norms. A historical cultural tradition in some African countries has been the practice of female circumcision. When women were asked why they practiced this they said because it had always been done, most claimed because it is this act that makes them a woman and that without the act being performed on them they would not be a complete woman, this meant that they may not be desirable for marriage in later life. If this practice was stopped females would have to redefine themselves within their community and culture. On the one hand the introduction of a liberal rights culture in defense of gender-based violence into these communities would greatly challenge cultural identity and their social framework, however on the other hand just because it has always been done this way does not mean that women want it this way so highlights conflicts within cultures as well as between them. Having a women's rights culture enables women to have some freedom of choice and choose which set of values and norms they wish to accept. So contestation exists within cultures on the grounds of human rights when it comes to women's rights and it exists not only in developing nations. The Christian right in the US are pro-life and lobby vehemently to state and federal government opposing women's rights to choose, yet the protestors live in one of the most liberal nations in the globe. It must also not be forgotten that the US only abolished segregation in 1965 and that from 1876 until abolition the Jim Crow Laws mandated a 'separate but equal' status for black Americans ("Jim Crow laws" 2007). Another example of a contestation is reformist Muslims as whilst they wish to incorporate liberal rights including equality for all individuals through reinterpreting the Quran the holy texts state that men and women are not equal (Zubaida, 2004). The Shari'a, Islamic law, is fundamental to all Muslims but for reformists the problems lie with the historical context within which its religious laws are written. The issue that many Muslims have is that liberal rights cultures are secularized and therefore implicate their cultural identity because of the fundamental need of Islam to live by the Shari'a. Global rights, in this case women's rights, only become powerful at the local level, when groups and individuals from one particular cultural identity wish to change their way of lives. The liberal model of the international system is concerned with the individual who seek to serve their own self interest. Moravcsik argues that in the international system the quest for self interest is competitive therefore there will be some who are more dominant than others (Brown, 2004). Consequently if states are similar in their values and norms the world will have less tension than if divided on ideals. For Moravcsik the international system has the ability to change as state behaviour reflects what individual's