History of Primary Education Reform 1871-1904

History of Primary Education Reform 1871-19041. Siam in the Expansion period 1905 1934In the preceding chapter, we construeed the foundation period of primal commandment reform from 1871 to 1904, particularly in relation to morality instruction. In this chapter, we entrust consider the second period of reform the elaborateness period. This period, ext finising from 1905 to 1934, embraced the last atomic heel 23 old age of magnate Rama Vs rein (1905 1910), together with the die hards of tabbys Vajiravudh (or Rama VI, 1910 1925) and Prajadiphok (or Rama VII, 1925 1934). These were eventful long cartridge holder for Siam, witnessing the rise of a youthful political sectionalisation, the orders entry upon the inter subject stage by means of its mesh in the Great War and the League of Nations, the effects of the Great Depression, the abrupt passageway from absolute to constitutional sove runy in the alteration of 1932, and the abdication of the reigning milkwe ed butterfly Rama VII in 1934.Goodness, beauty and prosperity will be with them by dint of stunned their lives if they start acquired education.1 These words from Rama Vs decree of 1871 sum up his vision of education, including its moral dimension. As we construct seen, he began by modern fontising education within the palace, but by the end of his reign had embarked on the involution of educational opportunities to battalion of all severalizees throughout Siam.Early in the expansion period, the subject of Ethics was added to the primary curriculum, its content comprising inbredly a course in Buddhistic morality. This reflected the anxiety of Rama V that the deal would lose touch with their ethical and spiritual roots in Buddhism a mathematical undesirable side-effect of his own attempts modernise (which meant, in effect, to secularise) the education system of rules.At the acquire of the foundation period, Rama Vs al approximately pressing educational business had bee n to produce more than highly serve and competent administrators to staff the offices of his government. By the end of his reign, however, the realisation was maturement that a modern state require not just a literate bureaucracy but similarly a diversely skilled march force capable of supporting a productive and diversified economy. olibanum, by 1913, King Vajiravudh (Rama Vs son) had announced two national educational goals to broaden the scope of public education beyond the art of reading and writing, and to educate the people for productive vocations.2Attempts to develop elemental education on these lines, and even to provide opportunities for higher education, move through the reign of Prajadhipok (Rama VII 1925-1934). In 1932, however, a adjudgeover took real originator from his hands, exit him as a figurehead. Nevertheless, the ca utilization of public education was taken up vigorously by the mod national government. Article 63 of the 1932 Constitution express that all educational institutions must be on a lower floor the State and more than half of the population will complete primary education by 1942.3The revolution had been carried out in the name of democracy, but the revolutionaries were uncomfortably a fighte that the Thai people had atomic notion of what would be required of them in a parliamentary state. Thus Siams the educate system found itself charged with an additional projection to educate citizens for democracy.Before focusing on the replaces do to education in the expansion period, we must explore more fully these aspects of the historical context.451.2. Politics and authorities 1905-1934 (B.E. 2448-2477)Faced with the advance of western sandwich colonialism, King Rama V had embarked on a ancestor program of modernization of Thai society. Only a modern Siam could prolong its liberty and identity against occidental power. But modernisation was a long-term strategy. In the inadequate term, it was necessary to embolden for time by cultivating friendly dealing with the colonial powers, in the hope of forestalling any confrontation that might racecourse to the loss of territory or sovereignty. Accordingly, Rama V signed a numeral of unequal treaties, granting extraterritorial rights to europiuman citizens, and even gave up some of his dominions to assuage the imperial appetites of Britain and France.From 1894, Rama V carried out a study administrative reorganization, putting in place a system which however forms the basis of public administration today. politics was decentralized to regional and local anesthetic authorities (Monthons) at a lower place the power of the inner(a) Ministry. Each region comprised a number of provinces (or towns), and individually province a number of districts and villages. The head of each region was a Lord-Lieutenant, or sometimes a Viceroy, who was invested with full power to administer his area under the provisions of the regal Decrees publishe d from time to time. Governors and district officers were appointed in all rural areas. capital of Thailand was exempted from this system, as the king re of imported its supreme head, although he delegated this power to the Metropolitan Ministry.6 Taken as a whole, these measures were successful both in maintaining the countrys license throughout the worryd classs of the westbound colonial threat and in providing a foundation for the modern system of government.7 Was this the local government system that inherited responsibility for the local schools in 1935, afterwards the failure of the local committee system was acknowledged?1.2.1. King Vajiravudh (1910 1925)At the death of Rama V in 1910, his son Prince Vajiravudh succeeded to the thr one(a) as Rama VI. The first Siamese monarch to receive an education abroad, Vajiravudh had attended Sandhurst and Christchurch College, Oxford, spending cabaret years in England in the first place his return to Siam in January 1903.8As ki ng, Vajiravudh exsertd the process of nation-building and administrative reform begun by his father. By this time, the educational initiatives of the previous reign were producing actual improvements in the quality of governmental administration. Junior officials were better qualified and more capable. In addition, at the elite levels of government, many a(prenominal) a(prenominal) of the kings br separates had, like the king himself, blameless studies in Europe in a range of fields including indispensable science, finance, public administration, array science, and diplomacy. They were able to bring this expertise to their leading roles in government.As a result of the high importance attached to it by the diadem over two reigns, government service acquired a prestige that do people prefer it to other occupations. In the expansion period, the government increasingly sign up that this tendency was not wholly beneficial to the broader development of Siams society or economy. 9 Peoples aspirations filled to be channelled in the direction of scotchally productive work.Meanwhile, the upper echelons of the suppuration bureaucratic class had choke part of a new cordial elite. in that location were two other strands to this elite the officers of the new standing army, and the business class that had emerged since the Bowring treaty opened up Siam to free international trade in 1855. Together, these cardinal groups formed a new political class that increasingly resented its projection from power. As we will see, this smell of exclusion ultimately found expression in the revolution of 1932.Vajiravudh, however, was more preoccupied with Siams fortunes in the international arena than with creating a fairer distribution of power within the kingdom. If Siam was to stay freelancer, its people had to be made patriotic and desexualise to fight for their nation. Accordingly, from the beginning of his reign, he tried to promote nationalist feelings in Thai men and boys, and to develop military discipline and training. To this end, he founded the boy Scout Organization in 1909. Boys were encouraged to join the scouts, where they learned to be patriotic, to obey rules and orders, and to sacrifice themselves for their country.10 In 1911, a Senior Scouts Corps was established and became, in effect, a territorial army. As we will see, scouting activities were also at last incorporated into the school curriculum. Thus, these patriotic and military virtues became part of the ethics that the school system tried to inculcate.Another step in the very(prenominal) direction was the founding of the Wild Tiger (Sua Pa) Corps in 1911. The name was borrowed from the group of men who unplowed watch on the frontiers of Siam. These Wild Tigers of the past were believed to have embodied qualities such(prenominal) as hardiness, patriotism, piety, fearlessness, and devotion to the king, combined with deep knowledge of both nature and war all the qual ities, in short, that Vajiravudh wanted to promote among Siamese manhood in his own day.11World War I provided Siam with an opportunity to test its new military prowess, and to raise its international profile. Vajiravudh prudently maintained neutrality through most of the war, but in July 1917 he decided that the time had come to demonstrate Siams carry on towards modern nationhood. He entered the war on the side of the Allies, sending an expeditionary force of 1,200 volunteers to Europe.Shortly after entering the war, Vajiravudh also changed the national flag, a telephoneoning the motif (introduced by Rama II) of an elephant on a red ground, and replacing it with the Siamese tricolour, which remains in use today. The choice of red, white and blue was a shrewd gesture of solidarity with Siams war allies in particular the colonial powers, Britain and France which had flags of the analogous three colours.The deeper deduction of the flag, however, was as a symbol of the new consci ousness that Vajiravudh wanted to create in Siam and for which education was to be an important instrument. The Siamese (still, in reality, mainly a nation of subsistence farmers, living in remote villages, most of whom had never seen a externaler, or read a newspaper) had to be made more aware of their Siamese identity they had to be made to feel a patriotism that transcended local allegiantties, and become willing to fight or make sacrifices for their country. The new flag communicated this duty. It had five-spot horizontal stripes (from top to bottom red, white, blue, white, and red). The red stripes stood for the nation (and for kind spilt in its defence), the white ones for religion (the moral purity of the Dhamma), and the wider blue band in the centre occupying one-third of the total area symbolized the monarchy. The monarch would be a focus for patriotism, crystallising a vague sense of belonging into a unique(predicate) obligation. In this way, loyalty to the monarc hy became part of ethics that were cultivated in the school system.Vajiravudhs efforts to p dumbfound the part of friend to the colonial powers met with some success. Upon the defeat of Germany in 1918, Siam participated in the Versailles conference and became a founding member of the League of Nations. Having thus achieved a straw man in the international arena, Siam began to renegotiate the unequal treaties of the two preceding reigns. In 1920 the United States became the first country to give up special trading privileges and extraterritorial rights, except in certain cases.12But growing international prize could not stop growing discontent at home, which was in fact universe fuelled by education. By this time, not only members of the olympian family were being improve abroad. just about members of the foreign-educated elite brought radical political ideas back with them when they came home from Europe. At the said(prenominal) time, Siam itself was becoming more exposed to western culture, as the growth of literacy created a minority market for newspapers and literature. Western novels and romances were translated, and film screenings were common in Bangkok by the time Vajiravudh came to the throne in 1910. Ideas of freedom and equality were part and contend of this cultural influx.13At the same time, the conspicuous wealth and unresskilful power of the royal family began to provoke resentment. The behaviour of Vajiravudh, an aesthete who loved display, tended to fuel this ill will. His investiture in 1910, a grand affair attended by royalty from Europe and Japan, swallowed no less than 8% of the national budget. This and other extravagances, such as his enthusiasm for palace-building, soon got him into debt, necessitating a foreign loan. For all Vajiravudhs intellectual sophistication, such habits made it difficult for him to command the same respect as his father. A dispute to absolutism began to take shape in Siam among the new political class. 14Even forward Vajiravudh, Rama V had been confronted with the question of whether to share his power. As we have seen, he resisted the implication that he move towards a more constitutional form of government in his lifetime. However, he realised that this resistance could not last forever. Shortly in the first place his death in 1910, he stated to ministers his wish that the Crown Prince Vajiravudh should introduce a constitution and a parliament when he eventually to the throne.15 When that time came, however, Vajiravudh did no such thing.In 1912, two years after Vajiravudhs accession, a group of next-to-last army officers, exasperated with absolutism, plotted a putsch detat. Their plan was cause before it could be implemented and the leaders were imprisoned. However, the attempt forced Vajiravudh to recognise the exposure of his slope. At first, he attempted to enter into dialogue with the critics by braggart(a) lectures and writing articles for the press (something tha t his education and literary ability qualified him to do), sometimes under the concealment of pseudonyms.16 For example, in Klon Tid Law (Mud on Wheels), he argued that the main obstruction to the development of the kingdom was the lack of competent people the implication was possibly that Siam was not ready for democracy yet.But by 1916 the king had mazed patience. Giving up on dialogue and experimentation, he opted for repression. He began by gag law down certain newspapers on various pretexts, and in 1923, (after some years of hesitation prompted by fear of western criticism), he enshrined censorship in law, prosecuting many publishers and closing many presses. Yet even now, realising perhaps that history was against him, he equivocated by showing some willingness to move towards constitutional government. As late as 1924, he stated thatIf people really want a constitution, and if it is tumesce intended, at that placefore petition for it. I shall not hold any grudges agains t anyone for doing so. I shall consider the pros and cons of the petition. I myself think that it is better to have a constitution, and feel that for one person to hold absolute power is not judicious.17However, any further go that he might have taken towards constitutional government were cut short. After ruling Siam for 15 years, Vajiravudh died of blood poisoning in 1925 at the former(a) age of 44.King Vajiravudh deliberately ignored the genuine tradition that each reigning ruler usually set up one royal monastery by turning his attention to setting up an educational institution preferably he had Vajiravudh College established under his patronage. This might go better in the subsequently section on religion. It might suggest that the influence of Buddhism faded a bit in Vajiravudhs reign.1.2.2. Prajadhipok (Rama VII) 1925-1934King Prajadhipok, officially named Rama VII, came to the throne in 1925. He promulgated many new laws such as the Land Expropriation Act 1928, the sexu al union law amendment 1930, etc. Something should be said astir(predicate) the significance of these laws. otherwise, the reader learns exact from these statements. All of these laws were thoroughly scrutinized by whom? and were strictly adhered to by the populace, which positively affected the country This sounds too blandly positive and uncritical see my advice.Also, I think you need to say something about Prajadhipoks policies on education and Ethics instruction. If he alone continued the policies of Rama VII, you need to say so explicitly. Prajadhipoks plans were upset by two spectacular events. The first was the Wall Street crash of 1929, which triggered the Great Depression. Siams economy, like that of many other countries, was hit hard, and this fuelled the grievances of the political class. This dissatisfaction led to the second huge event of the reign the 1932 coup detat, which compelled Prajadhipok firstly to accept a constitutional form of government, and then to relinquish power altogether by abdicating.18 As we shall see, the 1932 revolution also had an regard on the development of education, which in that respectafter was geared to the process of democratization. 19Even before the coup, Rama VII himself was aware of the dangers inherent in absolute monarchy. Intellectually, to some extent, he real the necessity for change. However, he proceeded too cautiously and slowly. Two years after his accession, he created a Supreme Council and the Committee of the Privy Council as means of turnout participation in decision making. Unfortunately, both these bodies were packed with members of the royal family and the aristocracy, and so did nothing to appease the frustrations of the political class.Like his two predecessors, Prajadhipok took the view that Siam was not ready for an elected legislature. It would be unfair to dismiss this as a well-off rationalisation for maintaining absolutism. Prajadhipok was not the only sceptic on the question of whether democracy could work in Siam. In 1926, Francis B Sayre, an American advisor originally engage by Vajiravudh, was consulted by Prajadhipok on a variety of pressing political questions, including democracy. Sayre by and by recorded his advice as follows.Discussing these issues with His Majesty, I had to point out the inherent dangers. In Siam there was no middle class. The Siamese peasants took little or no beguile in public affairs but lived their simple lives in orphic rural districts. To set up a legislature and clothe it with real power overnight without an educated electorate to control it would be likely, I suggested, to invite trouble and possible corruption. Power uncontrolled was almost bound to breed corruption As I talked with him I mat the utter sincerity of the new monarch and his real desire to lead Siam modern nationhood.20The revolution of 1932 was not a cumulation uprising no crowds were rallying in the streets. It was a bloodless coup conducted by l eading elements of the new political class, eager to seize a share of power. Sayres view that there was no widespread popular demand for pop institutions at this time is corroborated by the contemporary account of the Bangkok Times in that location was no evidence that the masses took any part in the upstart demonstration. The discontent of several salaried classes, especially of the officers of the Army and Navy, clearly counted most in the movement. At the same time a contributory cause is to be found in the extension of education in Siam since the middle of the nineteenth century. King Rama VII introduced western methods and technique to the country and the numbers of Siamese students trained in Europe increased. And these classes of educated officials, administrators, and officers having once been formed, it was only a question of time and opportunity before they demanded a share in the government of the country.21The coup was staged by a group calling itself the Peoples Party . All of them were of the commoner class (khun nang), in other words from outside the ranks of the aristocracy. The ringleaders had begun their conspiracy five years before, in 1927, when they were students in Paris. Their western education had given them a keen sense of the inadequacy and backwardness of Siamese absolutism in the light of current Western popular ideas. Pridi Banomyong, the leader of the Peoples Party, articulated its aims in six commandments1. To guard independence in all way to ensure the security of the nation. This included independence in politics, the courts and the economy.2. To preserve internal security and reduce internal strife.3. To guarantee the economic well-being of the people, by creating full employment.4. To make all citizens equal, so that princes and commoners had the same rights.5. To grant all citizens freedom and equality, provided it did not conflict with the preceding principles.6. To assure every person of a full education.Acquiescence in the coup was not the only option available to Prajadhipok. Elements of the large armed forces would probably have remained loyal and fought the revolutionaries, had he given the command. However, he wanted to avoid bloodshed, and in principle he had long recognised the need to share power to some extent. He therefore agreed to the Peoples Partys demand for a constitution, hoping to maintain a position of leadership within a constitutional framework. Accordingly, on 10 December 1932, he signed Siams first constitution, ending 700 years of absolute monarchy. This was a major turning point in Thai history, and despite the many constitutions that have followed, the cardinal principles laid down in 1932 remain the same today.Behind the scenes, however, Prajadhipok and leaders of the royalist cause struggled over the next few years to retrieve as much as possible of royal power. There were counter-coups and some express mail military confrontations. At one point, Pridi Banomyong, the l eading theoretician among the revolutionaries, was briefly forced into exile. Steadily, however, the symmetry of power shifted to the revolutionaries. In 1934, Prajadhipok sailed to Europe, ostensibly for medical treatment. Long-distance negotiations failed to reach a compromise. In 1935, apparently despairing of the situation, he abdicated.Even today, the 1932 coup remains controversial. Some historians have criticized Pridi and his party for failing to follow their six principles, while others have suggested that the principles themselves were inappropriate to the place and time. Still others have argued that the principles were good, but were misunderstood or misapplied by subsequent rulers, especially Sarit Thanarat, the eleventh Prime Minister, (1959-1963) who in theory was a devotee of the principles, but whose actual rule was a byword for tyranny and corruption.22 I would agree with his opinion that the six principles should be developed as a network system not separated app arently and also they must be adapted according to the change and the context of time.On balance, however, there is capacious agreement that the move towards democracy in 1932 was premature. Some have gone so far as to blame Rama VII for being too vague in his absolutism, arguing that he should have fought back more decisively against the new elite in the interests of the nation as a whole. As Sayre had grasped, the great majority of Siamese people at this point had no notion of democratic principles, and their participation in any democratic process could at scoop be passive. They could not discern the difference in the midst of absolute and constitutional monarchy. As for the coup leaders themselves, if their takeing of democracy lacked depth, their grasp of the real ineluctably of the people was arguably just as weak.23 To quote Sayre once againStudents locomote from England or France or America often were unhappy and disturbed, with half-baked ideas about democracy and hu man liberty they wanted Siam to adopt Western forms almost overnight, as if these were but outward garments. Many felt that Siamese culture was out of date, and their minds seethed with modern, western ideas, often superficial and misunderstood. 241.3. The economy and public finances in the expansion periodAlthough the Siamese economy grew overall through this period, trade was more often than not in the hands of foreigners. According to modern government estimates, as much as 40% of the income generated by Siamese trade in this era went abroad.25 at a lower place the terms of the Bowring agreement, still in force at this time, Siams power to tax foreign businesses was narrowly circumscribed. 26In 1918, in the aftermath of the World War, the entire world was facing economic recession. Siams balance of payments was in deficit from 1920 to the end of Vajiravudhs reign in 1925. Faced with falling revenues and the consequences of his own earlier extravagance, Vajiravudh was forced to make repeated cuts in government expenditure, and this increased his unpopularity among the military and the bureaucracy, which bore the brunt of the cuts.This situation repeated itself a few years into the next reign. From the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, Rama VII found himself obliged to make cuts in public expenditure. He felt obliged to excuse his action to military officers on February 5, 1931, thusI fully realize that people who are the victims of the reduction program will be in deeper trouble since it is difficult for them to find other means of livelihood. I consequently feel extremely heavy-hearted and most sympathetic for those who have to leave. If I had other ways in which I could shoulder the burden, I would do everything for them but, as it is, I have no alternatives. 27However, King Rama VII also encouraged and promoted the conjunctive system by promulgating a law governing cooperatives in the year 1928. He commented, Farmers who have limited capital but wish to pursue the same aims should form a cooperative so that they can mutually helper one another in order to accumulate greater wealth 28Thus the great paradox of the expansion period of education reform was that the states finances, which were essential to fund the expansion of education on the scale intended, were actually in crisis through most of the second half of the period.1.4. CultureFrom the reign of Rama IV, many aspects of Western culture were absorbed into Siamese life. As Europe was providing the model for progress in government, economics, and technology, its cultural influence could not be escaped. In some cases change was spontaneous, but in other it was imposed from above by the king.One of the most visible changes was in people style of dress. King Rama V positive that when he appeared in state, the officials attending him should not dispense with their upper attire. To appear topless would look barbaric to foreigners.29 Thai women had traditionally kept thei r hair short and worn a waist-cloth with the end pulled between the legs and tucked in at the back. immediately When, exactly? they started wearing skirts, grew their hair longer, and wore it in various Western styles.Other examples of royally imposed cultural changes include the introduction of an official calendar and the use of surnames. On the model of the Christian system of dating, Vajiravudh decreed the use of a calendar commencing from the death of the Buddha (the Buddhist Era, abbreviated as B.E.), which he introduced with effect from inaugural April B.E. 2455 (A.D. 1912). He also required everybody to have a surname. This was an innovation, as there was no tradition of family names in Siam. In order to comply, most families had to even out surnames for themselves (in some cases, the king obligingly provided one for them) Even today, although surnames appear on official documents such as passports, they play little part in social interaction even prominent individuals, i ncluding politicians, are usually referred to and addressed by their first name. all this is interesting, but can you develop it to indicate any specific impacts that the western cultural influx had on your main subject, i.e. primary education and ethics instruction?Yet alongside this Westernisation of culture came a growing official concern to preserve Siamese traditions. King Rama VII established a Royal Institute to manage the Royal City Librarys activities, investigate literary works, administer the national museum, catalogue and preserve ancient sites and objects, and to maintain Siamese arts and handicrafts.1.5. devotion/BuddhismThroughout the expansion period, the Siamese monarchys traditional support for the textual basis of Buddhism and Buddhist studies was maintained. Vajiravudh promoted the study of Buddhism in the Thai language. Several texts on Buddhism in Thai, compiled during the reign of his father, were already extant, and many writers contributed more during his o wn reign, especially his uncle Prince Vajirayan, the Supreme Patriarch. Prajadhipok convened a council of monks under the chairmanship of Prince Jinavara Sirivatthana, the Supreme Patriarch of his reign, for the purpose of checking the contents of the 39 volumes of the Tripitaka (the Buddhist scriptural canon) that had been printed in the days of Rama V, comparing it to editions of the Tripitaka from other Buddhist countries. Revisions were made, and a new text, know as the Siam-Rath edition, was printed in 1927.30Prajadhipok took an interest in improving the education of children in Buddhism. He once said, The teaching of Buddhism to children in Siam has not been satisfactory. Children must be taught to understand morals when they are very young. Religious texts for them should be written in a way that they easily understand.31 To remedy the situation, he established at his ain expense a foundation (which still exists today) to make awards to the winners of regular competitions fo r the opera hat literary work in Thai on Buddhism. The winning texts were published and distributed to children on Visakha Bucha Day.The position of Buddhism in Siam, and the role of the king in relation to it, were keep in the 1932 Constitution, which stated that the king must be a Buddhist and the sustainer of Buddhism.The role of monks in the modernised school system peaked and began to descend during the expansion period. Although Rama V had clearly seen the need for professional lay teachers, he seems also to have envisaged that monks would indefinitely continue to play a part in modern education. This was part and parcel of his belief that there exists no incompatibility between the acquisition of European science and the maintenance of our individuality as an independent Asiatic nation.32 As David Wyatt has put it, Rama V believed that Traditional institutions such as the Buddhist monkhood could, without creating copies of Western institutions, be bent to new ends that in essence were not so very different from the ideals of Buddhist Siamese civilization.33During the first part of the expansion period, hard-nosed necessity also contributed to the continuation of the monks role in schooling. Modernisation was still in its early days, and the shortage of trained lay teachers obliged the government to continue to rely on the services of monks. Indeed, as late as 1909, we find the government issuing instructions to local authorities that monasteries which had not hitherto made a contribution towards public education should be encouraged to take part in the general endeavour.However, the aim was to produce specially trained lay teachers, and it was inevitable that these would replace the monks in the long run. After all, the monastic sangha was an entity in its own right, with its own agenda and prestige. Monks could never be so amenable to state control as a body of state-trained and state-paid professional teachers. For this reason, from 1915 onwards t here was a steady decrease in the total number of monks teaching in schools, even though the number of monasteries being used as school buildings continued to increase for a while.While discussing the role of religion in the new system, we must also note that, although Christianity as a doctrine had little impact on the development of Siamese education (there were relatively few converts), Christian organisations contributed significantly to its growth. It pioneered the modern system of public education in offering Western Education to the kings and his children in the reign of King Rama IV and V.History of Primary Education Reform 1871-1904History of Primary Education Reform 1871-19041. Siam in the Expansion period 1905 1934In the preceding chapter, we considered the foundation period of primary education reform from 1871 to 1904, particularly in relation to ethics instruction. In this chapter, we will consider the second period of reform the expansion period. This period, exten ding from 1905 to 1934, embraced the last five years of King Rama Vs reign (1905 1910), together with the reigns of Kings Vajiravudh (or Rama VI, 1910 1925) and Prajadiphok (or Rama VII, 1925 1934). These were eventful years for Siam, witnessing the rise of a new political class, the countrys entry upon the international stage through its participation in the Great War and the League of Nations, the effects of the Great Depression, the abrupt transition from absolute to constitutional monarchy in the revolution of 1932, and the abdication of the reigning monarch Rama VII in 1934.Goodness, beauty and prosperity will be with them throughout their lives if they have acquired education.1 These words from Rama Vs decree of 1871 sum up his vision of education, including its moral dimension. As we have seen, he began by modernising education within the palace, but by the end of his reign had embarked on the expansion of educational opportunities to people of all classes throughout Siam. Early in the expansion period, the subject of Ethics was added to the primary curriculum, its content comprising fundamentally a course in Buddhist morality. This reflected the anxiety of Rama V that the people would lose touch with their ethical and spiritual roots in Buddhism a possible undesirable side-effect of his own attempts modernise (which meant, in effect, to secularise) the education system.At the start of the foundation period, Rama Vs most pressing educational concern had been to produce more highly qualified and competent administrators to staff the offices of his government. By the end of his reign, however, the realisation was growing that a modern state needed not just a literate bureaucracy but also a diversely skilled workforce capable of supporting a productive and diversified economy. Thus, by 1913, King Vajiravudh (Rama Vs son) had proclaimed two national educational goals to broaden the scope of public education beyond the art of reading and writing, and to e ducate the people for productive vocations.2Attempts to develop basic education on these lines, and even to provide opportunities for higher education, continued through the reign of Prajadhipok (Rama VII 1925-1934). In 1932, however, a coup took real power from his hands, leaving him as a figurehead. Nevertheless, the cause of public education was taken up vigorously by the new national government. Article 63 of the 1932 Constitution stated that all educational institutions must be under the State and more than half of the population will complete primary education by 1942.3The revolution had been carried out in the name of democracy, but the revolutionaries were uncomfortably aware that the Siamese people had little notion of what would be required of them in a parliamentary state. Thus Siams the school system found itself charged with an additional task to educate citizens for democracy.Before focusing on the changes made to education in the expansion period, we must explore mor e fully these aspects of the historical context.451.2. Politics and Administration 1905-1934 (B.E. 2448-2477)Faced with the advance of western colonialism, King Rama V had embarked on a radical program of modernization of Siamese society. Only a modern Siam could preserve its independence and identity against Western power. But modernisation was a long-term strategy. In the short term, it was necessary to play for time by cultivating friendly relations with the colonial powers, in the hope of forestalling any confrontation that might lead to the loss of territory or sovereignty. Accordingly, Rama V signed a number of unequal treaties, granting extraterritorial rights to European citizens, and even gave up some of his dominions to assuage the imperial appetites of Britain and France.From 1894, Rama V carried out a major administrative reorganization, putting in place a system which still forms the basis of public administration today. Administration was decentralized to regional and local authorities (Monthons) under the power of the Interior Ministry. Each region comprised a number of provinces (or towns), and each province a number of districts and villages. The head of each region was a Lord-Lieutenant, or sometimes a Viceroy, who was invested with full power to administer his area under the provisions of the Royal Decrees promulgated from time to time. Governors and district officers were appointed in all rural areas. Bangkok was exempted from this system, as the king remained its supreme head, although he delegated this power to the Metropolitan Ministry.6 Taken as a whole, these measures were successful both in maintaining the countrys independence throughout the turbulent years of the Western colonial threat and in providing a foundation for the modern system of government.7 Was this the local government system that inherited responsibility for the local schools in 1935, after the failure of the local committee system was acknowledged?1.2.1. King Vajirav udh (1910 1925)At the death of Rama V in 1910, his son Prince Vajiravudh succeeded to the throne as Rama VI. The first Siamese monarch to receive an education abroad, Vajiravudh had attended Sandhurst and Christchurch College, Oxford, spending nine years in England before his return to Siam in January 1903.8As king, Vajiravudh continued the process of nation-building and administrative reform begun by his father. By this time, the educational initiatives of the previous reign were producing actual improvements in the quality of governmental administration. Junior officials were better qualified and more capable. In addition, at the elite levels of government, many of the kings brothers had, like the king himself, completed studies in Europe in a range of fields including natural science, finance, public administration, military science, and diplomacy. They were able to bring this expertise to their leading roles in government.As a result of the high importance attached to it by the crown over two reigns, government service acquired a prestige that made people prefer it to other occupations. In the expansion period, the government increasingly saw that this tendency was not wholly beneficial to the broader development of Siams society or economy.9 Peoples aspirations needed to be channelled in the direction of economically productive work.Meanwhile, the upper echelons of the growing bureaucratic class had become part of a new social elite. There were two other strands to this elite the officers of the new standing army, and the business class that had emerged since the Bowring treaty opened up Siam to free international trade in 1855. Together, these three groups formed a new political class that increasingly resented its exclusion from power. As we will see, this sense of exclusion ultimately found expression in the revolution of 1932.Vajiravudh, however, was more preoccupied with Siams fortunes in the international arena than with creating a fairer distribut ion of power within the kingdom. If Siam was to stay independent, its people had to be made patriotic and ready to fight for their nation. Accordingly, from the beginning of his reign, he tried to promote nationalistic feelings in Thai men and boys, and to develop military discipline and training. To this end, he founded the Boy Scout Organization in 1909. Boys were encouraged to join the scouts, where they learned to be patriotic, to obey rules and orders, and to sacrifice themselves for their country.10 In 1911, a Senior Scouts Corps was established and became, in effect, a territorial army. As we will see, scouting activities were also eventually incorporated into the school curriculum. Thus, these patriotic and military virtues became part of the ethics that the school system tried to inculcate.Another step in the same direction was the creation of the Wild Tiger (Sua Pa) Corps in 1911. The name was borrowed from the group of men who kept watch on the frontiers of Siam. These Wi ld Tigers of the past were believed to have embodied qualities such as hardiness, patriotism, piety, fearlessness, and devotion to the king, combined with deep knowledge of both nature and warfare all the qualities, in short, that Vajiravudh wanted to promote among Siamese manhood in his own day.11World War I provided Siam with an opportunity to test its new military prowess, and to raise its international profile. Vajiravudh prudently maintained neutrality through most of the war, but in July 1917 he decided that the time had come to demonstrate Siams progress towards modern nationhood. He entered the war on the side of the Allies, sending an expeditionary force of 1,200 volunteers to Europe.Shortly after entering the war, Vajiravudh also changed the national flag, abandoning the motif (introduced by Rama II) of an elephant on a red ground, and replacing it with the Siamese tricolour, which remains in use today. The choice of red, white and blue was a shrewd gesture of solidarity with Siams war allies in particular the colonial powers, Britain and France which had flags of the same three colours.The deeper significance of the flag, however, was as a symbol of the new consciousness that Vajiravudh wanted to create in Siam and for which education was to be an important instrument. The Siamese (still, in reality, mainly a nation of subsistence farmers, living in remote villages, most of whom had never seen a foreigner, or read a newspaper) had to be made more aware of their Siamese identity they had to be made to feel a patriotism that transcended local loyalties, and become willing to fight or make sacrifices for their country. The new flag communicated this duty. It had five horizontal stripes (from top to bottom red, white, blue, white, and red). The red stripes stood for the nation (and for blood spilt in its defence), the white ones for religion (the moral purity of the Dhamma), and the wider blue band in the centre occupying one-third of the total are a symbolized the monarchy. The monarch would be a focus for patriotism, crystallising a vague sense of belonging into a specific obligation. In this way, loyalty to the monarchy became part of ethics that were cultivated in the school system.Vajiravudhs efforts to play the part of friend to the colonial powers met with some success. Upon the defeat of Germany in 1918, Siam participated in the Versailles conference and became a founding member of the League of Nations. Having thus achieved a presence in the international arena, Siam began to renegotiate the unequal treaties of the two preceding reigns. In 1920 the United States became the first country to give up special trading privileges and extraterritorial rights, except in certain cases.12But growing international esteem could not stop growing discontent at home, which was in fact being fuelled by education. By this time, not only members of the royal family were being educated abroad. Some members of the foreign-educated elite brought radical political ideas back with them when they came home from Europe. At the same time, Siam itself was becoming more exposed to western culture, as the growth of literacy created a minority market for newspapers and literature. Western novels and romances were translated, and film screenings were common in Bangkok by the time Vajiravudh came to the throne in 1910. Ideas of freedom and equality were part and parcel of this cultural influx.13At the same time, the conspicuous wealth and unrestrained power of the royal family began to provoke resentment. The behaviour of Vajiravudh, an aesthete who loved display, tended to fuel this ill will. His coronation in 1910, a grand affair attended by royalty from Europe and Japan, swallowed no less than 8% of the national budget. This and other extravagances, such as his enthusiasm for palace-building, soon got him into debt, necessitating a foreign loan. For all Vajiravudhs intellectual sophistication, such habits made it difficult for him to command the same respect as his father. A challenge to absolutism began to take shape in Siam among the new political class.14Even before Vajiravudh, Rama V had been confronted with the question of whether to share his power. As we have seen, he resisted the suggestion that he move towards a more constitutional form of government in his lifetime. However, he realised that this resistance could not last forever. Shortly before his death in 1910, he stated to ministers his wish that the Crown Prince Vajiravudh should introduce a constitution and a parliament when he eventually to the throne.15 When that time came, however, Vajiravudh did no such thing.In 1912, two years after Vajiravudhs accession, a group of junior army officers, exasperated with absolutism, plotted a coup detat. Their plan was discovered before it could be implemented and the leaders were imprisoned. However, the attempt forced Vajiravudh to recognise the vulnerability of his position. At first, he attem pted to enter into dialogue with the critics by giving lectures and writing articles for the press (something that his education and literary ability qualified him to do), sometimes under the concealment of pseudonyms.16 For example, in Klon Tid Law (Mud on Wheels), he argued that the main obstruction to the development of the kingdom was the lack of competent people the implication was perhaps that Siam was not ready for democracy yet.But by 1916 the king had lost patience. Giving up on dialogue and experimentation, he opted for repression. He began by closing down certain newspapers on various pretexts, and in 1923, (after some years of hesitation prompted by fear of western criticism), he enshrined censorship in law, prosecuting many publishers and closing many presses. Yet even now, realising perhaps that history was against him, he equivocated by showing some willingness to move towards constitutional government. As late as 1924, he stated thatIf people really want a constituti on, and if it is well intended, then petition for it. I shall not hold any grudges against anyone for doing so. I shall consider the pros and cons of the petition. I myself think that it is better to have a constitution, and feel that for one person to hold absolute power is not judicious.17However, any further steps that he might have taken towards constitutional government were cut short. After ruling Siam for 15 years, Vajiravudh died of blood poisoning in 1925 at the early age of 44.King Vajiravudh deliberately ignored the current tradition that each reigning ruler usually set up one royal monastery by turning his attention to setting up an educational institution instead he had Vajiravudh College established under his patronage. This might go better in the later section on religion. It might suggest that the influence of Buddhism faded a bit in Vajiravudhs reign.1.2.2. Prajadhipok (Rama VII) 1925-1934King Prajadhipok, officially named Rama VII, came to the throne in 1925. He pr omulgated many new laws such as the Land Expropriation Act 1928, the marriage law amendment 1930, etc. Something should be said about the significance of these laws. Otherwise, the reader learns little from these statements. All of these laws were thoroughly scrutinized by whom? and were strictly adhered to by the populace, which positively affected the country This sounds too blandly positive and uncritical see my advice.Also, I think you need to say something about Prajadhipoks policies on education and Ethics instruction. If he simply continued the policies of Rama VII, you need to say so explicitly. Prajadhipoks plans were upset by two great events. The first was the Wall Street crash of 1929, which triggered the Great Depression. Siams economy, like that of many other countries, was hit hard, and this fuelled the grievances of the political class. This dissatisfaction led to the second great event of the reign the 1932 coup detat, which compelled Prajadhipok firstly to accept a constitutional form of government, and then to relinquish power altogether by abdicating.18 As we shall see, the 1932 revolution also had an impact on the development of education, which thereafter was geared to the process of democratization. 19Even before the coup, Rama VII himself was aware of the dangers inherent in absolute monarchy. Intellectually, to some extent, he accepted the necessity for change. However, he proceeded too cautiously and slowly. Two years after his accession, he created a Supreme Council and the Committee of the Privy Council as means of broadening participation in decision making. Unfortunately, both these bodies were packed with members of the royal family and the aristocracy, and so did nothing to appease the frustrations of the political class.Like his two predecessors, Prajadhipok took the view that Siam was not ready for an elected legislature. It would be unfair to dismiss this as a convenient rationalisation for maintaining absolutism. Prajadhip ok was not the only sceptic on the question of whether democracy could work in Siam. In 1926, Francis B Sayre, an American advisor originally hired by Vajiravudh, was consulted by Prajadhipok on a variety of pressing political questions, including democracy. Sayre later recorded his advice as follows.Discussing these issues with His Majesty, I had to point out the inherent dangers. In Siam there was no middle class. The Siamese peasants took little or no interest in public affairs but lived their simple lives in secluded rural districts. To set up a legislature and clothe it with real power overnight without an educated electorate to control it would be likely, I suggested, to invite trouble and possible corruption. Power uncontrolled was almost bound to breed corruption As I talked with him I felt the utter sincerity of the new monarch and his real desire to lead Siam modern nationhood.20The revolution of 1932 was not a mass uprising no crowds were rallying in the streets. It was a bloodless coup conducted by leading elements of the new political class, eager to seize a share of power. Sayres view that there was no widespread popular demand for democratic institutions at this time is corroborated by the contemporary account of the Bangkok TimesThere was no evidence that the masses took any part in the recent demonstration. The discontent of several salaried classes, especially of the officers of the Army and Navy, clearly counted most in the movement. At the same time a contributory cause is to be found in the extension of education in Siam since the middle of the nineteenth century. King Rama VII introduced western methods and technique to the country and the numbers of Siamese students trained in Europe increased. And these classes of educated officials, administrators, and officers having once been formed, it was only a question of time and opportunity before they demanded a share in the government of the country.21The coup was staged by a group calling it self the Peoples Party. All of them were of the commoner class (khun nang), in other words from outside the ranks of the aristocracy. The ringleaders had begun their conspiracy five years before, in 1927, when they were students in Paris. Their western education had given them a keen sense of the inadequacy and backwardness of Siamese absolutism in the light of current Western democratic ideas. Pridi Banomyong, the leader of the Peoples Party, articulated its aims in six principles1. To guard independence in every way to ensure the security of the nation. This included independence in politics, the courts and the economy.2. To preserve internal security and reduce internal strife.3. To guarantee the economic well-being of the people, by creating full employment.4. To make all citizens equal, so that princes and commoners had the same rights.5. To grant all citizens freedom and equality, provided it did not conflict with the preceding principles.6. To assure every person of a full ed ucation.Acquiescence in the coup was not the only option available to Prajadhipok. Elements of the large armed forces would probably have remained loyal and fought the revolutionaries, had he given the command. However, he wanted to avoid bloodshed, and in principle he had long recognised the need to share power to some extent. He therefore agreed to the Peoples Partys demand for a constitution, hoping to maintain a position of leadership within a constitutional framework. Accordingly, on 10 December 1932, he signed Siams first constitution, ending 700 years of absolute monarchy. This was a major turning point in Thai history, and despite the many constitutions that have followed, the fundamental principles laid down in 1932 remain the same today.Behind the scenes, however, Prajadhipok and leaders of the royalist cause struggled over the next few years to retrieve as much as possible of royal power. There were counter-coups and some limited military confrontations. At one point, Pri di Banomyong, the leading theoretician among the revolutionaries, was briefly forced into exile. Steadily, however, the balance of power shifted to the revolutionaries. In 1934, Prajadhipok sailed to Europe, ostensibly for medical treatment. Long-distance negotiations failed to reach a compromise. In 1935, apparently despairing of the situation, he abdicated.Even today, the 1932 coup remains controversial. Some historians have criticized Pridi and his party for failing to follow their six principles, while others have suggested that the principles themselves were inappropriate to the place and time. Still others have argued that the principles were good, but were misunderstood or misapplied by subsequent rulers, especially Sarit Thanarat, the eleventh Prime Minister, (1959-1963) who in theory was a devotee of the principles, but whose actual rule was a byword for tyranny and corruption.22 I would agree with his opinion that the six principles should be developed as a network system not separated apparently and also they must be adapted according to the change and the context of time.On balance, however, there is considerable agreement that the move towards democracy in 1932 was premature. Some have gone so far as to blame Rama VII for being too fainthearted in his absolutism, arguing that he should have fought back more decisively against the new elite in the interests of the nation as a whole. As Sayre had grasped, the great majority of Siamese people at this point had no notion of democratic principles, and their participation in any democratic process could at best be passive. They could not discern the difference between absolute and constitutional monarchy. As for the coup leaders themselves, if their understanding of democracy lacked depth, their grasp of the real needs of the people was arguably just as weak.23 To quote Sayre once againStudents returning from England or France or America often were unhappy and disturbed, with half-baked ideas about demo cracy and human liberty they wanted Siam to adopt Western forms almost overnight, as if these were but outward garments. Many felt that Siamese culture was out of date, and their minds seethed with modern, western ideas, often superficial and misunderstood. 241.3. The economy and public finances in the expansion periodAlthough the Siamese economy grew overall through this period, trade was mostly in the hands of foreigners. According to modern government estimates, as much as 40% of the income generated by Siamese trade in this era went abroad.25 Under the terms of the Bowring agreement, still in force at this time, Siams power to tax foreign businesses was narrowly circumscribed. 26In 1918, in the aftermath of the World War, the entire world was facing economic recession. Siams balance of payments was in deficit from 1920 to the end of Vajiravudhs reign in 1925. Faced with falling revenues and the consequences of his own earlier extravagance, Vajiravudh was forced to make repeated cuts in government expenditure, and this increased his unpopularity among the military and the bureaucracy, which bore the brunt of the cuts.This situation repeated itself a few years into the next reign. From the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, Rama VII found himself obliged to make cuts in public expenditure. He felt obliged to excuse his action to military officers on February 5, 1931, thusI fully realize that people who are the victims of the reduction program will be in deeper trouble since it is difficult for them to find other means of livelihood. I consequently feel extremely heavy-hearted and most sympathetic for those who have to leave. If I had other ways in which I could shoulder the burden, I would do everything for them but, as it is, I have no alternatives. 27However, King Rama VII also encouraged and promoted the cooperative system by promulgating a law governing cooperatives in the year 1928. He commented, Farmers who have limited capital but wish to pursue t he same aims should form a cooperative so that they can mutually help one another in order to accumulate greater wealth 28Thus the great paradox of the expansion period of education reform was that the states finances, which were essential to fund the expansion of education on the scale intended, were actually in crisis through most of the second half of the period.1.4. CultureFrom the reign of Rama IV, many aspects of Western culture were absorbed into Siamese life. As Europe was providing the model for progress in government, economics, and technology, its cultural influence could not be escaped. In some cases change was spontaneous, but in other it was imposed from above by the king.One of the most visible changes was in people style of dress. King Rama V decreed that when he appeared in state, the officials attending him should not dispense with their upper attire. To appear topless would look barbaric to foreigners.29 Thai women had traditionally kept their hair short and worn a waist-cloth with the end pulled between the legs and tucked in at the back. Now When, exactly? they started wearing skirts, grew their hair longer, and wore it in various Western styles.Other examples of royally imposed cultural changes include the introduction of an official calendar and the use of surnames. On the model of the Christian system of dating, Vajiravudh decreed the use of a calendar commencing from the death of the Buddha (the Buddhist Era, abbreviated as B.E.), which he introduced with effect from 1st April B.E. 2455 (A.D. 1912). He also required everybody to have a surname. This was an innovation, as there was no tradition of family names in Siam. In order to comply, most families had to invent surnames for themselves (in some cases, the king obligingly provided one for them) Even today, although surnames appear on official documents such as passports, they play little part in social interaction even prominent individuals, including politicians, are usually referre d to and addressed by their first name. all this is interesting, but can you develop it to indicate any specific impacts that the western cultural influx had on your main subject, i.e. primary education and ethics instruction?Yet alongside this Westernisation of culture came a growing official concern to preserve Siamese traditions. King Rama VII established a Royal Institute to manage the Royal City Librarys activities, investigate literary works, administer the national museum, catalogue and preserve ancient sites and objects, and to maintain Siamese arts and handicrafts.1.5. Religion/BuddhismThroughout the expansion period, the Siamese monarchys traditional support for the textual basis of Buddhism and Buddhist studies was maintained. Vajiravudh promoted the study of Buddhism in the Thai language. Several texts on Buddhism in Thai, compiled during the reign of his father, were already extant, and many writers contributed more during his own reign, especially his uncle Prince Vaji rayan, the Supreme Patriarch. Prajadhipok convened a council of monks under the chairmanship of Prince Jinavara Sirivatthana, the Supreme Patriarch of his reign, for the purpose of checking the contents of the 39 volumes of the Tripitaka (the Buddhist scriptural canon) that had been printed in the days of Rama V, comparing it to editions of the Tripitaka from other Buddhist countries. Revisions were made, and a new text, known as the Siam-Rath edition, was printed in 1927.30Prajadhipok took an interest in improving the education of children in Buddhism. He once said, The teaching of Buddhism to children in Siam has not been satisfactory. Children must be taught to understand morals when they are very young. Religious texts for them should be written in a way that they easily understand.31 To remedy the situation, he established at his personal expense a foundation (which still exists today) to make awards to the winners of regular competitions for the best literary work in Thai on B uddhism. The winning texts were published and distributed to children on Visakha Bucha Day.The position of Buddhism in Siam, and the role of the king in relation to it, were preserved in the 1932 Constitution, which stated that the king must be a Buddhist and the upholder of Buddhism.The role of monks in the modernised school system peaked and began to wane during the expansion period. Although Rama V had clearly seen the need for professional lay teachers, he seems also to have envisaged that monks would indefinitely continue to play a part in modern education. This was part and parcel of his belief that there exists no incompatibility between the acquisition of European science and the maintenance of our individuality as an independent Asiatic nation.32 As David Wyatt has put it, Rama V believed that Traditional institutions such as the Buddhist monkhood could, without creating copies of Western institutions, be bent to new ends that in essence were not so very different from the ideals of Buddhist Siamese civilization.33During the first part of the expansion period, practical necessity also contributed to the continuation of the monks role in schooling. Modernisation was still in its early days, and the shortage of trained lay teachers obliged the government to continue to rely on the services of monks. Indeed, as late as 1909, we find the government issuing instructions to local authorities that monasteries which had not hitherto made a contribution towards public education should be encouraged to take part in the general endeavour.However, the aim was to produce specially trained lay teachers, and it was inevitable that these would replace the monks in the long run. After all, the monastic sangha was an entity in its own right, with its own agenda and prestige. Monks could never be so amenable to state control as a body of state-trained and state-paid professional teachers. For this reason, from 1915 onwards there was a steady decrease in the total number of monks teaching in schools, even though the number of monasteries being used as school buildings continued to increase for a while.While discussing the role of religion in the new system, we must also note that, although Christianity as a doctrine had little impact on the development of Siamese education (there were relatively few converts), Christian organisations contributed significantly to its growth. It pioneered the modern system of public education in offering Western Education to the kings and his children in the reign of King Rama IV and V.

Languages Are Constantly Changing English Language Essay

Languages Are Constantly Changing side Language EssayLanguages argon ever so-changing as the world is constantly changing. After the Second World War, English neologisms emerged in a remarkable way. parvenu vocabulary came into existence due to hot technologies and parvenuefound discoveries such as computing, internet , cell phones and the bid. Peoples daily kneadivities like dancing, looking and many new(prenominal)s, re crudeed their popularity giving birth to peeled lexicon. In deed, sore enounces argon invented rapidly and are developed quickly thanks to mass communication. They appear and fall into disuse when they return served their momentary purpose ( Bernhart 54).Only a few of them will get recorded in glossaries of neologisms of world-wide dictionaries.The matter of neologism becomes a raw(a) hot spot of research owing to its applicative(a) and prevailing use in reality. The study of neologisms evoked a whole cluster of questions-What are the reasons beyon d the rise of freshly lexicon?-Why are nigh new oral communication comely a flash in a pan?-Why are other vocalizes successful?-What are the qualities that make a word successful?-Are Neologisms markers of changes in societies?Chapter 01Literature Review1.Definition of a NeologismThe bourne neologism start ups from Greek neos means new, logos means word, i. e. a neologism is literally a new word.Neologism is the creation of a new lexical item as a response to changed circumstances in the external world, which achieves s dismountly currency within a speech community(qtd. in Chrystal 1992 264) at a particular cartridge clip.In philology, a neologism is a recently-coined word, or the act of inventing a word or phrase. Additionally it can imply the use of gaga words in a new sense (i.e., giving new meanings to living words or phrases). Neologisms are especially useful in identifying new inventions, new phenomena, or sexagenarian ideas which view taken on a new cultural context. The word neologism was coined around 1800 and was, at that time, a neologism itself. A person who develops a neologism is sometimes called a neologist neology is the act of introducing a new word into a language.l. 2. Background of English NeologismsThe famous American new word expert John Algeo wrote in the preface of his sacred scripture Fifty Years Among the New Words, Although the lexicon of new word is warmly welcomed by readers only in recent days, actually the compiling of English dictionary began with the collection of new word ever since 1604. The early English dictionaries like Table Alphabeticall (1604, Robert Cawdrey), English Expositor (1616, John Bullokar), and The English Dictionarie (1623, Henry Cockeram) all embodied some hard words, which were absolutely new words to deal in those days. Thus, those dictionaries somehow held the characteristics of neologism dictionary. However, the scientific and systematic study of neologism began at 200 years later, th e 20th century.In 1902, Leon Mead published a book telephoned Word-Coinage, being an Inquiryinto Recent Neologisms, also a Brief Study of Literary Style, Slang, andProvincialisms, which said to be the first book studying neologism in the 20th.Although it was not a neologism dictionary, it contained some articles nigh new words. Whats more than, Mead put forward the idea of devising research on new words for the first time in the history. He also provided laps of frameworks of new words created by some American writers at that time.In 1920, C.Alphonso Smith, the dean of the English department of AmericanNavy Institute wrote a book entitled New Words Self-defined, in which 420 newwords were illustrated by examples. This had proved to be a big progress in theresearch on the neologisms.From 1937 to 1940, the famous American scholar Dwight Bolinger first utilizenewspapers and magazines to introduce new word. He created a column, The Living Language, in the newspaper, Words. In 194 3, the column was brought into American speech and the title was changed into Among the New Words. Then, in the next year,Professor I. Willis Russell took the send off of Bolinger and became the chief-editor of the column. He wrote articles entitled Words and Meanings, New, to introduce new words and their new meanings.War is said to be the major cradle for the born of new words. Majorie Taylor, alibrarian in New York, collected numerous neologisms created during the World War II. In 1944, Taylor compiled a word-list, The Language of World War II Abbreviation, captions, Quotations, Slogans, Titles and Other ground and Phrases, in which every new word was explained. Similarly, Clarence Barnhart published his mental lexicon of U.S. Army Terms. At that time, some academic magazines also published articles to introduce new words. many an(prenominal) neologism dictionaries in the 1950s are very popular, especially the Dictionary of New Words in English compiled by Paul Charles Berg in 1953 and The Dictionary of New Words by Mary Reifer in 1955. During 1950s, Mr. Paul Charles Berg did a lot of job to collect new words about the war, which brought us his Dictionary of New Words in English in 1953.After the World War II, science and technology victimisation had greatlyinfluenced the society. Subsequently, a lot of scientific and technical words wereflooding into the language field. A lot of neologism dictionaries about words in those fields were published. Two of them are mostly welcomed An Explaining and Pronouncing Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Words by W. E. Flood Michael West and Words of Sciences and the History Blind Them by Isaac Asimov.From 1970s on, the study of English neologism drew great attention fromwestern scholars, many of them established special column to introduce new words in English, such as William Safire who was well chicanen for his On Language in New York Times weekly and Anne H. Soukhanow who was the chief-editor of Word Watch. In Safires column, he provided a considerably clear report of new words by citing typical examples, exploring their origins and performing their current tradition.Besides, the American Dialect Association Dispatches introduced some new words yearly to the public. For instance, in 1994, discipline superhighway was rewarded as the newest word cybersex was the most surprising word and mosaic culture the most unnecessary word.The digital revolution in 1990s is the ultra reshaping and restructuring ofsocial patterns. Because of the wild spread of internet, America is speaking a whole new language, said Shawn Holley in his The New Word Revolution. Lots of neologisms that have a historical significance by reason of the influence they exerted on the language field are brought into existence. According to the statistics, more than 20 neologism dictionaries have been compiled, among which some put emphasis on the academic field and some are distinctive by their popularity. Oxford English Dictionary, Websters Third New International Dictionary and Barhart Dictionary of New English are the ones with the highest academic value.New words are numerous. Sometimes it seems as if a new word has about as ofttimes chance of developing into a permanent addition to our vocabulary. Only few of them will remain as serious candidates for the dictionary. Books especially about new words are abundant. However, only a few scholars have ventured to propose brokers that make for the success of new words. One is Goran Kjellmer, whose article Potential Words in the diary Word for August 2000 also reviews previous proposals. The other is the executive secretary of American Dialect Society, Allan Metcalf who proposed the FUDGE scale. The two reached different conclusions.Along with books and periodicals, there is the Internet. In particular, it makes my extensive searches for examples of how words are actually used today possible. Here the author has searched thousands of pages indexed b y Google.com countless times to find current uses of words low discussion.A jump of several decades has showed us more researches on the neologisms.Language reflects our life, and the research on the neologisms has never been stopped.By collecting new words or phrases occurring in languages, the previous researches have provided precious solids for the further exploration in this field. Therefore, a careful look at the research background of neologisms carries an essential academic significance.In china, the study of neologism began from 1980s. Most of the specific worksand papers are mere introduction of theories from abroad lacking of much original study. To financial support up with the latest English vocabulary is really difficult, thus a thorough and systematic analysis about English new words is of practical significance both in learning and teaching of English as a foreign language.Chapter 02 Factors for the Rise of English NeologismsIt is not language change itself that h as engaged the attention of historical linguists for the past decades, scarcely the causes and the processes of change. Early researchers, such as Saussure (1922) or Bloomfield (1933), for instance, maintained that the causes of linguistic change cannot be established disdain numerous attempts at feasible explanations (Wardhaugh,1990187). The majority of the early researchers have maintained also that the actual processes of change cannot be viewd that what one can observe and perhaps analyses are the consequences of change. The findings of later research, however, envisage the process of change as an initial fluctuation between the new and the old, with the completion of the process occurring when the new re outranks the old (Fromkin et al.,1996295). In other words, if the new form, be it phonological, morpho-syntactic, lexical or semantic, spreads the change is in progress, if it eventually replaces the old form, the change has become a fait accompli it has gone to completio n(Holmes,1992212).In regard to the causes of change, although the reasons for an aspect of a language undergoing change at a particular point in time still remain unclear, a turning of theories have been proposed, depending on the orientation of individual researchers. For instance, Mcmahon M.S (1994 179-182) discussing causes of semantic change, delineates the followingLinguistic causesHistorical causes (subdivided into ideas and scientific concepts)Social causesPsychological causes (subdivided into emotive factors and taboo)Foreign influenceThe necessitate for a new nameQuite a lot of reasons are responsible for the creating of English neologisms.Any new thing or new concept, which takes place in our society, may provide a foundation for the creating of the new words. In the following, four of the majorreasons will be emphasized 1) the rise of new concepts and new ideas in socialculture 2) new discoveries in science and technology 3) the manufacture of new products in economy, a nd 4) the events in the field of politics. Accompanied by a series of neologisms, we can have a clearer understanding of the current English neologisms.2.1. Sociolcultural Changes2.1.1. New Concepts and ideas in Social Culture.The improving living condition and the enhancing cultural model have formeda solid basis on which a large number of new things find their occurrence. It is not necessary to demonstrate that with the development of social culture, new concepts and ideas are introduced into us constantly. Since there are many more concepts than there are existing words, there will unendingly be new words created. Changes in social outlook and manners of behavior call for new marchess such as beatnik, peacenik, and hippie. Even new culinary ar leanments demand new labels and in English they have some forth in the form of cheeseburger, chiliburger, mushroomburger, etc.(Anderson, 1973)Brian Foster presents us a striking example of how fast English vocabularychanges. In the year 1914, a young girl named Monica Baldwin entered a convent, remaining secluded there until 1941. When she returned to the outer world, she found herself in a totally different world the conditions of everyday life altered by technical developments and social changes were beyond recognition. Whats more puzzling to her was the language people speaking. During a railway journey, the bourn luggage in advance meant nothing to her. Reading the daily newspapers made her feel idiotic in the extreme, because words like jazz, Gin, Hollywood, Cool, noshing and Isolationism were completely incomprehensible to her. Not to mention how bewildered she was at hearing friends say, Its your funeral or believe it or not.(Brian Foster, 1981)Lets look at another example moonlighting. It was anything but new to thevocabulary, and it gained a brand new meaning in 1957 as the verb to moonlight and its related noun, moonlighting. Time magazine, beamed moonlighting at its readers in its issue of July 22nd, 19 57. According to Time, it was in fact not just a new name, but a new trend and a new concern. MOON-LIGHTING, proclaimed the headline A difficulty Born of Prosperity.As a noun, moonlight goes back with the moon itself to the beginning of theEnglish language and even earlier to the Germanic and Indo-European ancestors of English. Presumably ever since humans could speak, they have talked about the light of the moon. As a verb, to moonlight is more recent, but it still goes back to the nineteenth century. From the start it has meant doing something by the light of the moon, but at first this was something that could get one arrested. In the nineteenth century, moonlight was a slang term for the activity of burglars, who benefited from moonlight at their work. In the twentieth century, it was also used for herding cattle and hunting deer by moonlight. Whether it was the illegal work that in 1957 caused the transmutation of moonlight into a standard term for legal work, or whether this new meaning was independently derived from the original moonlight, nobody knows. And it doesnt matter much. Either way, moonlight meaning the light of the moon easily took on its second meaning of to work a second job, and Americans have been moonlighting ever since. This second meaning seems likely to stay in the vocabulary, as long as people continue to hold down second jobs.2.1.2.Disguising Language, MisnomersWhile taboo words are words that have been banned by the speech community,misnomers are words that individuals have decided to coin in order to deceive the hearer by disguising unpleasant concepts. posers E. friendly fire instead of bombardment by own troops.2.1.3.Prestige, FashionLexical change may be based on the prestige of another language or another variety of the homogeneous language, certain fashionable word-formation patterns or certain fashionable semasiological centers of expansion. The kernel of this force is mostly found outside of language. It is often the pre stige of a culture, the superiority of a group or politics which cause speakers to adopt linguistic elements (words, morphemes, morphs, sounds) from the prestigious groups speech. Example English, for instance, borrowed heavily from French during the ME. period because the upper social classes were made up of Frenchpeople garment, flower, rose, face, prince, hour, question, dance, fork, royal, loyal, fine, zero are all Gallicisms. Today, English is now the most prestigious language for many parts of the world.2.1.4.Social, or Demographic, ReasonsBy social, or demographic, reasons we shall refer to the involvement between different social groups. This pass on may easily, and sort of subconsciously, trigger off lexical change- the more intensive the social contact is, the more intensive the linguistic exchange. Example In the history of the English language, the two prominent instances of exchanges between two social groups were the one with the Vikings in the eighth to 11th centur ies and the one with the French in the 11th to 15th centuries. The force of direct contact between different speech communities must(prenominal) not be mixed up with the prestige force, where no direct contact with the other speech community is necessary. Thus, wecan say that the early French loans (from Northern French) rather go back to theeveryday contact with the English population and the French soldiers, not so early French loans (from Parisian French) go back to the prestige of the French aristocracy, the French loans in the official bilingual phase of Englands history may either go back to prestige or to the social contact or to both. Examples The inherited ey is replaced by Scandinavian egg, the inherited nimen is replaced by Scandinavian taken except for theform benumb, throwen is supplemented by Scandinavian casten early French loans are army, carpenter, catch.2.1.5.Culture-Induced saliency of a Concept (Cultural Salience)Sometimes concepts are not salient to humans bec ause of gerenal human nature, but because of the concepts cultural values. Their salience can change with the change of culture. Example The increased sizeableness of arts and fashion has affected the lexical treatment of the conceptual field of colors from a vague differentiation between black-market blue and light blue to a neat distinction between cobalt blue, royal blue, indigo etc. (such neat detailed differentiations often originate in expert slang and then penetrate the language of the general speech community).Conceptual fields which have gained salience through cultural importance may very well serve as designations in other conceptual field in the form of metaphors. Example In the US, a lot of metaphors in general language have been taken from the field of baseball, e.g. to be off base to be completely wrong, to hit a home expelling to be highly successful and from the field of entrepreneurship.2.1.6.Word-PlayThe category of word play includes humor, irony and puns. Alt hough word-play often goes hand in hand with other factors (such as taboo, prestige or anthropological salience), it can also trigger lexical change on its own. Example ModE. perfect lady prostitute, to take French break to leave secretly (without paying), to cool look (2.2 New discoveries and Products In Science and TechnologySuppose youre advancing the cause of science rather than pitching a product,and you have something new to report-a new element, a new compound, or a new species. How does it get a name? No new science is possible without neologisms, new words or new interpretations of old words to describe and explain reality in new ways. How could Aristotle have developed the logic of syllogisms or northward thetheory of dynamics without new vocabularies and definitions? They were neologists, and everybody wanting to contribute new knowledge must be. For new knowledge there is no way around the creation of new terms and concepts. For new objects and new inventions, scientifi c discoveries, technical theories, etc, the new name is usually the work of one man or of a very few. To slump neologisms, often despicably, is to reject scientific development. No sign of scientific conservatism is so telling as the rejection of all but the established concepts of a train of thought. Neologisms are, however, relative to the terminological paradigm actually dominating a field ofknowledge. It may be a radical renewal to introduce terms from a tradition believed to be outmoded.Nowadays the idea of the technical highway has been very familiar to people.Development in the science and technology has brought tremendous energy to the progression of our civilization. And these achievements also find their reflections in language. Technical advancements in a society demand new designator terms, many of which can be found in linguistics such as hypercorrection, phoneme, allomorph, etc. The progress of science and technology give ins occasion for the large majority of new words for a new thing we must have a new name hence, for instance, motor, argon, and appendicitis. It is interesting to see that the last word did not exist, or was at least too obscure to be recorded, when the Oxford Dictionary began to come out in 1888 but we cannot do without it now.Take the word software for example, that computer term was invented by JohnW. Tukey, a actuary at Princeton University. As long ago as 1958, he used the word in the American Mathematical Monthly. Today the software comprising the carefully intend interpretive routines, compilers, and other aspects of automotive programming are at least as important to the modern electronic calculator as its hardware of tubes, transistors, wires, tapes and the like. Tukey was already known for inventing another now- famous computer term. In 1946 he used the little word bit as the designation for a unit of information, a binary digit with value 0 or 1. That led a decade later to bytes (groups of bits, now always eight , a term invented by Werner Buchholz at IBM) and to todays kilo-, mega and tera-bytes of computer storage and information.2.3 The Manufacture of New Products in EconomyEconomic development is the mainstream of our era. The improvement oflanguage, to a certain extent, benefits a lot from the new phenomenon that occurs in the economic field. In this competitive world, any innovation or fresh things taking place in economy will soon find their share in the language. If theres anything a new product needs, its a brand name. To the extent that the product succeeds, the name will too. Its a sure thing, the one way to plight that a new term will be a success spend mighty amounts of money on marketing persuade people to secure and keep on buying a product, and they will call it by the name you give it.When you want a product, a company would like you to call of its brand name.The Coca-Cola Company wants people to think of a vitamin C when they want a soft make merry. But if the marketi ng is successful enough and the name Coke is embedded in peoples vocabulary, people will ask for a Coke and be satisfied if they get a Pepsi. In fact, in the southeastern linked States, home of Coca-Cola, Coke is such a successful brand that many people there (and in the rest of the country) refer to any soft drink as a coke.Some brand names even joined the pack of the general vocabulary. Here aresome of themAspirin a name for acetylsalicylic acid, trademarked by the Bayer Company ofGermany at the start of the twentieth century.Elevator and escalator both originally trademarks of the Otis Elevator Company.Zipper a name given to a separable fastener by the B.F. Goodrich Companymany years after it was invented. The new name helped the zipper attainpopularity in the 1930s.Loafer for a moccasin-like shoe.Cellophane for a bold wrap made of cellulose.Granola a trademark registered in 1886 by W K. Kellogg, now used for anatural kind of breakfast cereal.Ping-pong for table tennis, a trade mark registered by Parker Brothers in 1901.Xerox for photocopier.Kleenex for facial tissue.Band-Aid for adhesive bandage.Tupperware for storage container.Scotch tape for transparent adhesive tape.Jazzercise for exercise to jazz music.2.4. The Events in the Field of Politics.The forming of English new words is sometimes considered as the result of thepolitical changes. Language reflects the society, as it has always been. Politics is an essential part of the development of the world therefore, it can easily find its relative neologisms in the language field.For instance, when Mr. Bill Clinton was elected as the chair of the US., hisname has been associated with many political words. His policy is Clintonian, he is carrying out the Clintionism, his economics policy is Clintonomics, and his supporters were called Clintonites, he ultimately wanted to realize his Clintonization. Another widespread usage of affixes is -gate, which came from the historical Watergate event. People took us e of Irangate to disclose the involvement of some American government office workers in U.S. selling arms to Iran. Camillagate was used to mean the tell apart affair of British Prince Charles and his lover Camilla Parker.Nannygate was pointed to the illegal hire of baby-sitter or the hire of illegalimmigrants. Another striking example, On September 11, 2001, the peace of a sunny late-summer morning was shattered by the impact of four hijacked airplanes on the World slew Center towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. There were more direct casualties in these disasters than on any previous day in American history, and soon the entire country felt the impact of damaged or destroyed lives, businesses,and sense of security. Out of the ashes came patriotism, resolve, and unity. And out of the ashes came new words, too, to describe new situations never before imagined.The events stir memories of Pearl Harbor and Oklahoma City, and we refer to other memorable occasions by thei r locations Lexington and Concord, Gettysburg, Little Big Horn, and Wounded Knee but in this case the name of place wont work. Its not just because several places were involved, but also because the places are too famous. New York City and Washington, DC, have too many other connotations, so do the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.For lack of a suitable designation deriving from place, we have used the date as a reference point September 11. That does have a well-known precedent. One other event in American history is referred to by its date July 4 or the Fourth of July, the date in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in Philadelphia.In addition to the spelled-out month and day, the numerals 9/11 or 9-11 havebeen used. Never before has such a historic event been so labeled, but because of the striking coincidence that 911 is the telephone number to call for help in an emergency, that numerical designation has been a success. advertise writers like the conc ision of this expression, just three numerals to take in all the events of that day. So far, the events of that day have resulted in just one new term ground zero, for the place of impact, the center of destruction in New York City where the World Trade Towers once stood. That phrase has succeeded because it is not really new its an old term for the location on the ground directly under a vast atomic explosion, corresponding to air zero, the location in the air preceding(prenominal) the ground where the bomb goes off. Ground zero had been gathering dust on the shelf in recent years because of a fortunate lack of atomic explosions. No one knows who first said ground zero in reference to the site where the World Trade Towers were attacked and collapsed, but the term immediately caught on because of its familiarity and emotional power.Chapter 03Success of English Neologisms3.1. How are Neologisms Found?The authority for a word in fact, the authority for a language rests with the us ers of the language. Thus, the process of adding new words to the dictionary begins with a systematic examination of almost everything printed and said in English. As far as Among the New Words is concerned, this important task credit entry with source information (qtd. in Algeo 1991a 3) is fulfilled by active members of the Words Committee, who contribute the words they regard as new in any material they read or listen to (Algeo 1991a 3).The cited word must contain the name of the publication, the day, and the page number. Concerning oral citations, the source information must consist of the day the objurgate was heard and where and when one came across it (Algeo 1991a 3). The following list shows that usually American dictionaries are consulted (with the exceptions of two British dictionaries the OED and Websters Third) to check the newness of each contribution (Algeo 1991a 2)Random hold Websters College Dictionary, 1991.Oxford English Dictionary, 2d ed., 1989.World Book Dict ionary, 1989Websters New World Dictionary, 3d College ed., 1988.Random House Dictionary, 2d ed. Unabridged, 1987.Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1983.Websters Third New International Dictionary, 1961.Only if the new word is assumed to be British, are additional British dictionaries referred to. To make sure that a neologism has not been lexicalize yet, the following dictionaries of neologisms are usedThird Barnhart Dictionary of New English. 1990.Chambers English Dictionary, 1988.Collins Concise Dictionary, 2d ed., 1988.Collins Dictionary, 2d ed., 1986.Longman Dictionary, 1984.Readers Digest prominent Illustrated Dictionary, 1984.If a word entered one of these dictionaries, then it is usually not recorded in Among the New Words (Algeo 91a 2).Since Among the New Words receives more citations than there is outer space to print, a selection has to be made. The criteria on what and when to enter a word is up to the lexicographer. As I said, lexicographers have different opini ons (Algeo 1991b 75) and therefore it is hard to give exact rules. However, two principles can be set up the absolutely newness of a word and the reflection of the zeitgeist.3.2. Reasons of Success of Neologisms3.2.1 The frequency of occurrencesThe most important factor is that a word appears in as many different sources as possible. The more sources (newspapers, magazines, books etc.) a word appears in, the more obvious is the frequency and range of the term (Sheidlower 33). Besides, the more a word is cited the more popular it is and consequently the more likely it is to be included in a dictionary.3.2.2 Range among sourcesIt is of interest to know the range of the new word because if a word is only common in a special field, it is not a candidate for a general dictionary but rather for a technical one. Therefore, a general dictionary excludes technical terms or terms well known in a certain field because they are not of general interest. However, there are exceptions the term int ellectual property1was limited to certain fields. Today, its use is widespread because new technologies are invented thus the intellectual property has to be preserved (Sheidlower 33).3.2.3 DurabilityThe use of a term over a certain time gives information on its durability. Nevertheless, this criterion must not be overrated. It is true that a word that appears over a certain time span, but differently does not constitute sufficient evidence (qtd. in Barnhart 59) probably will not be included however, a brandnew word with sufficient evidence (frequency of occurrences, range among sources, cruciality in a given field) is likely to enter a dictionary (Sheidlower 34).Sheidlower points out that the criterion should rather be the number and range of citations than the newness of the word (34

Hamlets Revenge Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Revenge of junctureHamlets sixth soliloquy is rise of irony, philosophy, and with the familiar subject of revenge. It reflects themes of the accurate play, and it helped further my understanding of Shakespeares masterpiece, Hamlet. The main character, in his second-to-last monologue reflects Claudius regret which is an obstacle to revenge. This barrier creates frustration for Hamlet, but also is a reason for further procrastination, which is usually Hamlets way out of a situation. The subject of the soliloquy is essentially that if Claudius is killed by Hamlet composition praying, he will go to heaven. This situation is ironic because of Claudius secret inability to pray, and the irony is unknowingly reflected throughout Hamlets viewpoint of the situation. Hamlets philosophy is educated, but very ironic, as are many of the words and images that Hamlet uses. The characteristics of this soliloquy, the subject, irony, Hamlets procrastination and his philosophy are true reflect ions of the entire play, and that is why my understanding of the play developed and improved by examining the sixth soliloquy.The subject of Hamlets sixth aside is very similar to his former(a) six because of his inability to act upon his conviction. Hamlet is told to avenge his fathers unnatural murder knowing fully that this is his duty. Revenge tragedy has long been recognized, on the one hand, for the speed with which it becomes virtually synonymous with stage misogyny and, on the other, for its generic and sometimes profound investment in recognizably Renaissance litigate of mourning- revenge, after all, is the private response to socially unaccommodated grief- but typically mourning and misogyny have been considered in isolation from one another, in separate studies and except insofar as the duplicate Renaissance habits of fancy articulated elsewhere in medical or philosophical discourse.(Mullaney) However, throughout the play we discover his fleecy heart and often his ina bility to act. By this he is betraying his fathers command. This betrayal is more than evident in this soliloquy. His mind is tainted by the thought that if he were to avenge while Claudius is praying, Claudius would go to heaven. Essentially in this soliloquy, William Shakespeare reveals the moral problems associated with committing revenge in a corrupt world. Again, Hamlet finds a way to vindicate himself fro... ... not to be speech. Each of the characteristics of Hamlets sixth soliloquy reflected the principle elements of Hamlet and because of that my understanding of the play improved. I was pushed to read more about into the play and in doing so found many similarities between this particular speech and the thoughts and actions of Hamlet. My understanding of Shakespeares individual craft was also improved. Many characteristics of his publications shone through in Hamlet, particularly his creativity and questioning philosophies, his use of the procrastinating lead character, and his interesting use of irony. The basic principles of Hamlet were also revealed in the sixth soliloquy. The spirit of revenge in a corrupt world and my understanding of these were improved through closer examination of the play.Works CitedDiYanni, Robert. Literature Hamlet, Prince of Denmark/William Shakespeare. 5th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2002.Gottschalk, Paul. Shakespeare Quarterly Hamlet and the Scanning of Revenge. Vol. 24 No. 2. p.155-170Mullaney, Steven. Shakespeare Quarterly Mourning anMisogyny. Vol. 45. No. 2.(Summer, 1994) p. 139-164

Are Blacks Too Cool For The We :: essays research papers

Do less blacks than their fellow white Americans use the wind vane? According to the Pew Study on Internet Usage , the answer is yes, but this study is also quick to point out that it&8217s non merely color, it&8217s a mixture of things. However, according to Leonce Gaiter , author of Is the Web too Cool for Blacks, &8220the mesh mocks&8230our fundamental beliefs, our core desires. (p 643) Gaiter categorically states that the majority of white Americans have an ignorance for black culture. He does not take the time to address the other legitimate reasons accounting for the black deficiency, but continues to go on about prejudice and racism, not even stopping to document proper sources. Have morals and values changed in America and left blacks underside? According to Gaiter, the web can&8217t help us achieve our &821650&8217s and &821660&8217s ideals (p 643). Blacks still want the traditional &8220American Dream. Well, what is the &8220traditional American Dream? Perhaps, the dr eam is to have a nice car and house, and a good job. But in contrast to Gaiter, I believe that these atomic number 18 the same things we want today. Nothing has changed except for the fact that entrepreneurs have emerged with the growth of the Web. People are finding ways to make money from avenues they never ideate of. The &8220American Dream as we know it has not vanished or been left behind, it has simply been revised to include family time and personal final stages.Although racism has decreased in friendship today, it still is a threat to getting people on the Web. Nowadays, blacks are not the simply one being discriminated against-it&8217s all minorities. In studies conducted, of the online community, only 23% are non-white. Because of this, non-whites are uncomfortable with the fact that they may converse with those who under normal circumstances would show prejudice against them. President Clinton stated that his goal was to have a computer in every home by the end of hi s term. But how many people will want to access the web if it is considered &8220white? Gaiter stated that the web is considered &8220white and therefore people stay away to avoid trouble, even if they are offered the opportunity. The only problem that Leonce Gaiter did not fully address is economics. With the amount of people on government assistance growing everyday, economics poses as a big problem. Studies have shown that of the majority of those who do not use the web at least 35% were at an economic disadvantage.