Download or read book Teaching and Its Predicaments written by David K. Cohen and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-31 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since Socrates, teaching has been a difficult and even dangerous profession. Why is teaching such hard work? In this provocative, witty, sometimes rueful book, Cohen writes about the predicaments that teachers face and explores what responsible teaching can be. He focuses on the kind of mind reading teaching demands and the resources it requires.

Download or read book Neck Deep and Other Predicaments written by Ander Monson and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007-01-23 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this spearkling nonfiction debut, Monson uses unexpectedly nonliterary forms - the index, the Harvard outline, the mathematical proof - to delve into an equally surprising mix of obsessions: disc golf, the history of mining in northern Michigan, car washes, snow, topology, and more. He remembers the telegram, a disappearing form, and reflects on his outsider experience at an exclusive Detroit-area boarding school in the form of a criminal history. - from cover

Download or read book The Crash Course written by Chris Martenson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-02-14 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The next twenty years will be completely unlike the last twenty years. The world is in economic crisis, and there are no easy fixes to our predicament. Unsustainable trends in the economy, energy, and the environment have finally caught up with us and are converging on a very narrow window of time—the "Twenty-Teens." The Crash Course presents our predicament and illuminates the path ahead, so you can face the coming disruptions and thrive--without fearing the future or retreating into denial. In this book you will find solid facts and grounded reasoning presented in a calm, positive, non-partisan manner. Our money system places impossible demands upon a finite world. Exponentially rising levels of debt, based on assumptions of future economic growth to fund repayment, will shudder to a halt and then reverse. Unfortunately, our financial system does not operate in reverse. The consequences of massive deleveraging will be severe. Oil is essential for economic growth. The reality of dwindling oil supplies is now internationally recognized, yet virtually no developed nations have a Plan B. The economic risks to individuals, companies, and countries are varied and enormous. Best-case, living standards will drop steadily worldwide. Worst-case, systemic financial crises will toss the world into jarring chaos. This book is written for those who are motivated to learn about the root causes of our predicaments, protect themselves and their families, mitigate risks as much as possible, and control what effects they can. With challenge comes opportunity, and The Crash Course offers a positive vision for how to reshape our lives to be more balanced, resilient, and sustainable.

Download or read book Teaching And Its Predicaments written by Nicholas Burbules and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-05-20 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Teaching is a complex and challenging endeavour. Teachers are continually faced with difficult choices in which competing values are set in tension with one another. The interests of all students, and of other groups and constituencies, can rarely be served at the same time. Different educational goals, each desirable in and of itself, often place

Download or read book Narcissistic Predicaments written by Sister Renee Pittelli and published by Outskirts Press. This book was released on 2015-03-05 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: PLEASING GOD WHILE PROTECTING YOURSELF Adult Children of narcissistic families often find themselves in predicaments that people with normal families never have to face. They spend a lifetime being stuck in no-win situations, forced to make uncomfortable choices, and then being made to live through the consequences with no support and no appreciation. Offering encouragement, comfort and wisdom, and filled with helpful suggestions, step-by-step guides, and just-right scripture verses, Narcissistic Predicaments is exactly what you need to help you set boundaries and free yourself in accordance with biblical principles. Including The 21 Rules of No Contact and 102 Questions to Ask Yourself When Deciding Whether to End an Abusive Relationship, here are the answers you’ve been looking for. When you try to set boundaries, have you been accused of not being a “good Christian,” because: *You are not honoring your father and mother? *You have to “forgive and forget,” even though your relatives refuse to stop their abuse? *You must forgive unrepentant evildoers because Jesus said “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do?” *You are taking revenge by enforcing consequences? *You have to “love your enemies?” In Narcissistic Predicaments, the author will help you let go of the guilt, learn effective strategies for protecting yourself, and find out what the Bible really says about dilemmas such as: *Should you let your estranged relatives have contact with your children? *Dealing with the family meddler who tries to intervene between you and your abuser *Working in the family business *What to expect when you upset the apple cart by getting married *What to do about holidays, weddings, and family celebrations *Does your abuser’s apology automatically cover those who took her side against you? *What to expect from estranged relatives who want to drag you back in *Reconciling on your terms, not theirs *If you leave, who will take care of your abusive parents in their old age? *Visiting a dying abuser *When your abuser or estranged relative dies- funerals, condolences, obituaries Just as a single narcissistic abuser refuses to allow others their autonomy apart from him, the narcissistic family does not see and accept its members as separate individuals. The uniqueness of each person and their differences are not celebrated. Instead, individuality and free-thinking are perceived as threatening and not allowed. Anyone who breaks from the group mentality will be shut up or shunned. There is one way of thinking, one opinion for all. If you offend one of them, you offend them all. If you set a boundary and say something to one, it’s as if you said it to the whole clan. If one is mad at you, they’re all mad at you. If one isn’t speaking to you, they’re all not speaking to you. And if one suddenly decides that they are speaking to you again, then everybody is speaking to you again. The only wild card they never consider is whether you will want to speak to them again. They simply assume that you will passively go along with whatever the group decides, just like all of them do. In the Bible, God instructs his children on how he wants them to relate to and live in peace with each other. He is not instructing the children of God on how to be loving and forgiving toward, live in peace with, and maintain relationships with the children of Satan. As Christians, we are to take up the full armor of God and fight the dark forces of evil, not peacefully co-exist with them. A breath of fresh air for Adult Children of abusive families, this compelling book will help you find the peace our heavenly Father promised you, His beloved child.

Download or read book Putin s Predicament written by Bo Petersson and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2021-09-09 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using the Russian president’s major public addresses as the main source, Bo Petersson analyzes the legitimization strategies employed during Vladimir Putin’s third and fourth terms in office. The argument is that these strategies have rested on Putin’s highly personalized blend of strongman-image projection and presentation as the embodiment of Russia’s great power myth. Putin appears as the only credible guarantor against renewed weakness, political chaos, and interference from abroad—in particular from the US. After a first deep crisis of legitimacy manifested itself by the massive protests in 2011–2012, the annexation of Crimea led to a lengthy boost in Putin’s popularity figures. The book discusses how the Crimea effect is, by 2021, trailing off and Putin’s charismatic authority is increasingly questioned by opposition from Alexei Navalny, the effects of unpopular reforms, and poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, Russia is bound to head for a succession crisis as the legitimacy of the political system continues to be built on Putin’s projected personal characteristics and—now apparently waning—charisma, and since no potential heir apparent has been allowed on center stage. The constitutional reform of summer 2020 made it possible in theory for Putin to continue as president until 2036. Yet, this change did not address the Russian political system’s fundamental future leadership dilemma.

Download or read book Human Predicaments written by John Kekes and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-03-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his latest book, esteemed philosopher John Kekes draws on anthropology, history, and literature in order to help us cope with the common predicaments that plague us as we try to take control of our lives. In each chapter he offers fascinating new ways of thinking about a particular problem that is fundamental to how we live, such as facing difficult choices, uncontrollable contingencies, complex evaluations, the failures of justice, the miasma of boredom, and the inescapable hypocrisies of social life. Kekes considers how we might deal with these predicaments by comparing how others in different times and cultures have approached them. He examines what is good, bad, instructive, and dangerous in the sexually charged politics of the Shilluk, the Hindu caste system, Balinese role-morality, the religious passion of Cortes and Simone Weil, the fate of Colonel Hiromichi Yahara during and after the battle for Okinawa, the ritual human sacrifices of the Aztecs, and the tragedies to which innocence may lead. In doing so, he shakes us out of our deep-seated ways of thinking, enlarging our understanding of the possibilities available to us as we struggle with the problems that stand in the way of how we want to live. The result is a highly interesting journey through time and space that illuminates and helps us cope with some of the most basic predicaments we all face as human beings.

Download or read book Teaching and Its Predicaments written by David K. Cohen and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-31 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since Socrates, teaching has been a difficult and even dangerous profession. Why is good teaching such hard work? In this provocative, witty, and sometimes rueful book, David K. Cohen writes about the predicaments that teachers face. Like therapists, social workers, and pastors, teachers embark on a mission of human improvement. They aim to deepen knowledge, broaden understanding, sharpen skills, and change behavior. One predicament is that no matter how great their expertise, teachers depend on the cooperation and intelligence of their students, yet there is much that students do not know. To teach responsibly, teachers must cultivate a kind of mental double vision: distancing themselves from their own knowledge to understand students’ thinking, yet using their knowledge to guide their teaching. Another predicament is that although attention to students’ thinking improves the chances of learning, it also increases the uncertainty and complexity of the job. The circumstances in which teachers and students work make a difference. Teachers and students are better able to manage these predicaments if they have resources—common curricula, intelligent assessments, and teacher education tied to both—that support responsible teaching. Yet for most of U.S. history those resources have been in short supply, and many current accountability policies are little help. With a keen eye for the moment-to-moment challenges, Cohen explores what “responsible teaching” can be, the kind of mind reading it seems to demand, and the complex social resources it requires.

Download or read book The Human Predicament written by David Benatar and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-05-05 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are our lives meaningful, or meaningless? Is our inevitable death a bad thing? Would immortality be an improvement? Would it be better, all things considered, to hasten our deaths by suicide? Many people ask these big questions -- and some people are plagued by them. Surprisingly, analytic philosophers have said relatively little about these important questions about the meaning of life. When they have tackled the big questions, they have tended, like popular writers, to offer comforting, optimistic answers. The Human Predicament invites readers to take a clear-eyed and unfettered view of the human condition. David Benatar here offers a substantial, but not unmitigated, pessimism about the central questions of human existence. He argues that while our lives can have some meaning, we are ultimately the insignificant beings that we fear we might be. He maintains that the quality of life, although less bad for some than for others, leaves much to be desired in even the best cases. Worse, death is generally not a solution; in fact, it exacerbates rather than mitigates our cosmic meaninglessness. While it can release us from suffering, it imposes another cost - annihilation. This state of affairs has nuanced implications for how we should think about many things, including immortality and suicide, and how we should think about the possibility of deeper meaning in our lives. Ultimately, this thoughtful, provocative, and deeply candid treatment of life's big questions will interest anyone who has contemplated why we are here, and what the answer means for how we should live.

Download or read book Predicaments of Knowledge written by Suren Pillay and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2024-09-01 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Predicaments of Knowledge explores the difficult questions South African universities face after apartheid: Is there a difference between Africanising a university and decolonising a university? What about differences between deracialising and decolonising the curricula taught at universities across disciplines? Through a range of reflections on race, language, colonial, postcolonial and decolonial knowledge projects from Africa and Latin America, this book explores the pitfalls and possibilities that face a post-apartheid generation inventing the future of knowledge. The distinctions between Africanisation, decolonisation and deracialisation are often conflated in the political demands put to universities. Suren Pillay emphasises all three as important but distinct imperatives. If an intervention is undertaken with the aim of decolonising the university while actually addressing deracialisation, it can undermine the effort to decolonise. Similarly, if an initiative to Africanise the university does not address decolonisation, both processes can be undermined. Drawing on more than two and a half decades of the author’s participation in these debates, these essays aim to intervene in and elucidate questions and predicaments, rather than offering blue prints; they are dialogical in spirit even when polemical in tone. In conversation with existing continental African and Latin American experiences, they offer incisive reflections on current South African debates.

Download or read book People Predicaments and Potentials in Africa written by Takehiko Ochiai and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2021-01-18 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term 'African Potentials' refers to the knowledge, systems, practices, ideas and values created and implemented in African societies that are expected to contribute to overcoming various challenges and promoting people's wellbeing. This collection of articles, focused on African societies, is based on the idea that 'Africa is People'. In this book, African people are placed at the centre of the discussion. The book's contributors, all of whom believe in African people and their potentials, consider women, minors and young people, people with disabilities, entrepreneurs, herders, farmers, mine workers, refugees, migrants, traditional rulers, militiamen and members of the political elite, and examine their predicaments and potentials in detail. Africa is people, and African potentials can be found only in African people themselves.

Download or read book The Charged Classroom written by Judith L. Pace and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-02-11 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when debate over school reform commands unprecedented attention, Judith L. Pace argues we must grapple with the underlying challenges of classroom teaching and, at the same time, strive to realize the ideals of democratic education. Building on three qualitative studies in grades four through twelve, The Charged Classroom examines the deeply embedded tensions, escalating pressures, and exciting possibilities of the contemporary American public school classroom. Through detailed descriptions and analyses of social studies and English language arts classrooms, Pace disentangles how teachers and students navigate three charged arenas: academic expectations, discussion of provocative topics, and curricular demands. In each domain, democratic learning opportunities, such as promotion of positive student identity, dialogue across differences, and exploration of conflict, are both opened up and closed down. A passionate and persuasive call for education reform, the book offers crucial insights about the realities of teaching and key recommendations for advancing democratic education in a multicultural society.

Download or read book Prosperity s Predicament written by Isabel Brown Crook and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-09-26 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This classic in the annals of village studies will be widely read and debated for what it reveals about China's rural dynamics as well as the nature of state power, markets, the military, social relations, and religion. Built on extraordinarily intimate and detailed research in a Sichuan village that Isabel Crook began in 1940, the book provides an unprecedented history of Chinese rural life during the war with Japan. It is an essential resource for all scholars of contemporary China.

Download or read book Spectacles and Predicaments written by Ernest Gellner and published by CUP Archive. This book was released on 1979 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays concerned with some key problems in the study of philosophy, politics and society.

Download or read book The Predicament of Blackness written by Jemima Pierre and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the meaning of blackness in Africa? This title tackles the question of race in West Africa through its post-colonial manifestations. Pierre examines key facets of contemporary Ghanaian society, from the pervasive significance of 'whiteness' to the practice of chemical skin-bleaching to the government's active promotion of Pan-African 'heritage tourism'.

Download or read book Human Predicaments written by John Kekes and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-06-22 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ideal of Reflection -- Reflection, Innocence, and Ideal Theories -- Toward Deeper Understanding -- Notes -- Bibliography

Download or read book The Policy State written by Karen Orren and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-23 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The steady accretion of public policies over the decades has fundamentally changed how America is governed. The formulation and delivery of policy have emerged as the government’s entire raison d’être, redefining rights and reconfiguring institutional structures. The Policy State looks closely at this massive unnoticed fact of modern politics and addresses the controversies swirling around it. Government has become more responsive and inclusive, but the shift has also polarized politics and sowed a deep distrust of institutions. These developments demand a thorough reconsideration of historical governance. “A sterling example of political science at its best: analytically rigorous, historically informed, and targeted at questions of undeniable contemporary significance... Orren and Skowronek uncover a transformation that revolutionized American politics and now threatens to tear it apart.” —Timothy Shenk, New Republic “Wherever you start out in our politics, this book will turn your sense of things sideways and make you rethink deeply held assumptions. It’s a model of what political science could be, but so rarely is.” —Yuval Levin, National Review “A gripping narrative...opening up new avenues for reflection along methodological, conceptual, and normative lines.” —Bernardo Zacka, Contemporary Political Theory