In Websters Dictionary, Morality Is Defined As Principles Of Right And

In Webster's dictionary, morality is defined as "principles of right and wrong in conduct; ethics." The principles of morality have countless times evolved over the ages. In earlier times, death was an easy penalty for many crimes. These crimes today are considered minor and are penalized with a slap on the hand. Is this considered wrong? Who is the correct authority to consult on what is right or wrong? In today's society, two major factors concern how the way members of society act and behave. The first is our national government. Members of our government in positions of authority decide everything in our lives in the form of laws which determine our behavior. One of the most important documents written by our government is the Declaration of Independence. The monarchy was taking away power from the colonists and putting more demands on. In return, the colonists declared their freedom from their tyrant. In this document, it states, "All men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The great men who wrote this down had a strong sense of morals. They believed that men were given rights by God that no one could take away. This is essential to the issue of morality because it determines the rights- that are agreed upon all- are wrong. This brings us to religion. Religion is a major contributor to how we think and act because it mirrors our beliefs in what we hold as right or wrong. An example of this is the native tribes of africa and South America where a number of tribes practice cannibalism. While this is considered a sin in most christian religions, the tribes have evolved into cannibalism as a way to survive in life and have no objections to their eating habits. The problem arises when the line between government and religion is crossed. While religion does not have to power to punish one physically, but rather soulfully of one has sinned. The government has the power to sentence punishment, yet should have no power concerning God. Many different religions have evolved all over the world and in the process, have people have been prosecuted in their faith. The first settlers in the new world came here to avoid prosecution from the powerful church/government of that time. Specifically, the Church of England headed by the king. Puritan leaders led their followers to a place where they could express their religion with no fear of other faiths. One such leader was John Winthrop. John Winthrop was a powerful Puritan governor in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. He believed that this was a calling from God for him to lead the new religious experiment-a covenant with God to built a model for mankind. "We shall be a city upon the hill." declared Winthrop. As governor Winthrop held considerable power. He distrusted the commoners and thought democracy was the "meanest and worst" forms of government. Anyone who brought trouble or had indifferent thought were severely punished to "save their soul." As one of his extensions of his powers he banished Roger Williams, a popular Salem minister with radical ideas and an unrestrained tongue, and Mistress Anne Hutchinson, A strong willed women who challenged the authority of the clergy by stating the truly saved need not bother to obey the laws of God or man. Several problems arise throughout this banishment. I am for a democratic society in which one can express his or her thoughts without the fear of prosecution. They did not have the luxury of this. The need for the expressment of ideas is essential for a growing environment. If no growth is made, then expansion of the community is halted to a standstill. The limit of new idea's must have a point, though. In recent news, the Unabomber has issued a ultimanium with his manuscript. In the past, such a request would have been rediculous. In his manuscript he expresses his view on the evils of technology. While a citizen is entitled to free speech and press, threatening murder is not such an option. There must be limits set. In colonial times these limitations were set

Great Beginnings in Pre-School Math

Great Beginnings in Pre-School Math Early development of number concepts is critical in developing positive attitudes about mathematics at an early age. Special methods and activities will assist children to develop early numeracy skills. These methods will need to include the use of motivating and engaging concrete materials that children can manipulate. Young children need to experience a lot of doing and saying before written numerals will make sense to them. As early as two years of age, many children will parrot the words one, two, three, four, five, etc. However, rarely do they understand that the number refers to an item or a set of items. At this stage, children do not have number conservation or number correspondence. How You Can Help Your Child Engaging children with a variety of measurement concepts is a great start. For instance, children enjoy telling us that they are bigger than their sister or brother or taller than the lamp or that they are higher than the dishwasher. Young children will also think that they have more in their cup simply because their cup is taller. This type of language needs to be promoted and children need parental guidance to help with the misconceptions of these concepts through experimentation. Having these conversations at bath time is a great option. Try introducing and using a variety of plastic cylinders, cups, and containers in the bathtub with your child. At this age, perception is the childs guide, they do not have any other strategies to guide them in determining which has more or less, is heavier or lighter, is bigger or smaller, etc. A parent or daycare provider can provide great learning experiences to assist young childrens misconceptions through play. Classification is a pre-number concept that children need lots of experimentation and communication with. We classify on a regular basis without even considering what were actually doing. We look in indexes that are alphabetized or numerically arranged, we purchase groceries in areas of food groups, we classify to sort laundry, we sort our silverware before putting it away. Children can benefit from a variety of classification activities which will also support early numeracy concepts. Classification Activities Use blocks to engage young children to repeat the patterns... blue, green, orange, etc.Ask young children to sort the silverware or the laundry based on color.Use shapes to encourage children to determine what comes next... triangle, square, circle, triangle, etc.Ask children to think of everything they can write with, ride on, that swims, that flies, etc.Ask children how many items in the living room are square or round or heavy, etc.Ask them to tell you how many things are made of wood, plastic, metal, etc.Extend classification activities to include more than one attribute (heavy and small, or square and smooth etc.) Before Children Count Children need to match sets before they will understand number conservation and that counting is actually referring to sets of items. Children are guided by their perceptions. As a result, a child may think that there are more grapefruits than lemons in a pile due to the actual size of the piles and fruit. You will need to do one to one matching activities with young children to help them develop conservation of number. The child will move one lemon and you can move the grapefruit. Repeat the process so that the child can see the number of fruits is the same. These experiences will need to be repeated often in a concrete manner which enables the child to manipulate the items and become engaged in the process. More Pre-Number Activities Draw a number of circles (faces) and put down a number of buttons for eyes. Ask the child if there are enough eyes for the faces and how they can find out. Repeat this activity for mouths, noses etc. Speak in terms of more than and less than or as many as and how can we find out. Use stickers to make patterns on a page or classify them by attributes. Arrange a row of a set number of stickers, arrange a second row with more spaces between the stickers, ask the child if there are the same number of stickers or more or less. Ask how they can find out, but dont count. Match the stickers one to one. Arrange items on a tray (toothbrush, comb, spoon, etc.) ask the child to look away, rearrange the items to see if they realize the number of items is still the same or if they think its different. The Bottom Line You will have given young children a great start to mathematics if you perform the above activity suggestions before introducing your child to numbers. Its often difficult to find commercial activities to support classification, one-to-one matching, number conservation, conservation or as many as/more than/the same as concepts and you will probably need to rely on typical toys and household items. These concepts underlie the important mathematical concepts that children will eventually become involved in when they begin school.