Thursday, January 30, 2020

Three defining moments in Canadian history Essay Example for Free

Three defining moments in Canadian history Essay All throughout Canada in the 20th Century there have been numerous events, actions, and decisions that we call defining moments. Canada has been through many battles, hard-chosen decisions, and changes that have changed the way Canadians live today. The second battle of Ypres, the life on the home front in World War Two, and the invasion of D-day helped enrich Canada with their contributions to food, fashion, religion, education, business, and politics. All these moments were significant for Canada and changed the way we Canadians live today. OK, well go! With these words, General Elsenhower, commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces, announced the beginning of the long-awaited and -planned invasion of Europe. The Normandy beaches of northern France were selected as the site of invasion, because they were close to Britain and the invading army, supply ships, and reinforcements. A huge army gathered in the South of England. American troops numbering 1.25 million joined a similar number of British and Commonwealth troops, including 30,000 Canadians. Four thousand landing craft, 700 war ships, and 11,000 planes were ready. The Germans had 60 divisions in northern France and the Netherlands under the command of Field Marshall Rommel. In the spring of 1944, Allied bombers started attacking and destroying Nazi military sites in northern France. The idea was to soften the enemy defences. D-Day, Day of Deliverance, was fixed for June 5, 1944. But the invasion had to be postponed due to bad weather. At 2:00 a.m. on June 6, paratroopers were dropped to protect the landing forces. Seventy-five minutes later, 2000 bombers began to pound German defences on the beaches. At 5:30 a.m., the air raids were joined by the guns of the Allied warships. Then, at precisely 6:30 a.m., the first waves of Canadian, British, and American troops poured onto the beaches of France. This was Canadas largest military operation. Fourteen thousand soldiers were set to hit the beaches of France. The Royal Canadian Navy had 100 ships with 10,000 sailors in the operation. Flying overhead were 36 bomber squadrons of the RCAF. The Canadian soldiers landed at Juno Beach, and faced underwater obstacles, land mines, barbed wire, and heavy machine-gun fire from the Germans. At the end of the day, they had met their objectives, the only Allied force to do so that day. They had suffered 335 dead and 739 other casualties. Within a week, the Allies had 300,000 troops safely on  shore. Within a month, 1 million Allies had landed with 200,000 military vehicles. Though the Nazi forces fought hard, Hitler was now caught with war on two front, east and west. The second battle of Ypres (or modern Lepers) was one that completely changed the worlds perspective of Canada. Through courage and determination, the Canadian army was able to prove their strength. It all started in 1914 with the first battle of Ypres, in which the Germans had to reconsider their unsuccessful Alfred Von Schlieffen plan. They wanted to quickly eliminate the British and French, so they could finally attack Russia with full force. However, since they did not have enough time to constitute a new plan, the Germans decided to stick with the old one and use new warfare. By 1915, the second battle of Ypres was already under way, when the Germans decided to attack the potential weak spot in between the Canadian and French trenches. With the use of chlorine (or mustard) gas, the Germans were able to force the French army into retreating. The Canadians, however, used their combined thinking power to improvise a simple, effective gas mask, and fought back. The gas mask was composed of urine and a handkerchief, since the moisture could block the chlorine gas and allow for some oxygen to get in as well. When the German army moved out, they wore specialized uniforms and gas masks, and carried barbarous rifles such as the Bayonet. This gave them an overall inhuman and alien-like appearance, which was bound to scare anyone. However, this failed to intimidate the Canadians, as they simply went out with their own Bayonets and gas masks, and stalled the German army at their trenches. The other half of the army, however, had already punched holes in the French trenches and moved further into the battlefield. Thus, the Canadian army moved back and dispersed for a quick counter-attack. They filled in the gap left by the French, and pushed back the arrogant German army. At the same time, they fought the army that opposed their own trenches, and pushed them back even further. Since the German army never expected any resistance or counter-attack, they were completely vulnerable to the Canadian attack and had to retreat. When reinforcements from the French and British reserves arrived, they were surprised to find that the Canadians had in fact done the job of two armies. On that day, every Canadian soldier grew a few inches taller, and elevated  in honour, rank, reputation, skill, talent, strength, courage, and determination. For every victory, however, there is a price to pay, and for this great defensive victory, the number of casualties was paid in full. Of a maximum divisional strength of 18,000 that had started the battle, 5975 Canadians had become casualties, of whom over 1000 were fatal. The civilian population or activities of a country at war are called the home front. During WWII, the Canadian government proclaimed the War Measures Act and interned many Jewish, Italian, German, and Japanese Canadians, while sending 16,000 conscripted soldiers overseas. The War Measures Act was previously used in World War One against Ukrainian Canadians, but it was not merely as severe as in World War Two. The role of women grew closer to enemy grounds (such as actual navy, army, and air force positions), and once again, the rest took the jobs of men. Canadians grew dependant on the United States with NATO, NORAD, and Camp X. At times of war, the panicking people would rush to buy foods and supplies. Therefore, the Wartime Prices and Trade Board (WPTB) was established to control prices and supervise the distribution of food and other scarce goods. People needed ration cards to buy items such as gasoline, butter, sugar, meat, tea, and coffee. Rationing is when the government puts a limit to the amount every civilian can buy. As in WWI, total war meant that all industries, materials, and people were put to work for the war effort. The war basically affected everyone in Canada. In a very real sense, however, Canada also grew with the war. WWII helped Canada establish its place as an important middle power among world nations, while its GNP (Gross National Production) of goods (asbestos, aluminium, coal, manganese, chemicals, and paper) tripled, and all of its main industries expanded (thanks to the increased production of vital agricultural goods, such as wheat, flour, bacon, ham, eggs, canned meat, and fish). After the war, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the threat of a Third World War had people on the home front protesting about national security. The debate was mainly over Canada having nuclear warheads of its own, which most saw as a way to achieve national security, while others found it revolting and immoral. However, in 1963, when Lester B. Pearson of the Liberals became Prime Minister, all of the Bomarc missiles in Canada were armed with nuclear warheads. With the second battle of Ypres, the Germans persisted to use the Von Schlieffen plan, but with new chlorine gas warfare. Although the French retreated from their trenches, the brave Canadian soldiers stood their ground and improvised a gas mask composed of a handkerchief and urine. In doing so, they were able to stall the German forces at their trenches, and move back for a counter-attack at the Germans entering the French trenches. The surprised German forces could do nothing but retreat, and the Canadians gained international recognition for their selfless efforts. Of the 18,000 Allied soldiers present that day, 1,000 were dead and 5,957 were injured. On the home front, the War Measures Act was used to intern Jewish, Italian, German, and Japanese Canadians, while conscripting 16,000 soldiers to go overseas. Women grew closer to enemy lines with new positions in the army, navy, and air force. Canadian dependence on the United States grew with the establishment of the North American Air Defense Command, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and Camp X. Total war industries and workers were put to work for the war effort. The long-awaited and -planned attack on Normandy occurred on D-day, 1944, with an almost never-ending wave of Allied troops, air raids, and warships. It was the largest military operation for Canadians who landed at Juno Beach, and faced underwater obstacles, land mines, and machine-gun fire from the Germans. However, at the end of the day, they were the only successful Allied troops with 335 dead and 739 injured. Nazis were now caught with heavy fire from both East and West. The second battle of Ypres in World War One, life on the home front in World War Two, and invasion of D-day helped Canada become the great nation it is today, a century later.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Standardized Testing in Schools: The Analysis Essay -- Standardized Tes

Standardized Testing in Schools: The Analysis Abstract Within this paper we hope to answer lingering questions about the effectiveness of standardized testing in schools. Throughout our research we found many instances and sources of information to help us reach our goal. Standardized Testing had grown to play an enormous role in controversy concerning the Education system within the past decade. Hopefully throughout our paper it can be understood as to why this occurred and what can be done about it. Group Paper: Standardized Testing in Schools Standardized tests are used all over the country as a means to measure students’ academic performance. Often the students become frustrated upon taking these tests and in turn do not perform at their optimal level. Research has shown that standardized tests cannot fully represent a student’s intelligence or achievement. For the longest time, the education system has used a school’s test scores as competition between itself and other schools. This is because administering a test is less expensive than changing a curriculum. Reformatting instructional time, reducing class size, or accommodating new teachers would most likely be more of a waste of money than simply placing a test on a desk. The better a school’s test scores are, the more likely it is to be highly ranked across the country. Schools strive hard to have their students’ scores increase, not decrease. Looking back on tests of previous years, teachers can examine where students excelled and where they did not perform as well. Using this, they can adopt a new and improved test for students, which will make performance in certain areas, seem to increase (Patten, 2000). Teachers tend to teach and administer u... ...ved October 17, 2003 from http://www.msp.msde.state.md.us/rschool.asp?crypt=%A8%82rx%83%8CJ%A6%8A%A7%8F%9Fjc%A6%A1nh%A6%94%8C%93%9E%AF%B6%BA%B3%C8%AE%A1pp%A7%A7%AA%C7%D0Nx%86%A0%AE%89%84%A8%B4%A5%B0%A1%8E%9C%98q%94%9C%97n%A4%9Fh%ACs%5E%83%A4%95j%8C%A1%83%7F%93o%9Cw%96%8F%A6%98%AD%92%CA%B2 . MSPAP Test Results for Howard County. 2002, Retrieved October 17, 2003 from http://www.howard.k12.md.us/accountability/mspap/default.html . Patton, Peggy (2000). Standardized Testing in Schools. Parent News Archives. Retrieved November 23, 2003 from http://npin.org/pnews/2000/pnew100/feat100.html. Sedam, Sean R.(2003). Officials Question Testing Strategy. Retrieved December 6, 2003 from http://www.gazette.net/200349/weekend/a_section/191428-1.html. WAIS and the Present Wave of Standardized Testing. 2002, Retrieved September 27 2003, Microsoft Encarta, 2002.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

By world War 1 Essay

Introduction World war 1 had a huge impact on peoples live at home. We can see from the sources that I am analysing that all sections of society were affected by the war, men, women and government. The working classes were affected by recruitment and the upper and middle classes were affected because they had to do their own housework. Also peoples standards of living were affected, they had more of a balanced diet and the women found that they had more money because their husbands were at war. I am going to evaluate a number of sources which tell us a lot about what affected peoples lives during the war. I will look at the validity of the sources and the strengths and weaknesses. The topics I will study are Recruitment and Conscription, Politics, Role of Women and Changing Standards attitudes and beliefs. I will start by looking at how Recruitment and Conscription affected peoples lives at home during the war. Recruitment and Conscription. Many people’s lives were affected by the first world war. At the start of the war the government had to try and persuade 1000’s of men to join the war. Source A1 (i) is a Recruitment poster produced by the government in 1914 as part of a Propaganda campaign to get people to sign up and fight in the first world war. The poster features a picture of Lord Kitchener who was the secretary state for the war. This poster is the most famous poster made for the war and it made men feel as if they as an individual was wanted to fight for their country. The idea of the finger pointing and using the words ‘you’ and ‘your’ made the men feel as if the government ‘wants you’ as an individual. The weakness of the poster is the fact that it is propaganda. The poster is basically saying that you must sign up to the war. Source A1 (ii) is a photograph taken outside Southwark Town Hall in London. It was taken during December 1915. The photo is of an ‘Army Recruiting Office’. The people who are queuing in the long lines to sign up all look happy at the prospect of going to war. This seems unusual to me and this could be because the photo may have been staged by the government to make the men think that all other men are signing up so they should sign up too. The fact that this photo could have been staged makes the source unreliable because it is not real. In December 1915, the government were in trouble because they did not have enough men signing up to the war, because at this point people at home were learning of the first major casualties of the war. The men were realising that going to war was not as easy as it first looked. So in December not many people were signing up which makes the site of this many people signing up a rare site at the time. Also if there was so many people signing up, the government would not have had to bring in Conscription. A strength of this source is that it was taken at the time but a weakness is that it could have been staged. Conscription was the compulsory enrolment into the armed forces. In January 1916 the act was passed that unmarried men between the ages of 18 – 41 had to join the armed forces. Then in May 1916 a second act was passed that unmarried men between the ages of 18 – 41 had to join the army. Politics and the war effort The first world war had a big effect on Politics. We can see this in Source B3. Source B3 is a photograph of the new Prime Minister with the new members of the coalition cabinet. The photograph was taken at 10 Downing Street in December 1916. A weakness of the photo is that it maybe propaganda and could well have been staged to make the people at home believe that the government were united through the war. Its strengths are that it was taken at the time. This increases the reliability of the source because it is an actual picture from the time of the war showing that the government was united through the war. Source B4 shows how the first world war affected different Political Parties. The source is written by John Davies on the ‘History of Wales’ in 1993. This source tells us that Labour was becoming more popular through the war as it had no responsibility for how the war came about, but for the Liberal party the war was a disaster because their leader Henry Asquith lost his role of Prime Minister to the Labour leader David Lloyd George. The source says: The strength of this source may be that it was written a long time after the war, so John Davies views would have been based on balanced opinions. A weakness of the source though is that the book is only about Wales. Also it may have been biased to David Lloyd George because he was welsh. The First World War also had an affect on political issues. In December 1917 the house of commons decided to give the vote to 6,000,000 Women over the age of 30. Source B5 (i) is a report from ‘The Daily Sketch’ which shows this. The report tells us that the vote was won by a huge majority of 330 out of 440 votes. It shows the start of a new era for women. The strength of the source is that is an actual report from the time which makes it reliable. Source B5 (ii) is a photo of the 1918 general election when for the first time Women over 30 were allowed to vote. The picture tells us that woman were becoming more independent. The picture source may be reliable is it was taken at the time of the general election. A weakness of the source is that it was taken by the government reassuring men that the women would probably vote the same way as their husbands. Women and Social Change. World War 1 had a massive affect on the way women ran their lives. More women started going to work, fashion changed and they had more money from wages to spend on themselves because the men were away. Source C3 is a poster produced by the government showing people that women are ‘doing their bit’ by making munitions for the men at war. We do not know when the poster was issued but we do know that it was from sometime during the war. The weakness of the poster is that it was propaganda to get more women to work. The strength of it though is that it was from the time. This affects the reliability as because it is from the time we know that it was actually shown to the women during the war. The First World War had an affect on how many Women were employed in different trades. Source C4 is a table of Figures that represent the changes of the amount of women that were employed throughout the war. The table shows the increase in the amount of Women employed in Britain between July 1914 and July 1918. The source may be reliable because they are official Government figures but the numbers are rounded up so we do not know the exact figure. They could have been rounded up to the nearest thousand or the nearest 100 thousand we do not know. A weakness of the source is that it doesn’t tell us what happened after the war. After the war the number of Women employed may have decreased. The amount of money that women had also increased, this may be because their husbands were away, so they did not have to buy for them and also they were working. In Some cases the women were getting paid more than Corporals. We can see this in Source C5. This source was written by a full corporal, H. V. Shawyer in 1916. He says: This source tells us that the women were getting paid more than the men and were also able to spend their money on other people. This source may be reliable as it was written by the person about his experience and also it was written at the time of the war. Changing Standards, Attitudes and Beliefs The impact of the First World War changed people’s standards, attitudes and beliefs. Source D3 is an extract from an article written by A. J. P. Taylor in 1965 about England 1914 – 1918. The extract is about how the war affected the rich. A. J. P Taylor says: ‘At the end of the war, there was a general change of economic outlook. Previously the idle rich had been proud of being idle. Now they were ashamed of it and idleness was becoming more difficult. Domestic servants, for instance, were hard to come by. Their number had been halved during the war. Households which had kept five servants dropped to two; those firmly with two to one; and the rest of the middle class made to do with a daily woman. ‘ This source tell us that people were happy to have servants before the war but now they know what it was like being ‘normal’ they became ashamed of it. The way people used their money changed, instead of using servants they were doing the work themselves. It was more difficult for the rich to get away with doing nothing, because the working class had more better paid jobs to do. The source may be more reliable because it was written a long time after the war and he would have been able to gather more evidence. People would have also been more honest because it was a long time after the war. Source D4 shows how the war affected religion and chapels. The source is from a book by Kenneth O. Morgan called Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880 – 1980. It was written in 1981. The emphasis of the book is not actually about the First World War and so the book may have only had a page about the war. Source D4 says: ‘The factors which had weakened the chapels before the war – debt, over-expansion in rural areas and lack of support from non- Welsh speakers and industrial workers became stronger after the war†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Fundamentalist religious belief, barely changed since the chapels were founded. ‘ This source is telling us that the society changed during the war but the chapels didn’t. The source may be reliable because the book was written a long time after the war. This means that Kenneth O. Morgan would have been able to base his book on a lot more evidence than if it was written immediately after the war. A weakness of the extract is that the book is only about how the Welsh chapels changed. People’s Standard of living also changed as a result of the First World War. In an article by a modern historian, Clive Emsley, he said that ‘although the war resulted in the deaths of many thousands, there was an overall improvement in people’s diet and a decline in the death rate. ‘ He also said that ‘Lone wives were able to wages go further’. This source tells us that some people were better off than they’d ever been. Because this article was written in 1996 it makes it more reliable, because he would have been able to base his article on a lot more evidence that came available a long time after the war. Conclusion From studying these sources on recruitment and conscription, politics and the war effort, role of women and changing standards, attitudes and beliefs it can be seen that the war had a massive impact on all sections of society. These changes were sometimes better, financial and Health wise. However as can be seen from Recruitment and conscription, the men had to sign up and a lot were being killed The First World War acted as a catalyst to a change in society. People who had experienced war first hand had their lives change dramatically, however those who were at home e. g. women and children, also experienced fundamental change in many aspects of their lives.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Ancient Greek Flood Myth of Deucalion and Pyrrha

The story of Noahs ark is not the only flood story in mythology: There are many others. The story of Deucalion and Pyrrha is the Greek version. Like the version found in the Old Testament, in the Greek version, the flood is a means to punish mankind. The Flood in the Context of Greek Mythology According to Hesiods Theogony, there were five â€Å"ages of man†: the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Ages, the Age of Heroes, and the Iron Age. The Golden Age was a time of virtue and plenty under the leadership of the Titan Cronus. This delightful period, however, ended in a war when the children of Cronus joined together to battle against the Titans.The Silver Age began after Cronus was deposed by his children, led by Zeus. Now, instead of the Titans, the world was ruled by the Olympians. Less brilliant as the Golden Age, the Silver Age was a time during which human beings refused to obey the gods. Zeus ended the Silver Age by killing the humans who had displeased him and sending them to the underworld.After a period of time, Zeus decided to create a new type of human being. The men of the Bronze Age were strong and aggressive, with weapons, armor, and homes made of bronze. These terrible men worshiped the war god Ares, ate the hearts of their enemies, and finally destroyed one another.Disappointed by the Bronze men, Zeus sent a great flood. The flood was followed by a new era called the Age of Heroes, during which the gre at Trojan wars were fought. Great men were born during this era; after their deaths, they spent eternity in the delightful Elysian Fields.Finally, after the heroes had played their role, Zeus created the Age of Iron. As with all the other ages, it is doomed to a final failure, at which point Zeus will return to remake the world. The Story of the Flood Warned by his father, the immortal Titan Prometheus, Deucalion built an ark to survive the coming Bronze Age-ending flood that Zeus sent to punish mankind for its wickedness. Deucalion and his cousin-wife, Pyrrha (daughter of Prometheus brother Epimetheus and Pandora), survived for 9 days of flooding before landing at Mt. Parnassus. All alone in the world, they wanted company. In answer to this need, the Titan, and goddess of prophecy ​Themis cryptically told them to throw the bones of their mother behind them. They interpreted this as meaning throw stones over their shoulders onto Mother Earth, and did so. The stones Deucalion threw became men, and those Pyrrha threw became women. Deucalion and Pyrrha settled in Thessaly where they produced offspring the old-fashioned way. Their two sons were Hellen and Amphictyon. Hellen sired Aeolus (founder of the Aeolians), Dorus (founder of the Dorians), and Xuthus. Xuthus sired Achaeus (founder of the Achaeans) and Ion (founder of the Ionians).