European Year of Education through Sport 2004 Essay Example for Free

European Year of Education through Sport 2004 Essay Research, analyse and critically examine the (European Unions) European Year of Education through Sport 2004, illustrating your answer with examples from European countries. Sport has been a major arena for the display of popular European values ever since the very first recorded Ancient Olympics were held at Olympia in 776 B.C. The Olympics of Ancient Greece and subsequently the modern Olympics gave rise to the ideology of Olympism, a way of life that embodies through sport these qualities and values. In the years that have passed, the changing face of sport has modelled and re-modelled itself in line with contemporary trends and technological advancements, but the core beliefs have remained the same. Whilst even then in its infancy, sport had to deal with bribery and corruption, with politics and commercialism; the same evils that have plagued the sporting world at the highest level ever since; sport has survived, and the ethos of sport and Olympism continue to be heralded as the archetype of health, vitality and virtue. In September 2003 a Eurobarometer survey was carried out, in order to establish the general public feelings towards education through sport. The results it returned were unswerving in their support. Almost two-thirds of the survey sample cited team spirit as the most important sporting value, whilst 70% were in favour of a harder crackdown on doping in sport. Amongst other revelations of a similar trend it is notable that the 2 highest responses when asked if the EU should do more to promote education through sport were those of Greece (90% said yes) and Portugal (85%). These of course will be the 2 main focal points for sporting excellence in 2004; hosting the Olympic Games and the European Football Championships respectively. It is clear that the officials of the European Union share the belief that the prominent values and health benefits that can be garnered from education through sport are desirable. Following the conclusion of the Eurobarometer survey and further research, a budget totalling à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½11.5 million was made available specifically for the initiative they dubbed The European Year of Education through Sport (EYES). The allocation of the budget is divided, in simple terms, as described on the InfoBase Europe website, (www.ibeurope.com): A budget of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½11.5 million will be available to support meetings, campaigns and events designed to further the aims of the Year throughout the European Union. Whilst à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½11.5 million may appear at first glance to be a substantial amount, further examination reveals otherwise. To be simplistic in analysis, let us say that the funds were equally divided amongst the European Unions 15 member states; this would leave à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½766,667 (or à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½522,575 [source: www.xe.com]) per nation to distribute internally to cover the entire year. This would work out at around à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½14,744 or à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10,050 per week for the whole country, far less than the wage of some professional athletes. The UK branch of EYES has 3 key objectives: 1. Promote EYES in the UK and on a pan-European basis. 2. Give as many people as possible access to the work being undertaken during the EYES 2004 programme. 3. Engage more young people in physical activity and sport, enhancing other developments in the field in the UK. These objectives run parallel with those of the EU as a whole (see annexe 1). In terms of promotion, the initiative is being spearheaded by an All-Star team of popular former and current stars of European sport; the most familiar of these perhaps being Jurgen Klinsmann, Clarence Seedorf, Amelie Mauresmo and Sir Steven Redgrave. Alongside these 5 are another 37 individuals (as well as the Latvian National Football Team), ranging from internationally famed to somewhat obscure, all of whom are committed to actively supporting the campaign. (http://www.eyes-2004.info/254.0.html) There seems to be a solid base from which to build a real Europe-wide success. In addition to the All-Star Team, EYES can boast partners from all over Europe, from a variety of different sports as well as many Governmental ministries and Educational Associations, 4 TV Channels and, perhaps most significantly, Sponsorship from VISA and the German travel company Vietentours. There will certainly be a significant amount of publicity surrounding EYES as the year goes on. The logo, accompanied by its slogan (move your body, stretch your mind) will be on display at nearly 200 events during 2004, including the Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games and Euro 2004. It appears that from a promotional point of view, as well as the infrastructure, the EU has got it right. There will be plenty of opportunities for people to find out about and participate in EYES. But then what? Even if we were to blanket the entire continent with an awareness of EYES; even if every school in every nation participated; what next? 2005 will not be the European Year of Education through Sport, II. Surely the priority must be to lay down the foundations for future and continuing education through sport throughout the continent? Any continuing legacy or suchlike goes unmentioned in the aims and objectives sections of EYES on both the official website and InfoBase. The focus seems to be on getting as many people interested in sport as possible, then assuming their enthusiasm will remain at a constant level without further promotion. It implies a level of naivety in terms of the EUs awareness of the seemingly obvious expendable novelty value that can be associated with most short-term governmental and pan-European events of this ilk. There is no function in place to prevent the project from slipping into history without having made any real long-term difference to the education of the public through continuing participation in sport. The official UK website (www.eyes2004.org) contains information for schools on how to get involved, news updates on EYES projects and media releases, and online challenges for schools to take part in by inputting results from different activities into a database to create live, on-line competition between schools (http://www.eyes2004challenges.org/splash.htm) This attempts to address the access aim of the website; whether or not it does this remains to be seen. In my personal experience, the efforts of the British arm of the project so far appear to have been poor, especially on the promotional side. Public awareness seems to be non-existent; I have mentioned EYES to many people, young and old, at every level of the education system; from my neighbours primary school children to my 16 year old brother, to my Mother, (a project manager at the local 6th form college). Neither any of them, nor any of the others I spoke to were previously aware of the EYES. Whilst I am aware that this casual sampling cannot be considered in any way to be indicative of the entire British population, they dont exactly imply a resounding success of the project in my local area. However, it is important to note that in this, as in all cases, only 4 months of the year have passed and there is still time for awareness to be created. There are 5 projects currently running here in the UK: The use of sport and education for the social inclusion of asylum seekers and refugees. (Loughborough University) Basic Skills and Education through Sport (Hull City Council) Clean Start programme (UK Sport) Learning Through Football: Euro 2004 (Football Association) Leeds Education Activity Partnership (Leeds City Council) http://www.eyes2004.org/projectnews.htm The first project on the list highlights the poor promotional aspect perfectly. Whilst it is being run here at Loughborough University; the level of awareness of the project itself and of EYES as a whole has been minimal. Continental Europe, however, may prove to be a different story. Whilst the British Physical Education system is comparatively relaxed in its decentralisation, possibly leading to the aforementioned ineffectiveness in the dissemination of the EYES message, the French political infrastructure, for example, may prove a far more effective and efficient vehicle for the promotion of EYES due to its highly centralised nature. Another aspect is to promote the value of voluntary work for the young and the benefits it can provide for informal education. An example of this is in Portugal where by The Portuguese Youth Institute supported by the European Voluntary Service are giving children under the age of 16 the opportunity to help out in European Football Championships 2004 as ball boys and holding flags and banners before games. The aim of the scheme is to bring young people from different communities and racial backgrounds together through voluntary participation in sport. It may also be argued that, whilst 2004 may have initially appeared to be the ideal year for EYES, with 2 internationally prestigious sporting events being hosted in Europe; the reality may be somewhat different in that EYES could well be overshadowed to the point of insignificance by both Euro 2004 and the Athens Olympics. To make a conclusive statement about the success of EYES at this early stage in the year would I feel be somewhat naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve. It can be said however, that the right building blocks have been put into place in order to make it a success. The infrastructure and the organisational aspect is far-reaching enough to be of use to the whole continent; whilst remaining centralised enough in key areas to focus on the same goals. The promotional side is again set up right, with representatives from many sports and many countries being involved from the high-profile to the less glamorous. Whilst the signs of implementation of EYES in schools are encouraging; LEAPS (Learning and education through activity and participation in sports) in Dublin; Basic skills and Education through Sport (Hull); Together in Sport for growing up (Italy); the true results of EYES success in schools may take some time due to the enormous amount of feedback required to get a realistic overview of all events and projects. The apparent lack of continuation in terms of the aims and objectives of the initiative can be put down to one of two things. One is that the EU are banking on the continuing success of a one-off push into sport, ignoring the possibility of a speedy return to the low participation rates of recent years. The more likely explanation is that, whilst the EU realise that the effects of EYES may wear off as the future years go by, it will be more effective, given the comparatively small budget available, to concentrate on getting the message out there to as many people as possible this year than to try to implement long-running programmes with less public awareness. Ultimately the deciding factor on the success or failure of EYES, as with most things, will be the budget. Even if, as suggested, the money is directed in the correct manner with minimal amounts of wastage, it is still a relatively insignificant sum on an international scale. I would predict that for there to be any lasting impression left by EYES on the future education through sport in this continent, the amount of funding behind the initiative would have to be substantially larger. Bibliography http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/Olympics/olympicorigins.shtml (Accessed 15/03/04) http://www.ecdel.org.au/whatsnew/2003/sports.htm (Accessed 15/03/04) http://www.ibeurope.com/Database/Factsheets/F050eyes.htm (Accessed 15/03/04) http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/sport/key_files/annee_eur/a_2004_en.html (Accessed 15/03/04) http://www.xe.com/ucc/ (Accessed 15/03/04) http://www.eyes2004.org/splash.htm (Accessed 17/03/04) http://www.eyes2004.org/projectnews.htm (Accessed 18/03/04) http://www.eyes-2004.info/254.0.html (Accessed 18/03/04) http://www.eyes-2004.info/4138.0.html (Accessed 18/03/04) Annexe 1 The Aims of EYES (http://www.ibeurope.com/Database/Factsheets/F050eyes.htm) The aims of the European Year are: (a) to make educational institutions and sports organisations aware of the need for cooperation in order to develop education through sport and its European dimension, given the very great interest that young people take in all kinds of sport; (b) to take advantage of the values conveyed through sport to develop knowledge and skills whereby young people in particular can develop their physical prowess and readiness for personal effort and also social abilities such as teamwork, solidarity, tolerance and fair play in a multicultural framework; (c) to promote awareness of the positive contribution that voluntary activities make to non-formal education, especially of young people; (d) to promote the educational value of pupil mobility and exchanges particularly in a multicultural environment through the organisation of sporting and cultural contacts as part of school activity; (e) to encourage the exchange of good practice concerning the role sport can play in education systems to promote the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups; (f) to create a better balance between intellectual and physical activity in school life by encouraging sport in school activities; (g) to consider the problems relating to the education of young sportsmen and sportswomen taking part in competitive sports.

Hindutva :: essays research papers

The ideology of Hindutva is becoming popular because there is a growing realization that everything else that has been tried to inculcate a national spirit, has failed to yield the desired results. Many people previously opposed to Hindutva have embraced the ideology, as they believe that the solutions to the country's problems can be found within it. At the mass level, with the work done by many individuals and organizations, the acceptance has been a relatively easy task. However, at the intellectual level the success leaves much to be desired. The reason for this is that those who are opposed to Hindutva occupy positions of power in the academic field. They have ensured that the research done on Hindutva remains at the fringe of the scholarly arena. Not only are the public resources denied to the work that needs to be done, but the funds are being invested in anti-Hindutva propaganda, with an intention to prove Hinduism as a regressive religion and a backward culture. Most people who live abroad and write on India rely for their information on the English media and writings, which paint an essentially negative picture of Hindutva. It is therefore necessary to give the theoretical basis of the Hindutva movement due publicity. In one of his recent books, a Eurpean scholar, Dr. Koenraad Elst says, "In Europe every sizeable party or ideological pressure-group has set up a think-tank to develop ideology and formulate policy proposals. The Communists in India have a host of intellectuals (mostly on state and university pay-rolls) working full-time to develop the Marxist view on each and every topic. All the valuable and useful political thought produced by the Hindu movement would not exceed a few volumes, to put mildly. As long as there is no intellectual mobilization, Hindu society is badly on the defensive. Hindu society has a host of bright young people available, trained in traditional or modern learning, whose talent is wasted because there seems to be no Hindu nerve center interested in putting them to work.

The Corner and Nighthawks

Manuel Espinosa Professor Stefanovic ENC 1102 21 February 2013 NIGHTHAWKS â€Å"Nighthawks† by Samuel Yellen is a poem about three individuals who are troubled with life. These individuals are occupying the same space and they appear to be relatively close from each other, but they arein fact disconnected from one another. The speaker sets a hopeless tone to help the reader analyze and really understand the characters’ feelings. This is a poem based on a famouspainting by Edward Hopper that portrays people sitting in a downtown diner late at night.Yellen wants his readersto be able to recognize that caring and affection is the easiest way to a successful and joyful human interaction. The poem’s setting takes place at â€Å"the corner of Empty and Bleak† (1) and the time is the â€Å"night’s most desolated hour† (2). Empty corners and night hours are an infamous mix. Evil deeds are performed at desolate corners during odd hours of the night. I n the corner is â€Å"Al’s Coffee Cup or the Hamburger Tower† (3), only cheap and plain shops would stay open till late hours at night and the servers would use language like â€Å"be with you in a jiff† (7).Inside the establishment there are â€Å"three nighthawks seated there† (6). Yellenuses nighthawks because the characters meet at night and hawks are lonely animals which â€Å"in this drama do not speak† (4). Another connotation is to perceive hawks as ferocious and independent creatures or how Yellen better describe them â€Å"patrons of life† (6). One of the nighthawks, â€Å"[t]he single man whose hunched back we see† (9) challenged his fate when he â€Å"put a gun to his head in Russian roulette† (10). Even though he â€Å"won the bet† (11) his body posture indicates he is troubled or pensive. And now he lives his x years’ guarantee† (12). The speaker wants to clarify that the character might off ch eated death that time by dying is inevitable. Then, we have â€Å"facing us, the two central characters† (13). They â€Å"[h]ave finished their coffee, and have lit [a] contemplative cigarette† (14-15). These characters are meditative; cigarette smoking is associated with worried or stressed individuals. â€Å"His hand lies close, but not touching hers† (16). Now it is understood there is a male and a female character. The speaker points out that they are close but not ouching each other, describing no emotional connection between the characters. A sexual connection is implied when the speaker refers to â€Å"a darkened room† (17) and continues to give explicit details of this encounter â€Å"[m]outh burned mouth, flesh beat ground [o]n a ravaged flesh† (18-19). Yellen wants to show readers the difference between a sexual act and an intimate connection. This couple shared the ultimate bonding experience between two human beings and yet they were no t able to connect spiritually but only physically.The speaker gives example of this when he mentions â€Å"[n]o local habitation and no name† (20). The speaker finishes the poem with a sarcastic tone. He implies that everyone that â€Å"peer through that curve of plate glass† (5) should be fortune â€Å"to be none of these! † (21) referring to the nighthawks. He assumes that anybody who compares themselves with these characters, using the â€Å"complacent eye† (22), should be pleased with what they see. With this conclusion Yellen sets himself aside and delivers a powerfully message to the readers.He feels superior to the characters and wants to project that feeling to his readers, not taking in consideration or really understanding the reason the characters are in these situations in the first place. The last stanza â€Å"[o]ur satisfactions satisfy, [o]ur pleasures, our plesures please. † (23-24), makes emphasis on the way the speaker feels and w ants the readers to feel about their own accomplishments, but leaving out the way they should feel about their fellow man. The speaker projects itself as a selfish individual who does not care about less fortunate individuals.It is often said that to have a better world we should care for one another. Yellen’s idea of human connection shows the total opposite, he emphasizes on his characters’ faults instead of his qualities. This poem contains many problems that our society faces on a daily basis but unfortunately for the readers, Yellen focused on showing the problem but does not offer a solution. Work Cited McMahan, Elizabeth, Susan X Day, Robert Funk, Linda Coleman. Literature and the Writing Process. Ninth Ed. Boston: Longman. 2011. Print Rafeeq O. McGiveron (1998): Yellen's Nighthawks, The Explicator, 56:3,148-149

The History of Lighting and Lamps

The first lamp was invented around 70,000 BC. A hollow rock, shell or other natural found object was filled with moss or similar material that was soaked with animal fat and ignited. Humans began imitating the natural shapes with manmade pottery, alabaster, and metal lamps. Wicks were later added to control the rate of burning. Around the 7th century BC, the Greeks began making terracotta lamps to replace handheld torches. The word lamp is derived from the Greek word lampas, meaning torch. Oil Lamps In the 18th century, the central burner was invented, a major improvement in lamp design. The fuel source was now tightly enclosed in metal, and an adjustable metal tube was used to control the intensity of the fuel burning and intensity of the light. Around the same time, small glass chimneys were added to lamps to both protect the flame and control the flow of air to the flame. Ami Argand, a Swiss chemist is credited with first developing the principle of using an oil lamp with a hollow circular wick surrounded by a glass chimney in 1783. Lighting Fuels Early lighting fuels consisted of olive oil, beeswax, fish oil, whale oil, sesame oil, nut oil, and similar substances. These were the most commonly used fuels until the late 18th century. However, the ancient Chinese collected natural gas in skins that were used for illumination. In 1859, drilling for petroleum oil began and the kerosene (a petroleum derivative) lamp grew popular, first introduced in 1853 in Germany. Coal and natural gas lamps were also becoming wide-spread. Coal gas was first used as a lighting fuel as early as 1784. Gas Lights In 1792, the first commercial use of gas lighting began when William Murdoch used coal gas for lighting his house in Redruth, Cornwall. German inventor Freidrich Winzer (Winsor) was the first person to patent coal gas lighting in 1804 and a thermolampe using gas distilled from wood was patented in 1799. David Melville received the first U.S. gas light patent in 1810. Early in the 19th century, most cities in the United States and Europe had streets that were gaslight. Gas lighting for streets gave way to low-pressure sodium and high-pressure mercury lighting in the 1930s and the development of the electric lighting at the turn of the 19th century replaced gas lighting in homes. Electric Arc Lamps Sir Humphrey Davy  of England invented the first electric carbon arc lamp in 1801. A carbon arc lamp works by hooking two carbon rods to a source of  electricity. With the other ends of the rods spaced at the right distance, electrical current will flow through an arc of vaporizing carbon creating an intense white light. All arc lamps use current running through different kinds of gas plasma. A.E. Becquerel of France theorized about the fluorescent lamp in 1857. Low-pressure arc lights use a big tube of low-pressure gas plasma and include fluorescent lights and neon signs. First Electric Incandescent Lamps Sir Joseph Swann  of England and  Thomas Edison  both invented the first electric incandescent lamps during the 1870s. Incandescent light bulbs work in this way: electricity flows through the filament that is inside the bulb; the filament has resistance to the electricity; the resistance makes the filament heat to a high temperature; the heated filament then radiates light. All incandescent lamps work by using a physical filament. Thomas A. Edisons  lamp became the first commercially successful incandescent lamp (circa 1879). Edison received U.S. Patent 223,898 for his incandescent lamp in 1880. Incandescent lamps are still in regular use in our homes, today. Lightbulbs Contrary to popular belief, Thomas Alva Edison did not invent the first lightbulb, but rather he improved upon a 50-year-old idea. For example, two inventors that patented the incandescent light bulb before Thomas Edison did were Henry Woodward and Matthew Evan. According to the National Research Council of Canada: Henry Woodward of Toronto, who along with Matthew Evans patented a light bulb in 1875. Unfortunately, the two entrepreneurs could not raise the financing to commercialize their invention. The enterprising American Thomas Edison, who had been working on the same idea, bought the rights to their patent. Capital was not a problem for Edison: he had the backing of a syndicate of industrial interests with $50,000 to invest - a sizable sum at the time. Using lower current, a small carbonized filament, and an improved vacuum inside the globe, Edison successfully demonstrated the light bulb in 1879 and, as they say, the rest is history. Suffice it to say,  light bulbs  developed over a period of time. First Street Lamps Charles F. Brush  of the United States invented the carbon arc street lamp in 1879. Gas Discharge or Vapor Lamps American, Peter Cooper Hewitt patented the mercury vapor lamp in 1901. This was an arc lamp that used mercury vapor enclosed in a glass bulb. Mercury vapor lamps were the forerunners to  fluorescent lamps. High-pressure arc lights use a small bulb of high-pressure gas and include mercury vapor lamps, high-pressure sodium arc lamps, and metal halide arc lamps. Neon Signs Georges Claude of France invented the  neon lamp  in 1911. Tungsten Filaments Replace Carbon Filaments American,  Irving Langmuir  invented an electric gas-filled tungsten lamp in 1915. This was an incandescent lamp that used tungsten rather than carbon or other metals as a filament inside the lightbulb and became the standard. Earlier lamps with carbon filaments were both inefficient and fragile and were soon replaced by tungsten filament lamps after their invention. Fluorescent Lamps Friedrich Meyer, Hans Spanner, and Edmund Germer patented a  fluorescent lamp  in 1927. One difference between mercury vapor and fluorescent lamps is that fluorescent bulbs are coated on the inside to increase efficiency. At first, beryllium was used as a coating however, beryllium was too toxic and was replaced with safer florescent chemicals. Halogen Lights U.S. Patent 2,883,571 was granted to Elmer Fridrich and Emmett Wiley for a tungsten halogen lamp - an improved type of incandescent lamp - in 1959. A better halogen light lamp was invented in 1960 by General Electric engineer Fredrick Moby. Moby was granted U.S. Patent 3,243,634 for his tungsten halogen A-lamp that could fit into a standard light bulb socket. During the early 1970s, General Electric research engineers invented improved ways to manufacture tungsten halogen lamps. In 1962, General Electric patented an arc lamp called a Multi Vapor Metal Halide lamp.