Good News Regarding Vouchers and School Choice :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Good News Regarding School Choice Good News v. Milford is very good news indeed for advocates of school vouchers and faith-based organizations (FBOs). The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision upholding the right of a Christian youth group to meet in public schools after class hours is a significant signal of the Court's willingness to treat religious organizations and viewpoints on an evenhanded basis. In 1992, Milford Central School in New York State enacted a community use policy outlining purposes for which its building could be used after school. Under the policy, district residents could use the school for "instruction in any branch of education, learning, or the arts." The school was also to be made available for "social, civic, and recreational meetings and entertainment events, and other uses pertaining to the welfare of the community, provided that such uses shall be nonexclusive and shall be opened to the general public." Several district residents who sponsored the local Good News Club-a private, voluntary Christian organization for children ages six to twelve-submitted a request to the interim superintendent of the district, seeking to hold the Club's weekly after-school meetings in the school cafeteria. They were excluded, however, because their proposed use-to have "a fun time of singing songs, hearing a Bible lesson, and memorizing Scripture"-was "the equivalent of r eligious worship." The school authorities claimed that such a meeting was prohibited by the rules that forbid the school from being used "by any individual or organization for religious purposes."(1) The Court, per Justice Clarence Thomas, found Milford to have created a limited public forum-in essence, a standing invitation to use public property for the designated purposes. When the state establishes a limited public forum, the state is not required to and does not allow persons to engage in every type of speech. However, said the Court, the state's power to restrict speech is not without limits. Such restriction must not discriminate against speech on the basis of viewpoint, and the restriction must be "reasonable in light of the purpose served by the forum."(2) Relying upon two earlier but more narrowly written opinions, the Court found the school district to have discriminated against the proposed religious speech in Good News. In Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches (1993), the Justices held that a school district violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment when it excluded a private group from presenting films at the school based solely on the films' discussions of family values from a religious perspective.

Four Theoretical Approaches to Metaphysics Essay

There are four theoretical approaches to the metaphysics and they include Dualism and the theory that what exists on can do so on two levels the physical or the mental. The next approach is Materialism which theorizes that everything exists on a physical level. Then there is the Idealism approach which states that everything that exists is mental or spiritual. Finally, there is Alternative Views which theorizes that what exists in neither mental nor spiritual but believed that what exists is both, which means that what exists is neutral. In the Materialism theory of metaphysics it is said that everything is made of some kind of structure that are now called atoms. These atoms are governed entirely by physical laws and are thought to make up everything that we know and see. There were and are still many men in the scientific community that feel this way, but the most pronounced one was named Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes implied â€Å"clearly that all things are made of material particles and that all change reduces to motion. † (cite) His theory states that everything is matter in motion to include an individual’s thought process. Hobbes goes into detail about how this process works and called it perception or sense. His way of describing it is the fact that things have different properties and that the properties do not really exist. The properties of an object are based on what we perceive them to be. We perceive a rose to be beautiful, smell nice, and have red pedals. Those properties according to Hobbes are all based on perception and the rose does not actually have any of these traits. â€Å"The things that really are in the world outside us are those motions by which these seemings are caused. † (cite) Hobbes describes perception as motion from the outside effects the motion of the inside of a person. The motion on the outside affected the motion on the inside and leaves a lasting effect after the motion is complete or dispersed then the motion that remains behind on the inside is left as a memory. The motion that is still on the inside is a perception and in turn is the root cause for thinking, imagination, and memory. As humans we describe this reaction by assigning words to these perceptions and Hobbes labeled that as reasoning. The way that people reason is nothing sort of â€Å"adding and subtracting of the consequences of general names. † (cite) The easiest way that this can be explained would be to refer it to a computer. The hard drive is considered as the movement on the inside and the keyboard and mouse as the outside. The hard drive is made up of a disk and magnet and works by taking the disc and spinning is around at a rapid pace. Next the magnet is moved around to encode the data to the hard drive. This whole process is done through movement and if stationary there is nothing that can be done to retrieve or store information. First to store or retrieve information an external source of movement needs to happen. Movement from the outside was represented as a keyboard and mouse. The keyboard and mouse which is movement from the outside affects the hard drive which is the movement from the inside and vice versa. Now that movement has been represented the reasoning of information needs to be considered. Now we understand what movement effect movement means we can now address the fact of reasoning and perception. All of the information that the computer takes in needs to go somewhere and needs to be retrieved again. The computer makes sense of all the data by assigning numbers to all of the data so that it can be retrieved again. This aspect would be considered our perception which is reasoning which as Hobbes stated before is our thinking, memory, and imagination. Now some people would argue that Hobbes theory does not take into accounts decision making and other voluntary actions, but he does go into detail about how that process works. Hobbes addresses the finer points of the decision process by stating that every decision or movement starts of as an â€Å"endeavor† which was caused by perception. He then breaks it down even into two groups consisting of desire and aversion. When the endeavor is toward something then it is considered a desire and when it is away it is considered an aversion. We associate desire and aversion with words like love and hate or good and bad. So according to Hobbes the basic principle of our decision making is like a magnet. Let’s look at the magnet that is in the computer and affects the hard drive. Sometimes data can be corrupted and the information will not take to the hard drive. The process of corrupt data being entered from the outside can be considered as an aversion. Now any information that the system lets in can be considers as desire. If that did not make sense then lets look at a magnet in general. A magnet has a positive and a negative side. Anything that is attracted to the positive side can be considered a desire and anything that is repelled by the negative side can be considered an aversion. In the recent years there has been some advancements in technology that allows us to uncover the mysteries of the universe. Scientists have found matter that is smaller than atoms and they are calling them subatomic particles. It has been discovered that these particles make up every aspect of the universe and are comprised of some type of energy that is connected with everything else. After this discovery a lot of scientists are rattled about their theory and if Materialism is really the right type of metaphysical theory to go with. However, this does not completely rule this theory out it just seems like that needs to some changes or tweaks to the way that we think about Materialism.

Colonialism And Its Impact On Africa - 1206 Words

Colonialism is the establishment of the political and economic control of one state over another state. This establishment had one of the biggest impacts on Africa. This experience of colonialism began to take effect between the 1400s and 1800s. It started when the Europeans arrived to Africa and set up trading posts. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the increase of European power took over most of the continent. The legacy of the colonial experience will influence the history of the continent. Mid 1700s to the late 1880s the Europeans increased their involvement in Africa. The reason was the resistance against slave trade. The British founded a colony of freed slaves in Sierra Leone in 1787. Thirty years later, Americans established freed slaves and their descendants to live in Liberia. Many Europeans tried to bring Christianity to Africa as an effort to diminish slavery. Missionaries traveled to Africa, seeking Africans to spread their Western culture. By the late 1800s Africans became adapted by the elements of European civilization. The continent’s rich resources impressed the missionaries and they aimed to exploit. To achieve this goal, they attempted to overpower the African people and force them to accept their foreign rule. In the late 1800s, they were able to divide up the continent amongst themselves, without the permission from the African people. Europeans expanded Africa by trade. Christian missionaries were a disruptive force against the African society. InShow MoreRelatedThe Economic And Economic Impacts Of European Colonialism In Africa780 Words   |  4 Pagesthe coasts of Africa. These forts and colonies began to nibble at the continent bit by bit; within thirty years, almost the entire continent had been claimed by colonial powers. 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