Importance of Setting in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Essay -- Jane Ey

8 Fun SAT Test Facts to Give You a Break from Studying

8 Fun SAT Test Facts to Give You a Break from Studying SAT/ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Sadly, reading for the SAT isn’t much fun. There’s actually no real way to make understanding entries or analyzing math issues overly engaging - and trust me, I’ve attempted. In any case, if you’re searching for a speedy break from examining, look at these 8 arbitrary SAT test realities. You may even get the hang of something supportive! Reality #1: SAT doesn’t really represent anything SAT initially represented Scholastic Aptitude Test. In any case, after the possibility that the SAT tried aptitudebecame excessively disputable, the namewas changed to the Scholastic Assessment Test. Obviously, evaluation and test are breathtakingly excess, so in 1997 the College Board got tired of the entire namingfiascoand concluded that the SAT was currently simply the name of the test, not a shortened form of something different. Certainty #2: The College Board once canceledthe test for a whole nation The College Board takes cheating veryseriously. In 2013, ETS, which oversees the SAT, discovered that coaching organizations in South Korea had plotted to get the test ahead of time, so theycanceledthe May test date totally. Essentially, when a gathering of Long Island teenagers were found paying understudies to step through the examination for them they confronted cruel results: criminal allegations. Seoul, South Korea, where some unfortunate understudies had their SAT dropped. Actuality #3: There's a play about SAT coaching Jenny Lyn Bader’s play None of the Above is about the connection between a difficulty makingteenager and her SAT coach. I speculate the play issomewhat more sensational than the real world, soif you have inquiries concerning mentoring I'd recommendtaking a glance at our guide. Truth #4: The scale on the first College Board test wasbrutal The College Board really originates before the SAT. It was established in 1901 to administercollege explicit tests, which were gradedas Excellent, Good, Doubtful, Poor, or Very Poor. That framework may have beenless befuddling than the current scale,but it additionally sounds kind ofharsh! Reality #5: Someone composed a SAT vocabnovel about vampires There’s a whole class of books explicitly intended to assist you with learning vocab words for the SAT, and they sound totally bizarre.Test of Time examines what might occur if Mark Twain's composition forHuckleberry Finn was traded with an advanced understudy's laptop.Vampire Dreams is basicallyTwilight without the entire sparkling in the sun thing. The surveys from understudies aren't benevolent, so I would prescribe adhering to regularnovels with elevated level vocab words. You're most likely happier just readingDracula.(Len Doc Radin/Flickr) Certainty #6: Stanley H. Kaplan began the main SAT test prep organization in 1938 At the point when he startedtutoring school destined understudies in his storm cellar in Brooklyn, Kaplancharged $128 per understudy. In spite of extensive interest, he didn'texpand outside of New York until the 1970s. Certainty #7: The SAT began asa military IQ test Before it was utilized for school affirmations, an early form of the SAT wasused by the military to screen initiates during World War I. The main SAT, which was given in 1926, wasalso a whole lot more troublesome than today’s adaptation. Itincludedsections in which the test takerhad to make an interpretation of sentences into a made-up language, judge whetherpropositions were splendidly logical,and complete astounding analogies. I don’t think about you, however I can’t figure out these analogies. Certainty #8:George W. Shrub utilized the SAT as a component of his presidential crusade No, he didn't touthis own scores-those weren't especially great. Rather, he gloated about the 100 point increment in Texas students’ SAT scores during his term as representative. Shockingly, that expansion had nothing to do with upgrades in instruction: it was really brought about by the College Board rescaling the test in 1995. What's Next? In case you're experiencing difficulty persuading, take a stab at finding out about how a higher SAT score can assist you with getting into the school you had always wanted. It is safe to say that you are attempting to improve or have really observed your scores go down? Attempt these procedures to turn it around. For huge amounts of other free SAT prep assets, investigate the correct sidebar to discover our posts arranged by theme. Baffled with your scores? Need to improve your SAT score by 160points?We've composed a guide about the best 5 systems you should use to have a taken shots at improving your score. Download it with the expectation of complimentary at this point: Have companions who likewise need assistance with test prep? Offer this article! Tweet Alex Heimbach About the Author Alex is an accomplished mentor and author. In the course of recent years, she has worked with very nearly a hundred understudies and expounded on mainstream society for a wide scope of distributions. She graduated with distinction from University of Chicago, accepting a BA in English and Anthropology, and afterward proceeded to acquire a MA at NYU in Cultural Reporting and Criticism. In secondary school, she was a National Merit Scholar, took 12 AP tests and scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and ACT. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on the best way to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. 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Our Reading Lives Thomas Mann Appreciation Day

Our Reading Lives Thomas Mann Appreciation Day This is a guest post by Rachel Cordasco. Rachel has a Ph.D in literary studies (which means she’s read WAY TOO MANY books over the years) and has taught American literature and composition. She has also worked as an editorial assistant at the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Keep up with her in the Facebook group for And the Moral of the Story Is…, on Twitter @Rcordas, and at  bookishlywitty.blogspot.com. _________________________ [OK, theres actually no such thing as Thomas Mann Appreciation Day, but there damn well should be, people. The following is the speech Id give at an event celebrating the immortal author]: As my friends and family know well, I am a bit obsessed with Thomas Mann. Ive read all of his major novels (that have been translated into English- I know, dont say it), all of his short stories, a book of his essays, and the most recent biography by Hermann Kurzke (Thomas Mann: Life as a Work of Art, A Biography; 2002). Ive even read the tetralogy, Joseph and His Brothers, all 1,492 pages of it. And I say to The Black Swan and Lotte in Weimar: youre next! I hear all you Comparative Lit people snorting with disdain, and I see you German Lit people raising angry eyebrows, but read on, and you might just forgive me. Of course, it started with a crush. Not on old Tommy, poor thing, but on a high-school teacher (lets call him Mr. P). He was my schools book club advisor, and therefore I had to join, just to be able to gawk at him outside of school hours. The last text we read for the semester was Manns novella, Death in Venice. Now, when I heard we were reading Mann, I at first sighed miserably because I had read Tonio Kruger a couple of years before and actually thought it sucked. But for you, Mr. P.? Anything! I read  Death in Venice  in a single night, and all thoughts of Mr. P. faded into the background as Thomas Mann stepped forward, my newly-anointed Favorite Author. Its still almost impossible to explain exactly what it is that I love about his books, novellas, and stories. I could identify with his often angst-ridden artist characters, since I too have imagined myself as a kind of Artist (you know, Im a Writer in that fantasyland of my mind. Its a nice place). Im forced to think deeply about the characters conversations in order to understand what they are really trying to communicate, and their inner lives are so nuanced and complicated, just like the rest of us mortals. Only later did I start to think about the issue of translation. I admit that Ive never read Mann in the original German. Ive always meant to study German, but French, Italian, and Russian just happened to come first. And it doesnt look like learning German will be an option in the near future (twin boys- yeah, I know!). However, I decided that getting my Mann second-hand was better than no Mann at all (here I want to give a shout-out to translator John E. Woods- thank you, man, for making it possible for me to read Thomas Mann even though Im lazy and didnt get my Rosetta Stone on). Finally, we are still talking about Mann in 2013. Earlier this month, on the 58th anniversary of his death, the New Republic reprinted a statement by its editors supporting Manns denunciation of Nazism  The writers novels, essays, articles, and stories continue to remain relevant, even in a new century. So, if Dr. Who ever landed in my backyard and beckoned me into the TARDIS, Id happily enter and demand that he take me to 1950s Switzerland so I could listen to Mann talk aboutwell, anything really. Ill bet that his conversation was as mellifluous and as passionate as his texts. ____________________________ Sign up for our newsletter to have the best of Book Riot delivered straight to your inbox every two weeks. No spam. We promise. To keep up with Book Riot on a daily basis, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, , and subscribe to the Book Riot podcast in iTunes or via RSS. So much bookish goodnessall day, every day.

Physics - 2327 Words

Experiment Picket Fence Free Fall 5 We say an object is in free fall when the only force acting on it is the earth’s gravitational force. No other forces can be acting; in particular, air resistance must be either absent or so small as to be ignored. When the object in free fall is near the surface of the earth, the gravitational force on it is nearly constant. As a result, an object in free fall accelerates downward at a constant rate. This acceleration is usually represented with the symbol g. Physics students measure the acceleration due to gravity using a wide variety of timing methods. In this experiment, you will have the advantage of using a very precise timer connected to the calculator and a Photogate. The†¦show more content†¦If the acceleration of your Picket Fence appears constant, fit a straight line to your data. a. b. c. d. e. 5-2 Press ENTER , and select RETURN TO MAIN SCREEN from the SELECT GRAPH screen. Select ANALYZE from the main screen. Select CURVE FIT from the ANALYZE screen. Select LINEAR (VELOCITY VS TIME) from the SELECT CURVE FIT screen. Record the slope of the fitted line in the Data Table. Modified from and reported with permission of the publisher Copyright (2000), Vernier Software Technology Physics with Calculators Picket Fence Free Fall f. Press ENTER to see the fitted line with your data. g. To return to the main screen, press ENTER , and then select RETURN TO ANALYZE SCREEN, finally selecting RETURN TO MAIN SCREEN. 9. To establish the reliability of your slope measurement, repeat Steps 6 through 9 five more times. Do not use drops in which the Picket Fence hits or misses the Photogate. Record the slope values in the Data Table. DATA TABLE Trial 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 Slope (m/s ) Minimum Maximum Average 2 Acceleration (m/s ) Acceleration due to gravity, g Precision  ± m/s2 % ANALYSIS 1. From your six trials, determine the minimum, maximum, and average values for the acceleration of the Picket Fence. 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Economic Prosperity During The Soviet Union - 1670 Words

Economic prosperity was seen between the years of 1965 and 1985, however the division between Eastern and Western Europe still remained. Also, the disparities in prosperity remained as well. One of the countries that seen major political developments was the Soviet Union. The years of change seemed rather unlikely between 1964 and 1982 as Leonid Brezhnev became the man in charge. As his slogan was â€Å"no experimentation† he became the head of the state and the communist party in 1964. Even though he was optimistic and calm, the Brezhnev Doctrine, which stated that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene if socialism was a threatened in another state, led to Soviet Union troops being deployed in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The dà ©tente allowed†¦show more content†¦Another problem for the Soviet’s was that a series of droughts, heavy rains, and early frosts forced the Soviet’s to buy grains from the West, particularly the United States. Nonetheless, by the 1970s, a ruling system that depended on patronage as a major avenue of advancement was created by the Soviet’s. Ten years later the system did not work as a declining economy led to an increase in mortality rates, a surge in alcoholism, and a deterioration in working conditions. Within the Communist Party there was a group of individuals who understood the real condition of the Soviet Union. Yuri Andropov was a member of this group who understood the condition of the Soviet Union, however with his deteriorating health, party leaders chose Gorbachev as the Party Secretary in 1985. His appointing of Gorbachev, allowed for a new era to begin. Another country that seen major political developments was the Eastern Europe. The attempt for the Poles and the Hungarians to gain freedom from Soviet domination in 1956 only seen problems. As Moscow could maintain control over its satellites in Eastern Europe by granting them leeway to adopt domestic policies appropriate to these conditions, the Soviet leaders began to recognize this fact. To make socialism more acceptable to their subject populations, as a result Eastern European Communist leaders adopted reform programs. Continued

Preferences for Boys and Girls in South Korea, China, India and Nepal Free Essays

string(82) " the killing of female newborn babies as the final solution to the dowry problem\." Preferences for boys and girls in South Korea, China, India and Nepal The studies of gender bias in several developing countries in Asia have received wide attention over the past two decades. Demographers have noted worrying trends in sex ratio at birth in some of the most populous countries in Asia; South Korea, China, India and Nepal are the most markedly countries. One of the measures of agreement that has been recognized in this phenomenon among these four countries is the traditionally-and-culturally-rooted of son preference. We will write a custom essay sample on Preferences for Boys and Girls in South Korea, China, India and Nepal or any similar topic only for you Order Now Son preference has several features that illustrate the inclination of the male sex in contrast to the female sex resulting numerous differences in preferences of boys and girls in the societies of these four countries. The features of son preference are based on socio-cultural, socio-economic and institutional factors in South Korea, China, India and Nepal, and consequently, have formed an imbalance in the countries’ sex ratios mainly due to female infants mortality. South Korea was one of the first countries to represent the trend of son preference. This is mainly due to Confucian influence that is acutely embedded in the populace, whereby the eldest son of the most recent male ancestor must lead family rituals. The family â€Å"dies† if there were no sons being born (Westley Choe 2007). Since pre-industrial South Korea, a person’s access to power, social status and economic opportunities depended heavily on their gender, lineage and their position within that lineage. Chung Gupta (2007) described that a number of the lineages in South Korea had formed into larger super ordinates lineage or in other words can be referred to as â€Å"clan†, where some joint properties are held and utilized to support ancestor worship rituals and to help lineage members in need. Therefore, it was a primary duty to bear sons to ensure the continuity of a family’s lineage. On another note, son preference played a role in terms of a socio-economic view when the South Korean governments had subsequently reinforced the Confucian traditions in a series of authoritarian policies in order to maintain social and political stability. For example, the Family Law stipulated that family headship must be held by men in the line of the eldest son, inheritance should be through male line, women should be transferred to their husband’s family register upon marriage and children are belonged to the father’s lineage even in the case of divorce (Chung Gupta 2007). {draw:frame} _Figure 1. 0: Trends in sex ratio at birth and total fertility rate, South Korea, 1980-2003 (Westley Choe 2007). _ In addition, ultrasound equipment was first mass-produced in the country in the mid-1980s. Therefore, the introduction in technologies to determine the sex of unborn fetuses combined with the widespread of abortion availability made it possible for couples that wanted a son to selectively abort female fetuses. In 1990, as seen in Figure 1. 0, the sex ratio indicated that nearly two boys were born at this birth order for every girl (Westley Choe 2007) resulting in an increase of sex ratio at its highest peak in South Korea. Similarly as South Korea, son preference became visible in China since it is another Confucian-practiced country. The people held beliefs that a person’s empowerment relies on their lineage and the lineage is solely traced through the male. Therefore, failure to produce a son is considered tantamount to extinction of the family line (Almond et. al 2005). Furthermore, the influence of son preference has been historically and traditionally strong in the country where it can be reflected in this ancient Chinese song quoted; â€Å"When a son is born, Let him sleep on the bed, Clothe him with fine clothes, And give him jade to play†¦ When a daughter is born, Let her sleep on the ground, Wrap her in common wrappings, And give broken tiles to play†¦ â€Å"- Book of Songs (1000-700 B. C. ) (Baculinao 2004). {draw:frame} _Figure 2. 0: Sex ratio of population age 0-4 in China, 1953-2005 (Shuzhuo Li 2007)_ In rural areas of China and among the less educated societies, sons are basically preferred because they are needed to carry out farm work, offer financial support to aging parents, continue the family name and receive family inheritance, and also responsible for ancestor worships. Apart from that, as seen in Figure 3. 0, there has been a sharp rise in sex ratio of children age 0-4 since 1982. This is due to China’s government imposing the â€Å"one-child policy† as one of the forces to fast-track economic modernization. The policy’s main condition is that a family, reliant to their will, is allowed to have one child only. Subsequently, a son is more favoured among the societies due to putting Confucian values into practice (Muller n. d). The government had later on enforced the policy strictly over time where by the regulations included mandatory IUD insertion for all women who had one child and abortion for a woman who had an unauthorized pregnancy. Consequently, out of desperation for a boy, some parents may have killed newborn daughters or undergo an abortion (Graham et. al 1998) and thus, mothers suffer tremendous psychological pressure and health risks while undergoing sex-selected abortions, which affect both their physical and reproductive health (Shuzhuo Li 2007). {draw:frame} Figure 3. 0: Sex ratio of the child and overall population, India, 1951-2001 (Guilmoto 2007)_ In India, son preference is influenced by the strong religious Hindu belief in the country to a certain extent where by a family needs a son to perform last rites in order for salvation to be achieved. In other words, sons are considered as breadwinners as they will look after their parents and continue the family name. In addition, Almond et. al (2005) stated that only sons could light a man’s funeral pyre and perform the traditional ancestor cult. Moreover, some Indian societies practice a tradition whereby daughters have to be married off with a substation dowry and hence, daughters are more often considered as a financial burden resulting the killing of female newborn babies as the final solution to the dowry problem. You read "Preferences for Boys and Girls in South Korea, China, India and Nepal" in category "Papers" What is more, it is enlarged and even becoming more accepted, particularly in the poorer areas of India (Almond et. al 2005). Since daughters will be married into another family, therefore only sons can guarantee for the care of the parents in old age, which then resulted a far more widespread practice of discrimination against daughters. Hence, in its most extreme manifestation, the influence of son preference in India can affect on how many girls survive into adulthood and even how girls are born (Westley Choe 2007). As summarize in Figure 3. 0, from earlier years mortality conditions of female infants had increased from killing of the female infants and sex-discrimination regime started to experience a deep change during the 1970s, since pre-natal sex-determination tests became widely available and often led to selective abortion to female fetus (CHREHPA 2007). draw:frame} Figure 4. 0: Trends in sex ratio at birth under 1 year old in Nepal, 1952/54 – 2001 (CHREHPA 2007). Nepal has been classified as having considerable levels of son preference since the World Fertility Surveys first documented the phenomenon in the 1980s. As seen in Figure 4. 0, there was an inclining trend in sex ratio at birth in 1970s to 1980s. Son preference in Nepal is a little different compared to the other countries concerning the d iscrimination against daughters are at a distinctive level. Daughters are very much loved in the family, as they are valued for their responsibility in religious festivals as well as for their emotional and household contribution to the family. Hindus in Nepal assign great value to marrying a virgin daughter. Girls marry early and universally in Nepal because of the religious merit bestowed on those who give them in marriage (Karki 1988). Nevertheless, having sons are very highly prized among the Nepalese societies compared to daughters (Leone et. al 2003). Sons are preferred due for old age security, and lineage where by the Hindu code of conduct in Nepal reinforced the transfer of family name through male offspring. Other than that, sons are more desired for their roles in religious rituals, agricultural labor and companionship. However, many Nepalese couples are willing to surpass their ideal family sized to satisfy their desire for sons (Hollander 1997). As a consequence, the son preference has affected the contraceptive behavior in Nepal to the extent that Nepalese rarely begin contraception until the desired numbers of sons are born. However, they began to articulate their realization that large families are contributing to shortage of cultivable land and to the deteriorating fuel wood and water supplies in the hills of Nepal (Karki 1988). Hence, methods of pre-natal sex determination came to view during the 1970s, and according to research from CHREHPA (2007), 10 out of 25 women that had been told the fetus was a girl resorted to sex-selective abortions an increase in Nepal’s maternal mortality rates and sex-ratio imbalance as seen in Figure 4. . As a whole, it can be seen that the rationale behind son preference in South Korea, China, India and Nepal are based on these six features; discriminatory inheritance laws, economic value of sons, continuity of family line, family security and strength, socio-cultural norms and customs and dowry system (Gupta et. al 1998). Enhancement of new medical technologies and sex-selective abortions had somehow supported the idea of son preference in these four countries a nd seem to be a method of having the desired son. Next, it is then perceptibly has created several impacts in socioeconomic and demographic manifestation where by it resulted in higher fertility transition, promotes inequality in social and human development, associated with excess female deaths and poor health of women, lowers quality of life for women, wastes a valuable human resource and perpetuates cycle of poverty and increases income inequality in these four countries (Gupta et. al 1998). Fortunately, the imbalance in sex ratio has spurred some official efforts to shift public opinion in these four countries. Approaches have been made to reduce the sex-ratio imbalances in these countries by making daughters more wanted. Governments and non-governmental organizations work through advocacy, sensitization and awareness-raising programs. In South Korea, after a series of extensive campaigns and programs, sex ratios were once greatly imbalanced, are now returning to normal after women gained status in society through employment opportunities, increased education, and parents with enough money to be financially secure without dependence on their sons (Guilmoto n. . ). South Korea now is the first Asian country to reverse back the trend of rising ratio of sex at birth. China on the other hand, participated by the country’s ambitious â€Å"Care For Girls† program. The program encompasses many dimensions of the sex-ratio predicament. It offers cash and other incentives to families with daughters, scholarships for girls, better housing or loans for targeted families and others. It als o includes several awareness-raising campaigns, as well as repressive measures against illegal abortions and infanticide. In India, a program called Tamil Nadu is created in 2004 that gave monetary rewards to couples that had one or two girls and agreed to be sterilized. The state also created a Cradle babies in which empty cradles were placed in government centers across the states for couples to abandon unwanted female child without killing them. Furthermore, in 2007, the New Delhi municipal government sponsored a program that provide every girl born in a government hospital with a gift deposit of 5000 rupees that accumulated interest and could be cashed once the girls reached the age of 18 (Lederer 2008). Nepal has banned sex-selective abortions in 2002 when it liberalized its own law on abortions. These laws were then strengthened later on in various ways, in order to make them more effective (Guilmoto n. d. ). Although the strategies for reducing son preference and getting back female’s rights are many, these are all rather considered as a short-run implication despite the positive and optimistic outcomes. According to an American demographer who has been closely following China’s population program stated that, â€Å"The country may be coming o grips with problem as they country is still in dilemma – emotional and policy dilemma – because the solution to the problem will conflict with other parts of their population strategy to reduce birth rate or some of the measures could perhaps make the problem even worse. The country still has a lot of work to do. There’s no road map yet on how to achieve the goal of normal sex ratio† (Baculinao 2004) . Therefore, the future trends of the son preference are impossible to predict in the long run. Patriarchal systems are still underneath the attitudes among the societies in these countries. Regardless of how many levels of development in lasting efforts to address sex-selective abortion and female infanticide, it will fully require fundamental changes in cultural norms that promote son preference. References Almond, D, Edlund, L Milligan K (2005) ‘Son preference and the persistence of culture’. Downloaded from http://www. nber. org/papers/w15391 as at 25 November 2009. Baculinao, E (2004) ‘China grapples with legacy of its ‘missing girls’, MSNBC. Downloaded from http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/5953508 as at 20 November 2009. Chan, A Yeoh, B. S. A (2002) ‘Gender, Family and Fertility in Asia: An Introdyuction’. Downloaded from http://www. unescap. org/esid/psis/population/journal/Articles/2002/V17N2A1. pdf . As at 25 November 2009. CHREHPA (2007) ‘ Sex Selection: Pervasiveness and Preparedness in Nepal’. Dowloaded from http://www. unfpa. org/gender/docs/studies/nepal. pdf as at 20 November 2009. Chung, W Gupta, M. D. (2007)’Why is Son Preference Declining in South Korea? : The Role of Development and Public Policy and the Implications for China and India’, Policy Researh Working Paper, No. 373, The World Bank. Eberstadt, N (2004) ‘Power and Population in Asia: Demographics and the strategic balance’. Downloaded from http://www. aei. org/docLib/20040211_PowerandPopulationinAsia. pdf as at 25 November 2009. Edlund, L Lee, C (2009) ‘Son pereference, sex selection and economic development: Theory and evidence from South Korea’. Downloaded from http://www. eco n. columbia. edu/RePEc/pdf/DP0910-04. pdf as at 25 November 2009. Graham, M. J, Larsen, U (1998) ‘Son Preference in Anhui Province, China’, International Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 24, No. 2. How to cite Preferences for Boys and Girls in South Korea, China, India and Nepal, Papers

Reality Perception Essays - Subjective Experience, Perception

Reality Perception What is real? Our perception of reality is often in the hands of the community we live in. We formulate ideas of reality using experience of our own as well as those of others around us. Our lives are constantly being influenced by our surroundings. The idea that our perception of reality is determined by the consensus of our community can be seen throughout history, movies and literature, as well as our personal lives. During the Holocaust, in the movie Stigmata, and in my personal experience in boarding school, my perception as well as the cognition of others were shaped by the community associated with the situation. Throughout history many events have occurred involving false perceptions of reality. The holocaust is a great example of the community molding the perception of the individuals within the society. Adolph Hitler, for example, used the media to degrade darker skinned races. The media convinced people that the darker skinned race hurts their community and economy, and genocide was a necessary action. The people of that time based their perception of reality on what they heard from the media, and from leaders of their country. A movie that I have recently seen changed my perception of reality in a religious aspect. The movie is titled Stigmata, and the message that the movie portrays involves criticizing the Catholic Church. This film implies that the Church is not necessary to worship God because God is everywhere and in all aspects of life. According to the movie the Church is aware of this, however, and they refuse to tell the people because they will loose power if the members of the Catholic community become aware that they have false perceptions. Within the movie, in a religious aspect, the perception of reality of the Catholic society is completely shaped by the Catholic Church. Believers of Catholicism will modify their own perception of religion depending on the messages that the Church portrays to them. The church has great power over the beliefs of its religious followers. On more of a personal level, after watching this movie, my views regarding the purpose of the Church were slightly altered. I questioned and thoroughly thought of the Church and the reason for attending Mass on Sundays. I finally concluded that it is just a place where one can focus on religious thoughts without distractions from the outside world. Another situation where my community molded my perception of reality took place during my second year of high school. For my sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school I attended an international boarding school in Switzerland. Although it was an American school, the student body was composed of many different nationalities. These nationalities included student's form Turkey, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Spain, Venezuela, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and many other countries. Prior to my sophomore year I had never before been so interactive with such a large diversity of people. The students in that school shaped my perception of how people of different countries were. For example, I assumed that the whole Turkish community acted like the Turkish people that attended our school. I somewhat stereotyped them on the basis of my experiences with them. The majority of the student body was very wealthy, being a very expensive school, and my initial feelings toward the Turkish students were that they acted conceded and arrogant. I then assumed all Turkish people acted similarly to the ones of our school. However, after visiting Turkey and having a Turkish roommate, I realized that my perception of reality was contrary to the truth. The students of other nationalities that I lived with similarly shaped my perception of reality. Stereotyping was a common practice at our school. Many of the students from countries other than the United States thought of all Americans as "drugies". This perception was based on the actions of most of the American students. False perceptions such as these were customary throughout my high school life. The idea that the perception of individuals is shaped by the community they are associated with is accurate in most cases. Throughout my experience's I realized that being influenced by your surroundings is virtually unavoidable. To answer the question posed in the introduction, reality is what one determines it is by exploring and coming to a conclusion on their own. By staying as open minded as possible, one can determine reality on the basis of their own experiences, and not the ones of others.