The Pursuit of Happyness Essay Example for Free

The Pursuit of Happyness Essay America is a land of great hope and opportunity, but with its many benefits, there are also flaws, such as a large homeless population. The Pursuit of Happyness is a movie based on a true story about a man named Chris Gardner, and his struggle to live a happy life. Jonathan Kozol’s essay, â€Å"The Homeless and Their Children† is about Laura and her struggle to maintain a good life for herself and her family. Will Smith, as Chris Gardner, in The Pursuit of Happyness is very similar to Laura from â€Å"The Homeless and Their Children† because they both are unable to provide for themselves or for their families, and do not have a stable place to live thus, supporting Kozols picture of homelessness. Both have different causes for being homeless, but share similar effects. Chris Gardner’s story starts in 1981, in San Francisco. He is a very smart and hard worker who deeply cares about his wife, Linda, and son, Christopher. Gardner takes a chance and invests his life savings into a device called a bone-density scanner. He goes around selling these from door to door. Soon the people stop buying it, due to it being expensive. This leaves Chris on his knees, with his wife leaving him and moving to New York, with very little money, and being kicked out of his apartment. His wife tries to take her son, but Gardner refuses. He then applies for a stockbroker position at Dean Witter, but in order to get that position he has to go through training for six months without pay. At the same time, the government takes what little money he has left in his bank account for his taxes. This makes him unable to pay for the rent, leaving him and his son homeless. From this point on, Gardner goes through numerous hardships such as sleeping in a bathroom, searching for a job day by day, and finding a way to feed himself and his son. Chris does not give up at all, but rather works even harder for that one and only position, which is also being pursued by nineteen other people. In one scene, he tells his son â€Å"Hey! Dont ever let somebody tell you You cant do something. Not even me. All right†? Chris finally gets the job, goes to his son, and embraces him. In â€Å"The Homeless and Their Children,† Jonathan Kozol visits the Martinique hotel and interviews one of the homeless families. He decides to call the mother Laura. She has four children and they face many difficulties. Her oldest son has been diagnosed with lead poison, and the youngest daughter with scabies. The hospital keeps sending letters to her, but due to her illiteracy, she is not able to read them, thus preventing her from helping her children. She also has many problems with her home. Her room’s radiator is broken, and the bathroom plumbing has overflowed. Laura has four rooms in her apartment and each is more dangerous than the other one. The screws are loose in the crib; the corners of the beds are sharp and unprotected. Just by being homeless, she has enough problems, but also being illiterate only adds more. Her apartment also has big rats that come out at night and bite sometimes. Laura has gotten into many arguments with the manager of the building and complained to him about fixing the problems â€Å"Why you give my son lead poison and you didn’t care?†(Kozol, p.308) of her apartment, but he just ignores her and says that she is causing trouble for him. On Christmas, her children complain that they did not get any presents, but Laura tells them you will get something soon. Laura faces many numbers of problems each day, but she does not give up. She says â€Å"I figure: Go to church. Pray God. Ask him to help. I go on, my knees, I ask Him from my heart†. (Kozol, p. 309). Chris Gardner and Laura are similar in that they have both made wrong decisions in their lives. Gardener invested in the bone density machine, Laura, being young, got drunk with a boy, and that lead to her having a child. Laura did not believe in abortion so she kept the child however; she should n ot have had any more children since she was not capable of taking care of them by herself. Gardner on the other hand had to only worry about his one son and his son become a motivation for him to exceed in life and be a good father. Another similarity is that both individuals tried to make things better for there families. Laura did her best to read and since she could not read, she tried to understand the pictures she saw in the newspapers, grocery store etc, to help better her life. Gardner was capable of reading but he had a changed in career even though he did not poses the right education for the job that he was going for, he taught himself many things and ended up getting the job. The cause of Gardners ending up homeless was a bad financial decision. The effect of his homelessness was that he was unable to find a suitable place to operate from. He had to bounce around from motels after motels and eventually homeless shelters, which made his life more difficult. Laura ends up being homeless because she never got a chance to be educated, and then she got married very early and had kids, and this became a burden for her. The cause and effect on the society are that people can appreciate the little things they take for granted just by imagining themselves in Laura’s situation, and learn how harsh a life of a homeless person is. The society can learn from this, and thus, choose to help people like Laura by volunteering. The effect of Gardner’s story is that his patience and perseverance became an inspiration to the society. The Pursuit of Happyness portrayal of a homeless person is very similar to Kozol’s portrayal of homelessness. They both are unable to support their families, Gardner cannot find a job, due to Laura’s illiteracy she is unable to reply to the hospital or the welfare department. In this situation for both characters, many things can be done to improve their lives. First of Laura should have done something to keep her childrens father around all the time. When a family supports each other, they are successful and are able to prosper through many hardships. In case of Mr. Gardner, he should have made his early decisions carefully and through consulting family members and other who might have knowledge in the product that he was investing in. These two stories are very similar but with very different endings. In the end, people should not blame problem on themselves or others, instead they should come together and find a solution.

Essay --

"Your father will be undergoing a triple bypass surgery. There a few minutes left before the procedure takes place and he is sent to the operating room." I could hear the doctor’s footsteps walking away rapidly. Was this real? I pinched myself to make sure of it. How could I be around the people I loved most yet feel so broken and alone? At that moment the strong scent of my father’s favorite Oscar De La Renta cologne was the only thing I could smell while holding his hand. Laying so lifeless, weak and in pain, my father looked at me while tears trickled down onto his soft cheeks. All night, the aroma followed me as a shadow everywhere I went. Starting to take in the smell, I slowly began enjoying it and the comfort it brought me. As I waited anxiously, I was preparing myself for the worse. Hours passed and nothing, just a silent hospital and a closed door with no sign of anyone. Yet, the only thing there in the air surrounding me was the scent of the cologne and it wou ld be for the next few hours, days and weeks of the emotional journey ahead of me. Being a first generation Amer...

Flakes designs

1 . Tom Blake was a creative and successful surf pioneer/designer, a creative legend in the history of the sport, who almost single-handedly transformed surfing from a primitive Polynesian curiosity into a 20th century lifestyle. In the process, he was responsible for preserving much of surfing's oral history as well as resurrecting the streamlined surfboards of ancient times. Tom created the first â€Å"hollow† surfboard. At 15 feet long, 19 inches wide and 4 inches thick, it weighed less than 100 pounds an ultra light board for its time. Blake patented his â€Å"Hawaiian Hollow Surfboard† in 1930, and soon almost all racing battledores were hollow.Not only did the hollow boards work well in the surf by staying a float and creating it easier to maneuver but they were the consummate lifesaving tools. Adopted on the mainland by the American Red Cross Life Saving Division, the Hawaiian Hollow Surfboard totally revolutionized water rescue techniques in the United States an d around the world. This wasn't enough for Tom Blake as he then went on to invent ‘surf photography now known and recognized as a common thing among many he bought a 4†³xx† camera from Duke Kinkajou, created a waterproof housing for it and photographed Whisky's surfers from his paddlers.Published in National Geographic in 1935. Flake's photos not only impressed and introduced a wider audience to the Joys of surfing but also inspired two young California surfers to take up cameras: John â€Å"Doc† Ball and Don James and both became legendary surf photographers. After this he then went on to give his surfing paddlers more directional stability, Blake created (and patented) a small, keel-like fin, although the importance of this invention wasn't really appreciated until the late ‘ass when Bob Simmons, Joe Quick and others began to use them.Blake also invented the sailing surfboard, a concept that presaged the windsurfer. Besides being a freethinking innova tor and champion waterman, Blake was a visionary surfer, himself a prototype for an emerging lifestyle. Flake's passion and enthusiasm as a surfer and designer shaped the fundamental steps of our surfing life as it is today, Blake was a highly successful designer in the world of the ocean and surf crafts. Without him surfing or other waterspouts such a kite surfing or paddle boarding wouldn't be the same today.In my opinion Flake's passion and love for the water has driver him to become the most successful and creative surf designer to this day and has changed the life of many ocean enthusiasts . Whilst tom was building surfboards and ocean designs in the sass's the technology he used was not all as snazzy as some you can get your hands on to date. In saying that too handcraft and design a surfboard the basic tools and techniques work best. As with my work, Tom Blake uses wood and materials to create his innovative idea's to do with and push him to strive in what he loves most and h as passion for, Surfing and the ocean.To experiment and test ideas and designs to maximize the surfboards ability. Tom struggled at first with the production of his designs as the technology he could access was not advanced to create these rodents fast and precise. A few of the basic tools tom used to craft his hollow surfboard A. K. A the â€Å"cigar box† was: The hand plane: The bow saw: In my school project, the wooden hand board. I am using all of the same tools as tom but some slightly advanced and less time consuming such as the saber saw or Jigsaw where the bow saw was used and an electric sander where some of the sanding was done by hand.Although to shape the board I am still using a hand plane, exactly the same as Blake had used in the production of his designs including the first â€Å"fin† the hollow surfboard AKA the â€Å"cigar box†. Blake had an extraordinary skill when it came to shaping anything and a saw of any type fit in his hand perfectly. To m had an unusual sense of creating ideas from his mind and carving it out of wood perfectly. This is what helped him thrive to create such innovative designs with low technology. Tom is an inspiration of many shapers, surfers and surf photographers to this day and will always be remembered as â€Å"the man who shaped the surfing world†.Flakes designs and models he made then went on to be factory produced as he sold the rights of the design off. The machine and technology then used to create these roads, waterproof housings for camera's etc. Was then at a much higher standard and used mostly computer based and high tech machines. 3. There are a huge variety of career opportunities for Blake as he offers such a high range of skill and creativity in the design world, tom has a ability to apply attention to detail also a very special skill of being able to create and design what he imagines.With toms variety of skills there are many careers and paths tom could have traveled into, things such as: Surfboard shaper -for tom this would be an underestimate of himself and his skill, UT he could easily pursue a life in shaping surfboards or surf crafts. For tom this was only a hobby side of his life to maximize the crafts for his passion of the ocean, and produce a new and improved surf craft so that everyone could enjoy the thrills of surfing and not have to carry a 200-pound board.Architecture- if tom would have liked to veer his life into a completely different outlook and way of living he would have been very successful in the architecture design as he has the ability to imagine and picture designs in his head and make them real, in architecture this is important. Tom's creativity would have successfully ordered him through things such as house design and building design. Not that tom would enjoy this, as it has nothing to do with his love of the ocean.Photography- although photography is not looked at as a very high classed career option as there are so many photographers in toms time (sass's) the idea of surf photography was pretty unknown and foreign, Toms ability to stand out from the crowd and think outside of the box would and DID help him to create a footprint in the surf photography world. The Idea of creating a waterproof housing for a camera so that he could take his Fussily camera given to him by his dad is Just the kind of innovative and different thinking photography needs!Builder- Tom being able to picture where things could go and where things could be improved and how they could be improved would drive him through and kind of building, have it be construction, furniture, houses, functional or aesthetic, tom would be successful again with his ability to see where things go and need improvements. Toms picturing mind is a key step to any construction and design/production Job. Tom was a very quite child as he had lost his mother to tuberculosis at a young age and his father had given him to distant relatives as he was coping bad with the other's death.Tom's quite persona lead to him writing down and recording most things he did. This was is important as Recording your work is an important key to the design world and without it its hard thrive in your area. Although Tom was quite he definitely spoke through his actions and designs! The nature of toms work was in many aspects impressive and enjoyable for tom as the satisfaction of being a part of the surfing world and remembered by everyone was what pushed tom. The passion of the surfing and the love of ocean were really shown through his work and designs.

Essay on The No Child Left Behind Act - 1440 Words

Initiated in 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 intended to prevent the academic failures of educational institutions and individual students, as well as bridge achievement gaps between students. This act supports the basic standards of education reform across America; desiring to improve the learning outcomes of America’s youth. No Child Left Behind has left many to criticize the outcomes of the Act itself. Questions have risen concerning the effectiveness of NCLB, as well as the implications to America’s youth. Thesis The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 should be revised to allow better accountability of student success, accountability of schools progress, and better flexibility for teachers. About â€Å"No Child Left†¦show more content†¦The problem here is simple; not all students can perform at the same academic level. To add, large scale standardized tests are the only source of understanding the academic achievements under NCLB, which are not an entirely accurate measure of a student’s performance. Additionally, the testing results are directly linked to awards or penalties of the school performance. Each state establishes their own standards, which must approved by the federal government if participating in NCLB. The tests are predominately multiple-choice style tests. The tests do not take in account their report card grades or significant individual achievements made by a student. For example, if a student is three levels below their reading grade, but increases their reading by two grades over the course of year, yet still below their current grade based on standardized testing, then that student will be categorized as a failing. It is argued th at large-scale standardized testing is creating inaccurate measurements of student progress bound by the single year focus of NCLB rules. It does account for following the student over the course of their elementary years for overall success. â€Å"Classroom-based measures of proficiency, such as research projects, classroom assessments, and homework assignments, also provide rich data regarding students’ academic progress (Cawthon, 2004).† The current Obama administration has indicated a planShow MoreRelatedNo Child Left Behind Act1621 Words   |  7 Pages The support for the No Child Left Behind Act plummeted down shortly after the act passed. Many people supported the act at first simply because they supported the goals of the act, once they saw the results, their opinions changed. One of the biggest arguments towards No Child Left Behind is that it is unfair. People believed the resources of difference schools were unequal, and thought the Title 1 funding that th e schools received should go to ensuring all schools had equal resources. Many peopleRead MoreThe No Child Left Behind Act1670 Words   |  7 Pages Literature Review: Every Student Succeeds Act Suzanne Hatton, BSW, LSW University of Kentucky-SW 630 Abstract This literature review seeks to explore the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), a bipartisan reauthorization and revision to the No Child Left Behind Act (2002). The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is the first law passed in fourteen years to address Reneeded changes to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Considered progressive and innovative at the time of itsRead MoreThe No Child Left Behind Act875 Words   |  4 PagesThe No Child Left Behind Act â€Å"NCLB† was a bill passed by the Senate in 2001 and signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002. It was a revision of the Elementary and Secondary Act â€Å"ESEA† of 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson. The NCLB was intended to help children in lower-income families achieve the same standard of education as children in higher income families. This was done by the federal government providing extra finances for Title I schools in exchange for a rise in academicRead MoreNo Child Left Behind Act1418 Wor ds   |  6 Pagessystematic oppression. The flowing water of oppression floods poor schools; drowning students with dreams, and giving no mercy. The only ones safe from the water are the privileged, who are oblivious to the fact that it exists. George Bush s No Child Left Behind Act, which passed in 2002, mandated annual standardized testing in math and reading. If schools received insufficient scores, they were punished or shut down. This fueled the construed concept that a school is only doing well if the students haveRead MoreThe No Child Left Behind Act Essay921 Words   |  4 Pagesuccessful at it. (Source 7) Next, the â€Å"No Child left behind Act† it was signed by President George W. Bush and it passed with bipartisan support on Jan. 8, 2002. 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Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law (also known as the NCLB). The No Child Left Behind Act was the latest reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, a federal education bill addressing the nation’s schools. At his signing ceremony, Bush stated, â€Å"There’s no greater challenge than to make sure that every child—and all of us on this stage mean every child, not just a few children—every single child, regardless of where they live, how they’reRead MoreThe No Child Left Behind Act1592 Words   |  7 PagesThe No Child Left Behind Act was the biggest educational step taken by president Bush and his administration. Its main goal included the increase of achievement in education and completely eliminate the gap between different racial and ethnic grou ps. Its strategies had a major focus on uplifting test scores in schools, hiring â€Å"highly qualified teachers† and deliver choices in education. Unluckily, the excessive demands of the law have not succeeded in achieving the goals that were set, and have causedRead MoreNo Child Left Behind Act1747 Words   |  7 PagesNo Child Left Behind Introduction The No Child Left Behind Act (NALB) was signed into law by the former President of the United States George Walker Bush on the 8th of January 2002. It was a congressional attempt to encourage student achievement through some reforms focused on elementary and secondary education programs in the United States. The NCLB requires that within a decade all students including those with disabilities to perform at a proficient level on their state academic evaluation testsRead MoreThe No Child Left Behind Act1124 Words   |  5 PagesChristian J. Green Dr. Shoulders NCLB and ESSA 28 February 2016 The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was authorized by and signed into law in 2002. NCLB was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. NCLB was meant to hold schools to higher standards, enforce accountability, and close achievement gaps that had existed in education since ESEA was enacted. Nevertheless, the rigorous standards and goals set forth under NCLB were never attained. ESEA Flexibility could