Against School Essay Example for Free

Against School Essay Against School Gattos opinion on school is extremely intense and straight forward. For the most part I agree with his standing point on the subject of schooling. I agree with his arguments of how we have become a society that completely relies on technology to keep us from being bored, and this notion teaches us to be absent minded rather than creative. I also agree that keeping kids â€Å"locked up† in a building for about seven hours a day gives us no room to grow individually and learn from life experiences. Not only are students the ones in jeopardy because of this confined structure, but the teachers are as well. It’s almost like this narrow minded school system we abide by is just a dark cloud that hovers over us and imprints this idea that there is no other way to do things. When you think about it, school closely resembles what prison is made out to be. A bunch of unhappy people who would rather be anywhere but there. This is NOT what education should be about. We should enjoy learning, not think of it as a chore or something to get over with so that we can move on to the next thing in life. Which is what? More work? We need to focus on training our brains to engage in activities, enjoy the moment, be curious, and to discover new wonders, not new worksheets. I remember being a kid, gazing out the window on a car ride home, letting my imagination run wild, as fast as the car was going. Now whenever I drive for long periods of time, I lean over to look at what my little brother is doing. He’s constantly staring at some sort of computer screen. I even attempt having a conversation with him, asking him if he has any homework he needs help with but all I get in return is the same absent- minded response that I receive every day after school, â€Å"Nope, I already did my homework at school. † I’m always worried that he’s not getting an education, but instead is just receiving a â€Å"schooling†. He never seems engaged in his homework, but is more interested in what video game he can play as soon as he’s done. What ever happened to picking up a book and actually exercising the brain to imagine impossible things such as dragons and fairies? Does the board of education honestly think that they are tricking everyone into thinking that you will learn better off of a simple worksheet rather than actually going out and doing hands on interactions? Why do they restrict us? It’s almost like they emphasis conformity. It’s such a contradicting setting, school is. They put so much pressure on us to be individual and be completely yourself, yet they don’t allow us freedom to do so. I think we all stay so indifferent to the subject that it’s only getting worse. And the more we stay indifferent about it, the more the problem will escalate. It’s a vicious cycle that has to be stopped.

Inspirational teacher Essay Example for Free

Inspirational teacher Essay Dear Ms. Cornell, On the last day of my 9th grade English class, I gathered my books, took one last look around, and wondered if you and I would ever cross paths again. As you erased the chalk board, I wondered how many students were actually as inspired by you as I was. I considered interrupting your meticulous erasing, but decided against it, coming to the conclusion that you had had enough of us rowdy 9th graders for one school year. Your English class was my favorite, and I always looked forward to the exciting activities you’d come up with for us to participate in. Going into the 9th grade, I didn’t think that group activities and reading those â€Å"long† short stories would be something that I actually looked forward to, but you changed my outlook completely. I never thought I would have the opportunity to contact you again as I ventured off to high school to pursue the final years of structured schooling. It’s funny, though†¦as I walked out of your class room, you stayed with me through the duration of my schooling. The way that you taught inspired me in ways that no other teacher could. Your exclusive focus on each individual student you encountered helped me to understand that everyone is, indeed, individual. The creativity you incorporated into each lesson plan helped me to see that nothing has to be boring†¦it’s all in the way that a person approaches it. The little methods you utilized to make large exercises seem small and easy encouraged me to break down my large assignments into several small tasks. Something about the way you spoke to us kids made anything impossible seem absolutely attainable. I am in the process of completing my credentials to become a grade school teacher. I have completed student-teaching for Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd and 4th grade classes. I can now say that I honestly understand why this field is so rewarding. The kids are always so eager to see me. As I did with you, they continually await the learning activities I have planned for them. The various students I have had the opportunity to work with remind me of when I was young and dependent on the grown-up standing in the front of the room trying to teach me all the things I would need to know in life. As I approach the end of my formal education, I felt it was important to let you know that you played an important role in what I chose my career to be. Though the grades are different, the purpose is the same. Watching you effortlessly pass on your knowledge to a bunch of somewhat unappreciative 14-year olds gave me aspiration to practice a career in education. You had a major impact in my life and my hope is that one day I will be someone’s â€Å"Ms. Cornell. † For everything that you taught me, and for everything that you do, Thank you. Sincerely, ________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of.

Behaviorism. Neo Behaviorism and Gestalt Psychology

Behaviorism. Neo Behaviorism and Gestalt Psychology John B. Watson (1878 1958) was known as the father of behaviorism. Watson did not believe that the definition of psychology was the science of the mind. He believed that psychology should be viewed as a purely objective experimental branch of natural science and that the goal of the psychologist is not to understand the mind but to understand behavior. (Wozniak, 1997) Watsons studied behavioristic psychology in neonates at the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic in Baltimore. Hothersall stated that Watson found that there were three main classes of emotional responses that were distinguishable in human neonates: fear, rage, and love. These emotions were elicited by a set of certain stimuli. (Hothersall, 2004, pp. 471 472) Watson also conducted experiment and believed that children should be kept on a very strict schedule. He believed that children should not be hugged, kissed, and that they should be treated as little adults. (Wozniak, 1997) Watson began research with a child named Albert wh o was a child of one of the nurses in the Hospital. Albert was chosen because of his temperament. Watson wanted to study conditioning behavior of fear in a child. He wanted to see if a child could be conditioned to fear, the reconditioned to resolve tat same fear. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 472) Watsons behavior conditioning of fear was a success and was a widely known research project. He had now proved that fear can be acquired through conditioning and that most fear was probably acquired through a constant exposure. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 474) Albert was removed from the program by his mother before he could be reconditioned to not fear the animals that he were conditioned to fear. Eventually, Watson discovered a new subject whose fears were actually similar to little Alberts fears. Watson and his assistant Jones began to use conditioning methods on Peter to cure him of his fears. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 477) Peters conditioning went from fear to indifference to him being fond of rabbits . Watson kept in touch with Peter and his family and Peter remained found of rabbits for quite some time after the direct conditioning had finished. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 478) After Watsons forced resignation from Johns Hopkins Department of Psychology, he went to work in advertising. Because he understood advertising from a psychologist view, he was able to apply his behaviorist psychology to advertising and use behaviorism to sell products. He was able to use demographics surveys to target consumers. Watson was a very successful advertiser and was also the first to use radio effectively for advertising. (Hothersall, 2004, pp. 476 477) Watson was a very successful advertiser but was never able to return to academics which was his love. 2. Compare and Contrast the Little Albert and Peter case studies. Watsons study of children led him to the two case studies of fear in children. Watsons research with children began at the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic in Baltimore in 1916. Adolf Meyer was sympathetic to Watsons behaviorism and allowed him to set up a research laboratory at the clinic where he studied child development. At Phipps he studied more than 500 infants. He studied their reflexes and emotional reactions. He believed that the newborns had a number of reflexes but only 3 main classes of emotional responses: fear, rage, and love. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 471) Watson experimented with a normal developing baby at an invalid hospital whose mother was a nurse at the hospital. Watson wanted to see if he could condition the child to elicit a fear response. First he began to create a fear in the child by striking a pole with a hammer until the child became afraid of the sound. Once Little Albert was afraid of the sound, Watson paired the sound to an animal that Little Albert was not afraid of. Whenever Little Albert would reach for the animal, the experimenter would strike the pole with the hammer. At first, little Albert would pull away from the animal. By the third attempt to pair the animal with the sound, Little Albert would cry. Once he elicited the responses that Watson was hoping for, Watson would then begin to introduce more animals to see if Little Alberts fear would cross over from animal to the other. The experimenter would now introduce other animals and objects to Little Albert. Watson received the results that he was looking for. Although Little Albert never finished the study, the Little Albert study is extremely important in psychology. The research conducted on Little Albert had a tremendous effect on the world. Watsons research and experiments continue to influence psychology and therapy. (Little Albert, 2009) Because Little Albert didnt complete the study, Watson was left without a subject and without the result he was looking for in order to show that people can also be conditioned to not fear. The case of Peter made it possible for the experiment to continue where Dr. Watson had left off. First Watson would have to condition Peter to not fear a stimulus. Once the fear of the stimuli was gone, he would have to test to see if the resolution of the fear of that stimulus had transferred to his fear of other stimuli. (Green, 2001) Peter was overly afraid of a white rat which transferred to a white rabbit, a fur coat, a feather, and cotton wool. Te begin unconditioning Peter, he was shown a white rat. When he was shown the rat while sitting in the crib, he begins to cry. Afterwards, Peter was sat in a chair as he watched one of the experimenters handle the rat without fear. Peter was then gradually exposed to a white rabbit. Tolerance began with stage A bringing the rabbit into the room in a cage to stage F being free in the room to stage Q nibbling on Peters fingers. These degrees of toleration were represented in stages i n which the improvement or tolerance occurred. Some things that the stages did not show was the set-backs that Peter experienced such as a sudden change or fear of the rabbit again or the longer time it would take to reach the next stage. (Green, 2001) Watson and Jones research and experiments with Peter found that the most effective method for overcoming fear was direct conditioning to that fear. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 477) 3. What are the major tenants of Gestalt psychology as developed by Wertheimer, Kohler, and Koffka? How do their ideas oppose those of Watsons Behaviorism? Initially the three founders of Gestalt (meaning shape or form) Psychology, Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler were all German Psychologist whose interest included perception, learning, problem solving, and cognition. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 207) Max Wertheimer (1880 1943) was a young Jewish boy whose parents sent him to study at a Catholic Gymnasium. They also taught him Hebrew and the Torah while at home. His parents bought him the collective works of Baruch Spinoza, a philosopher. He attended the University of Prague where he studied law. He became interested in Psychology and studied under Stumpf at the University of Berlin. He received his Doctorial degree under Kulpe at the University of Wurzburg. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 208) Kurt Koffka (1886 1941) was born in Berlin and attended the University of Berlin and earned his PhD in 1909. Koffka had studied movement phenomena under Stumpf at the University of Berlin. (Green, 2000) Wolfgang Kohler (1887 1967) was born in Reval and earned his PhD in 1909 at the University of Berlin under Stumpf. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 209) As Rallman stated, Gestalt is the German word for form, and as it applied in Gestalt psychology it means unified whole or configuration. The essential point of gestalt is that in perception the whole is different from the sum of its parts. (Rallman, 2010) Wertheimer, Kohler, and Koffka began working together after Wertheimer consulted with Professor Schumann of the Psychological Institute at the University of Frankfurt about some questions that he had. Wertheimer wanted to know where movement came from. His work with Kohler and Koffka led to phi phenomenon and the 4 principles of Gestalt Theory (Holistic Thinking, Phenomenological Basis, Methodology, and Isomorphism). (Hothersall, 2004, p. 209) Gestalt Psychology differed from Behaviorism because behaviorism was founded on the ideas that people can change their behaviors. Its basis is that the person can control the mind and their behavior. Gestalt psychology grew out of perceptual theories and its basis is looks at the human mind an d behavior as a whole. (Hothersall, 2004, pp. 209-211) The basis of Gestalt Theory is that the form is always a constant. No matter how the sensation or surroundings change, the form remains constant. (Hothersall, 2004, pp. 207 208) 4. Outline the major ideas of the Neo-Behaviorists: Tolman, Guthrie, Hull, and Skinner. Edward Chace Tolman (1886 1959) was a Psychologist born in Massachusetts and the brother of a famous Physicist. Tolman received his Bachelors from MIT, but didnt want to feel like he was following in his brothers footsteps. He changed universities to Harvard University where he studied Philosophy and Psychology. He received his PhD in Psychology in 1915. (Hothersall, 2004, pp. 487-488) Tolmans theory of Neo-behaviorism is rooted in Gestalt psychology and Behaviorism. Edwin Ray Guthrie (1886 1959) was an American Philosopher and Behaviorist Psychologist. Guthrie showed academic talent even as a young boy. Guthrie was a mathematics major at the University of Nebraska and received his Masters and PhD in Philosophy. (Hothersall, 2004, p 496) Guthries most important contribution to psychology was his theory of learning or what he called his point of view or his rudiments of a system of learning. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 498) In his book, The Psychology of Learning, he stated that the principle of contiguity in similar words: a combination of stimuli which has accompanied a movement will on its recurrence tend to be followed by that movement. (Hothersall, 2004, p 499-500) Guthries work played an important part in understanding all the processes that take place as people develop the knowledge and develop the skills which help them to interact successfully with the environment and with the people around them. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 499) Clark Leonard Hull (1884 1952) attended a one room school where he took all of the courses and taught there for a year. As a child he had a strong need to succeed. Because of his need to succeed, he spent long hours working and studying. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 504) After taking a one year break due a typhoid infection, Hull entered the Alma College studying mining engineering. After his second year at Alma College, he has a severe attack of poliomyelitis which left one of his legs paralyzed. Because of his paralysis, Hull would not be able to have a successful career as a mining engineer and decided to study either religion or psychology. (Hothersall, 2004, pp. 504-505) Hull graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA degree and a year later he entered the University of Wisconsin where he was assigned as a research assistant to Joseph Jastrow. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 505) While Hulls work on aptitude and hypnosis was important, his attempt to develop a comprehensive behavior sy stem was his most important contribution. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 506) His work was cited in the American Journal of Experimental Psychology more than any other Psychologist from 1949 1952. Hulls contributions were recognized by his colleagues and he attained the presidency of the American Psychological Association as well as being elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1936. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 513) Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904 1990) attended Hamilton College in Upstate New York and aspired to be a writer. After graduating, he set-up a study and spent a year trying to write. At the end of the year, he concluded that he had nothing to write and begin a new career. Skinner purchased Watsons books on Behaviorism. After Skinner read Pavlovs book, he decided that his future was in psychology. (Hothersall, 2004, p. 515) He invented the operant conditioning chamber and developed his own philosophy of science. Skinners radical behaviorism sought to understand reinforcement on behaviors. (Hothersall, 2004, pp. 517 519) To Skinner, reinforcement is integral in the shaping of a persons behavior. Skinners radical behaviorism and operant conditioning is used in child rearing, teaching, and business now. (Hothersall, 2004, pp. 524 528)

Toni Morrisons Beloved: Not a Story to be Passed On Essay -- Toni Mor

Toni Morrison's Beloved: Not a Story to be Passed On Beloved, Toni Morrison's Nobel Prize winning novel, is a masterfully written book in which the characters must deal with a past that perpetually haunts them.   This haunting, in the form of a twenty year old ghost named Beloved, not only stalks them in the spirit, but also in the flesh.   Beloved, both in story and in character hides the truth in simple ways and convinces those involved that the past never leaves, it only becomes part of who they are.   This contortion of truth does not allow any character to escape.   Each one hides and runs from the brutality of slavery, yet cannot escape it's heritage.   Set in the post-Civil War era of the rural Ohio back roads, each protagonist faces the fact that through Beloved's return they must deal with the ties of the past and the prosperity of the future.   And after dealing with those memories that don't let them go, they can move on with their lives.   Beloved, the ghostly character, drives this story of Sethe, Denver, and Paul D. to an exploding end of triumph and unity. The story of Sethe is taken from a true story of a   woman who did escape from slavery only to be caught by her past.   In Morrison's own words in an interview with Gloria Naylor, she concedes that Sethe is an intriguing character taken from a true account:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I had an idea that I didn't know was a book idea. . . .  Ã‚   One was a newspaper clipping about a woman named   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Margaret Garner in 1851.   It said that the Abolitionists made a great deal out of her case because she had escaped from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kentucky with her four children.   She had run off into a little woodshed right outside her house to kill them because she   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   had been caugh... ...Toni Morrison's Novels.  Ã‚   University of Georgia Press: Athens, 1993. Lacan, Jaques.   The Purloined Letter.   Trans. Jeffery Mahlman.   Baltimore:   Johns Hopkins   University Press, 1988. Morrison, Toni.   Beloved.   New York, Penguin Books USA Inc, 1988. Schmidt, R. G.   Hearing, Calling, and Naming: Aspects of NOMMO in Toni Morrison's   Beloved. Web. 5 May 2015. http://www.africanafrican.com/writers/Hearing,%20Calling%20and%20Naming%20%20Aspects%20of%20NOMMO%20in%20Toni%20Morrison%27s%20BELOVED.html Taylor-Guthrie, Dannille, ed.   Conversations With Toni Morrison.   Jackson:   University Press   of Mississippi, 1994. Teish, Luisan.   Jambalaya, The Natural Woman's Book.   San Francisco; Harper Collins   Publishers, 1988. "Slavery, Ghosts, and Beloved: Crash Course Literature 214." John Green, Editor Crash Course. N.p., 29 May 2014. Web. 17 April 2015.

Data Warehousing :: essays research papers

The company implementing the Data warehouse is Sears Roebuck & Co. Sears is in the retailing business selling ever thing from under garments to washing machines. The main reason why the company is implementing the DW is because it wants to maximize the use of its information in its credit data warehouse. The prior application processed steps sequentially one processor at a time thus not using the multiprocessor capabilities of its machine to process the huge quantity of data. Mining of data was too slow and could only be performed once a year, which produced inaccurate data for the Marketing department. Due to the meticulous process, other units of the company were barred from the data warehouse, which also cause dilemmas. Sears went to a consultant to solve the problem. The package chosen was the Torrent Systems Orchestrate Package. The reason for choosing this package is because the package fit the needs of the company to a match. It allows the company to convert its application from sequential to parallel by partitioning the data across the processors and running multiple, parallel instances of the application. The benefits from implementing the Orchestrate package is, the new program would examine account attributes like purchasing behavior and payment history, causing more lucrative targeted marketing campaigns and boosting sales and card balances. It will allow the job to be done at a fraction of the time of the prior system. In addition the new system increased the number of credit card accounts from 16 million to 22 million. Overall, from doing this case study I have learned that data mining and data warehouse’s are very important to all organizations especially very large organizations. DW’s help to further organize and use the data of the company to its fullest, which allows companies to operate more smoothly and efficiently. I gained a greater knowledge of DW’s and how they work and are used by organizations.

Patriot Act Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Politics Terror Essays

Patriot Act One of the worst, yet momentous events in U.S history occurred on September 11th, 2001. This event released a flow of patriotic fervor and a permanent fear among all Americans that they had also now become suspect to acts of international terrorists. This led to a lot of changes in the attitudes of the executive and legislative branches in the United States government. They came up almost immediately with new measures, which were supposedly against terrorism or terrorist threats. One of the principle acts passed by them was called "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001," also called the USA Patriot Act. This was signed and approved as law by President Bush on October 26th, 2001. This act is one of the most sweeping acts passed in the history of modern America. The Act affects the civil liberties of the citizens of USA and even non-citizens who are residing in America on a regular basis. The question though, is if the United States is faced with a Major Crisis like 091101 brought forth, is it permissible to allow the Government the expanded powers to set fourth the laws and enforcement needed to protect our country? And is it permissible to take away many citizens liberties while doing so? The answers may vary, some people may fight for there rights some may not even care. When it comes down to it, we’re all American citizens and we might not all be part of the U.S. Army, or the United States Marine Corp. but we are all solders. We all have the same responsibility to protect our Nation and its citizens. Many may speculate that our â€Å"rights† are being violated. That six of there most coveted rights and Amendments are being violated by the government that is supposed to enforce that each citizen have them. Anyone that has an opinion on there rights, basically has two choice is the matter. They can not worry about what there rights are and how they could be violated and save thousands or millions of United States citizen lives in one way or another, or they can fight the Government and keep all there rights as they see they have them, and cause thousands of innocent deaths, just like what occurred on 091101. All the Patriot act did after 091101, was keep the honest people honest. That’s all it is meant to do, while weeding out the snakes and rats that can c... ...though I support the Patriot Act for this time of need, I strongly disagree with the â€Å"Patriot II† —the act that was intended to follow Patriot and grant the government even broader powers which would give the FBI and CIA greater powers to spy and become more secreted then they already are. The plans of Patriot II were leaked out in bits and pieces of there past winter causing a little despair, the Government ensured that the Patriot II is dead and will never take effect. However look for the Government, mainly President Bush’s slaves, to incorporate many of the clauses this fall in the guise of the Victory Act. Many of the clauses in the Patriot II and Victory Act, I am strongly against, due to the fact even without reasonable suspicion the government could do as they please, and many civil liberties would be violated. Like I stated, I do support the judgment of expanded power during the time of need, within a certain period of time [durations of the War ] and with reasonable suspicion to deprive a citizen of rights, I will proudly diminish the level of rights I carry to protect that of others. I’m a proud United States citizen and I have nothing to hide at all, not even my pride.

The Machine Stops

Machine Stops Draft 24 March 2010 The Machine Stop’s published in 1909 by E. M Forster is an amazing prediction of a future where humans live below the surface of the earth in â€Å"The Machine. †Connected by something similar to the internet and communicating only by webcam, their every need is met and physical contact has become obsolete. There is a lot in this story that can be compared with our lives now in regards to dependence on technology and the way that it controls our lives, I am going to discuss that in this paper along with how this story and David Strong’s article can be compared. I will try to analyze the time’s that Forster grew up in and the impact they may have had on his view of the future, also the benefits and downfalls of modern technologies and a quick summary of the novella by Forster. The story takes place below the earth’s surface in ‘The Machine. ’ The Machine does everything for the people from playing music to making their beds. For example if they dropped something they didn’t have to bend over to pick it up, because the machine would elevate the floor to their level. The Machine completely takes away the need for the people to physically do anything for themselves. Kuno is the son of Vashti, a woman who like the others worships the Machine. Kuno questions the machine and takes it upon himself to leave the machine without permission to go to the surface of the earth to explore. Once Kuno reaches the surface the mending apparatus of the Machine entangles him because on his journey to the surface he tears the machine. After Kuno’s experience on the surface of the earth he gets in contact with his mother on the other side of the world to convince her to visit him face to face so he can explain his adventure to her. Kuno convinces Vashti to take the airship to visit him in spite of the fact that Vashti does not enjoy seeing the surface of the earth because it gives her â€Å"no ideas†. Once Vashti arrives Kuno explains his adventure and tells her that he is being threatened with ‘homelessness’ which is equivalent of death and that is the reason why he wanted to see her face to face and let her know what happened. Vashti cannot believe that this man is her son because of his actions and beliefs and shortly after arriving she leaves telling him that they have nothing in common. Vashti does not talk or try to contact her son for a few years after. After sometime passes Kuno gets in touch with his mother and tells her that The Machine stops, and he believes the Machine is beginning to shut down. Kuno’s mother finds this quite funny and blows off his idea, but within a short period of time Vashti begins to notice that things are not working properly. Starting with Vashti noticing the sleeping apparatus was no longer working properly. The machine begins shutting down and falling apart. Kuno gets to Vashti and before she dies is able to touch her and let her know that there are people on the surface who will not make the same mistake of letting something like the machine happen again. The way that I see this story and David Strong’s article coming together is very clear, Kuno and Vashti are the perfect representation of good vs. goods life. I say this about Kuno because the way he is portrayed shows that even though he has all of his needs met by â€Å"The Machine† he is left unsatisfied. Not only is he left unsatisfied but he is also left lonely and detached from the natural world, to the point that he has lost his ability to physically support himself. Vashti on the other hand is a great example of a progress trap in the way that what she worshipped (technology) is what ended up killing her. The reason I compare her with a progress trap is because she was brought up in the machine it was all she knew and it ended up getting out of control and killed her and the rest of its occupants, when they blindly accepted it as a good thing not expecting faults. E. M Forster’s story the Machine stops is an unbelievably accurate prediction of modern times for when it was published. The technologies Forster creates we see now and also some of the problems. The dependence we have on technology now is to the point where it is questionable if some people could survive without electricity, what does this mean to our societies? Not to say that technology is completely a bad thing but if you look at medicine as an example painkillers began as a treatment for people with severe illness and are now being used as a recreational drug with many negative effects. It seems that you can look at most technologies and see where they are being exploited due to their flaws, should this be blamed on the technologies or us as the users and inventers of them. E. M. Forster asks his readers to imagine a life in which they are completely surrounded and enclosed in technology; enclosed in a small space such as a cell of a bee hive (Gunton and Stine 129). The short story is trying to illustrate what could possibly come from a â€Å"society ‘perfected’ by technology (Bryfonski 179). Although technologies do make our lives simpler in many ways we cannot let them take over our lives, and we should not solely rely on technology to do everything. Early on in The Machine Stops it is made clear that the machine creates its own politics, sociology, its own rationality and its own religion (Bryfonski 179). It is almost as though Forster’s creation of the machine was an outlook to what he thought technology could easily become The characters in the short story have allowed the machine to â€Å"deaden their senses and to dehumanize their emotions† (Gunton and Stine 129). The characters do not know how to function by themselves anymore because the Machine allows them to not have to think or care, it ‘takes care’ of that for the humans. If we let technology do everything for us we will lose our own ability to think for ourselves. Although technology is a significant part of everyday life for the average person and it is used to simplify life, it can become overwhelming. Technology, if used wisely can have enormous benefits: staying in contact with old friends and family, saving someone’s life, helping you travel around the world the possibilities are truly endless. Some organizations and people in society possibly need to realize that there are always two sides to everything and, that yes technologies are created to help us but if we use the technologies improperly the same technological world could destroy us that is trying to help us. The idea of E. M. Forster’s The Machine Stops illustrates very well the destruction that could be created if humans begin to rely solely on technology in a maybe not so dramatic way after all. Works Cited E. M. Forster (1879-1970). † Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 178-183. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 19 March 2010. E. M. Forster (1879-1970). † Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Sharon R. Gunton and Jean C. Stine. Vol. 22. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. 129-138. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 19 March 2010.