Assured that life will be better when we get married. Life will be better when we have a baby. So when we get another child.
Then again, it seems to us that life will be better when the kids grow up. Perhaps we could then take care of ourselves.
And when children grow up, they drives us crazy because they are crazy adolescent.

Surely we’ll be happier when they  come out of this period.
Then, still talking to ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse came to mind. It will be even better when you buy a nicer car, when we are able to go on vacation, when we finally retire.
The truth is that there is no better moment for the happiness of this moment.
If not now, when?

Your life will always be full of difficulties.

It is best to acknowledge yourself and decide to be happy anyway. To be happy now.
Happiness is the right way. So, keep every moment you have. Keep it even more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend time with him (or her) … And remember that time no one is waiting!

So, stop waiting …

To finish college.

To lose 10 pounds.
To get 10 pounds.
To marry.
To pay your loans.
To buy a new house or car.
To get the children.

To thy children leave home.
To go back to college.
To divorce.
To go into retirement.
To come summer.
To come spring.
To come winter.
To come fall.
To die.

There is no better moment for the happiness of this moment now. Happiness is a journey, not a goal!

So ……
Work like you do not need money,
Love like you’ve never been hurt,
and dance like nobody is watching you…

Car accident attorney help you in getting compensation. Car accidents are on the rise because people do not make the slightest attempt to follow the traffic rules. Car crash can be devastating to the victims. Car crashes cause financial difficulties and emotional trauma. Car accident attorneys help the victims in getting appropriate compensation for the damaged caused by the car crash.  Thepicenter.com have some of the best attorneys online. In case you are a victim in a car crash you know whom to contact.

1)      Introduction

As the first settlers, the first occupants of the Jamestown colony had to bear all kinds of difficulties, starting from cold and hunger to the numerous attacks of the nearby Indian tribes. Their first challenge was the location of the colony itself, which was marshy and mosquito-ridden. The location was picked for its cover against the attacks from the Spanish ships, but it wasn’t a good place to live. The water in the nearby river James was salty and full of filth. The colonists drank the contaminated and salty water, which led to numerous illnesses, but later dug wells to supply themselves with sources of fresh drinking water. During the first cold winter, also known as the Starving Time, colonists were on the verge of extinction, but were saved thanks to the Indian trade and the English supply ships, which reached the colony at the last minute. The colonists also had to suffer from numerous Indian attacks, but the attacks faded as the colony grew stronger and the territories, that the colonists held, expanded. Malaria played an important role, because Indians kept distance from the colony, thanks to the disease.  Lack of food was a big problem during the first years the colonists had to rely on drastic measures and trading with the Indians, but as the settlement grew, the colonists learned to crow crops and tobacco. Fishing was also important during the early years of the colony.

2)      Background to colony

By the dawn of the 17th century, despite several disastrous attempts, England still lacked a viable claim to some part of the New World. In 1606, King James I tried once more to fruitfully impregnate the mythically rich, virgin land. [4]

On April 10, 1606, James issued the first Virginia charter. This document authorized the London Company to establish plantations in Virginia. The London Company was a dynamic business venture. Its leader, Sir Thomas Smith, was reputedly London’s wealthiest merchant. Smith and his partners gained possession of the territory lying between Cape Fear and the Hudson River. These were generous, but vague boundaries, to be sure, but the Virginia Company – as the London Company soon called itself – set out immediately. [7]

 In May of 1607, three small ships – the Discovery, Godspeed and Susan Constant – landed at what we know today as Jamestown. On board were 104 men and boys, plus crew members, who had left England on a bitter cold December day. The ships were packed with supplies they thought would be most needed in this new land. [6]

Sponsors of the voyage hoped the venture would become an economic prize for England. An earlier undertaking in the 1580s on Roanoke Island, in what is now North Carolina, had failed, but times had changed. England had signed a peace treaty with Spain, and was now look­ing westward to establish colonies along the northeast­ern seaboard of North America. Word was that the Spanish had found “mountains of gold” in this new land, so these voyagers were intent on finding riches as well as a sea route to Asia. Little did the settlers know as they arrived on this spring day, May 13, 1607, how many and what kinds of hardships they would face as they set out to fulfill their dreams of riches and adventure in Virginia. [6]

A record log tells us that within a month they were able to complete the building of a large triangular fort on the banks of a river the Indians knew as “Powhatan’s River,” or “Powhatan’s Flu.” The settlers named it the James, after their King. [4]

3)    Location

Jamestown Island was a peninsula attached to the mainland over most of its history. It divided the James River from a smaller stream known now as Powhatan Creek. This peninsula began to form long before humans arrived in the area. Sand, silt, and clay deposited at the mouth of Powhatan Creek built up over the last one hundred thousand years. Regular undulations, created by ravines cutting through underlying sediments, characterized the peninsula’s surface. Many low areas contained small seeps, creating minor freshwater streams. Only in the recent past-about two hundred years ago-did erosion related to sea level rise sever the thin isthmus connecting the peninsula to the mainland, thus creating the island. [3]       

Jamestown was picked for its military advantages. It had a deep-water mooring for the ships, it was far enough up the James to be out of sight of the fearsome Spanish, and it was a semi-island–protected on three sides by the river and marshes. [4]

Not wanting to antagonize Powhatan, the newcomers—tassantassas (strangers), as the Indians called them—looked for uninhabited ground. Because native villages occupied all the good land upriver, the colonists ended up picking a site about 35 miles (55 kilometres) from the mouth of the James. It was a peninsula near a bend in the river, at a place where the current cut a deep channel so close to the shore that oceangoing ships could be moored to the trees. [1]

There was a reason no Indians lived at Jamestown: It was not a good place to live. The English were like the last people moving into a subdivision—they ended up with the least desirable property. Their chosen site was marshy, mosquito-ridden, and without fresh water. [1]

The contention is that the swampy, low-lying nature of the spot created a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other insects, and thus, functioned also as an unhealthful breeding. [2]

Malaria and dysentery periodically raged through the community. It suffered disastrous fires and explosions in the early days, and even as a city it was burned down twice. Bacon burned it during his Rebellion, and a few years later it burned down again by accident. When the fourth State House burned in 1698, the site was abandoned, and the capitol moved to Williamsburg. Jamestown, out of the mainstream of the bustling colony now, gradually fell into ruins. [4]

4)      Water

The location was without fresh water. Buckets could be dipped into the James, of course, but the water was potable only part of the year. During the summer, the river falls as much as 15 feet (5 meters). No longer pushed back by a big flow of fresh water, the salty water of the estuary spreads upstream, stopping right around Jamestown. Worse, sediments and organic wastes from the head of the river get trapped at the saltwater boundary. The colonists were drinking some of the dirtiest water in the James—”full of slime and filth,” complained Jamestown president George Percy. [1]

It also appears that the colonists did not dig a well right away when they arrived, choosing instead to drink out of the James River, which is in fact very salty. John Smith reported that they dug their first well in 1609, two years after arriving in Virginia. One of the greatest mysteries surrounding the Jamestown story is the question of why the colonists did not dig a well until 1609. [2]

The mystery of the late well notwithstanding, John Smith claimed that the well they finally dug in 1609 contained sweet water. When a well was recently excavated at the Jamestown site, the archaeologists tested the water to see if Smith was right in his assessment of the well’s quality, or if the historians are right in their critique of its salty and unhealthful nature. Water samples were chemically tested, and the results were surprising. The salt levels were negligible, demonstrating that the marshes have no effect on the water table of the well. So living in a swampy area and drinking from the island’s water table did not endanger the Colonists’ health. Drinking directly from the James River was the problem. [2]

Most springs and seeps at the shoreline were subject to tidal inundation and seasonal drying. English colonists dug shallow wells to supply themselves with sources of drinking water, but these were vulnerable to drought and salt water intrusion. Also, historian Carville V. Earle attributed the startling afflictions from disease in the early years to Jamestown’s position at the salt-fresh water transition, where filth introduced into the river tended to fester rather than flush away. [3]

Also, a dendroclimatological study recently discovered that a severe drought complicated life during the first years of the colony. By examining the rings of ancient, living bald cypress trees, researchers determined that this drought affected the area for the seven years between 1606-1612. Rainfall well below average amounts restricted the trees’ growth, causing a series of very narrow rings that explain the historical reports of hunger, sickness, death, and conflict. These natural clues help us understand the settlers’ complaints about the purity of water in streams and shallow wells which declined with fresh input from rainfall. [3]

5)      Winter

Climate is naturally prone to change, even if the shifts are only temporary. While essentially modern in character, the climate at the time of the English colonization was less conducive to a comfortable existence than what we recognize today. For instance, the period around 1607 coincided with a cool spell in North America and Western Europe that historians recognize as an early expression of the so-called Little Ice Age, lasting roughly from AD 1500 – 1850. This period was not one of continuous cold, but instead a time of more frequent and extreme intervals of low temperature. Indeed, Captain John Smith commented that the severe Virginia winter the colonists experienced in 1607-08 was akin to the “great frost” that gripped England at the same time. The 1607 winter in the British Isles was so severe there are reports of trees splitting open from the cold. [3]

Francis Perkins wrote from Jamestown, that “the cold was so intense that one night the river at our fort froze almost all the way across, although at that point it is as wide again as the one at London.” Captain John Smith reported violent winds and storms as well as extreme cold. William Strachey acknowledged that the Virginia winter was “so extreme unseasonable and frosty” that movement was impeded, but pointed out that “the extraordinary Frost was felt in most parts of Europe” as well. [5]

Unfortunately for the Jamestonians, an injury from a gunpowder explosion forced Captain John Smith to return to England in the fall of 1609 and left the colony in the less-than-capable hands of George Percy. [2]

Evidence now shows a serious drought had engulfed the area during this time worsening conditions even for the local Indians. Faced with sickness, disease, malnutrition and retaliatory attacks by the Indians, the colony was brought to the brink of extinction. [6]

Percy did not respond to the colony’s early challenges in the same able manner that Smith did. Percy was in command of the settlement during the terrible winter of 1609-1610, which became known infamously as the Starving Time. A flotilla of ships laden with supplies and persons bound for the colony was shipwrecked in Bermuda and did not reach Virginia until the following spring. [2]

Arms and valuable work tools were traded for a pittance in food. The fields lay fallow. Housing was used as firewood. The weak settlers were easy pickings for the contemptuous Indians. Trapped within their walls by Powhatan’s renewed enmity, the Jamestown residents ate their way through their livestock, their pets, mice, rats–and each other. Many turned to cannibalism, sneaking out at night–braving Indian ambush–to dig up the graves of both English and Indian dead. One contemporary wrote of a man who secretly killed his wife and ate her, until only the head was left. The author wrote –in a tasteless joke that has spanned centuries–”Now, whether she was better roasted, boiled or carbonadoed (grilled), I know not, but of such a dish as powdered (salted) wife I never heard of.” [4]

Percy’s conclusion was that of five hundred colonists, only sixty were left after the winter of 1609-1610. When the shipwrecked supply ship finally reached Virginia from Bermuda, the new arrivals found James Fort in a state of ruin, filled with famine and pestilence. The situation appeared so desperate that Sir Thomas Gates, the newly arrived governor, decided to pack everyone up and head downriver, abandoning Jamestown for either a different location or even a return to England. [2]

Any plans for abandonment were put aside thanks to the timely arrival from England of yet another new Governor, Lord De La Warr, whose advance party met the fleeing colonists as they journeyed downriver. With Lord De La Warr’s supply in 1610, the settlement was rejuvenated in the nick of time thanks to new provisions and people. [2]

The governor and the deputy governors who succeeded him, Sir Thomas Gates and Sir Thomas Dale, ruled by martial law. The new colonists, many of them male and female servants employed by the company, were marched to work by the beat of the drum. Such methods saved the colony, but could not make it flourish. [7]

6)      Indians

The presence of so many Indians complicated the situation. The first colonists found themselves living – or attempting to live- in territory controlled by what was probably the most powerful Native American empire east of the Mississippi River. Under the leadership of their werowance, Powhatan, these Indians had by 1608 created a confederation of some thirty tribes, and when Captain John Smith arrived to lead several hundred adventures, the Powhatans (named for their king) numbered some fourteen thousand people, of whom 3200 were warriors. These natives hoped initially to enlist the Europeans as allies against native enemies. When it became clear, that the two peoples, holding such different notions about labour and property, and about the exploitation of the natural environment, could not coexist in peace, the Powhatans tried to drive the invaders out of Virginia, once in 1622 and again in 1644. The failure of the second campaign ended in the complete destruction of the Powhatan empire. [7]

The Powhatan Indians were wary of the Englishmen from their first sighting. According to John Smith, some of the Indians welcomed them hospitably, offering food and entertainment, while others discharged their arrows and then retreated as the colonists fired their guns. [6]

6.1 Relationship with Indians

Left on their own, the colonists faced immense continuing and interlocking problems. First, they had to figure out their relationship with the Indian polities on which they had intruded. Most important, this meant attempting to understand the connections among the peoples and rulers they encountered, and the Indians who undertook to be their guides invested a great deal of effort in imparting such information. In the course of the first year the English came to understand that Powhatan was the overlord of thirty chiefdoms or more around Chesapeake Bay, and they took to calling him an emperor. [5]

Both Indians and English in these tense relationships manipulated the language of friendship while also maintaining the underlying threat of conflict. No colonist stepped outside of Jamestown without fear that he might be picked off, as many were, and Smith and other colonial leaders often struck out violently when they felt threatened. But because the English were so dependent on his people for food, Powhatan pointed out that he had a weapon more powerful than the English guns: he could simply move away from contact with the colonists and deprive them of sustenance. [5]

The English also very clearly understood that their relationship with these Indian polities would always be contentious and that they could never relax their guard. As the Virginia Company had warned in its first instructions, the Americans might tolerate the English presence because of the manufactured products they brought for trade, but they would always seek to manage that relationship. There was no room for romanticism on either side. [5]

When the supplies ran out in the first autumn, Smith succeeded in trading with the Indians for corn. Then, on an exploring expedition up the Chickahominy River, he was made a prisoner and brought before Powhatan. This was the point at which another fair princess, Pocahontas, stepped in to save his life-or so Smith later told it; and in spite of the scepticism engendered by the larger-than-life view of himself that Smith always affected, there seems to be no good reason to doubt him. In any case, he returned unharmed; and while he remained in Virginia (until the fall of 1609), he conducted most of the colony’s relations both with Powhatan and with the tribes under Powhatan’s dominion. [9]

6.2  Attacks

After building a rudimentary fort and experiencing an Indian attack almost immediately, the settlers realized their vulnerability. On May 26, they set about building a more substantial fortification. This second fort has been described as triangular with a bulwark at each corner containing four or five pieces of ordnance. Two of the bulwarks faced the James River from where any Spanish assault would come and the other one faced inland. [6]

Edward Waterhouse wrote the Virginia Company’s official description of the 1622 attack, which was presented as a classic example of savage violence without reason or cause. Waterhouse, who had never been to Virginia, portrayed the colonists as too loving in their attitudes toward the Indians, and lulled into an unwise sense of security. He described how the Indians had unlimited access to English houses and weapons. In fact the attackers had actually been invited in to breakfast in many colonists’ homes that fatal morning; at a signal they rose up from the table and, using the colonists’ own weapons, struck them down. The attack was planned to sweep all the plantations simultaneously. By the company’s count, the Indians killed 347 people, and the true toll was probably higher.

Malaria may help explain why Opechancanough (brother of Powhatan [1]) never mounted a sustained fight against the colonists, even when it became a matter of survival to his people. Malaria effectively saps the vitality of entire regions. In England’s malaria belt, marshlanders were routinely dismissed as stupid. Similar abuse was heaped on the settlers at Jamestown. England could ship in new colonists rapidly. The Indians could not. If a substantial fraction of their population was malarious, it would have limited their ability to attack the colonists. From the native point of view, it would have been as if the environment around them had suddenly become toxic. [1]

The vast assemblage of military equipment that has been unearthed (probably the largest collection of late 16th-and 17th-century English weapons used in America) emphasizes the important part which firearms and other weapons played during the early years of the settlement. They helped the colonists to  protect themselves from the ever-menacing Indians. [8]

6.3 Depending on Indian trade

One reason why the colonists selected a site for Jamestown some miles up the James River was to develop the Indian trade over an extensive area. During the early years of the colony, trade with the natives was encouraged. It is clear from the early records that the settlers bartered such items as beads, cloth, penny knives, shears, bells, glass toys, whistles, hatchets, pots and pans, brass casting counters, and similar objects in exchange for Indian corn (and other vegetables), fish, game, fruits and berries, and furs. [8]

Although Jamestown was nearly defenceless, Powhatan didn’t attack. For the first year or two of the colony’s existence, he seems to have decided that the foreigners’ trade goods—guns, axes, glass beads, and copper sheets, which the Indians prized much the way Europeans prized gold ingots—were worth giving up some not-very-valuable real estate. In addition, Powhatan was probably convinced that the tassantassas would die off without his assistance, suggests Helen Rountree, an emerita anthropologist at Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, and the most prominent historian of Tsenacomoco. He could sit back and wait; the invasion from abroad would end itself. [1]

But the trickle of settlers became a flood and colonists spread over the land. Intensive land use, European-style, was incompatible with native systems of extensive and varied land use, and Powhatans and their clients found themselves pushed westward into the territories of their enemies. [10]

7)      Food

There is little doubt that food was hard to come by at Jamestown throughout its early years. Recent archaeology has proven that the Starving Time was indeed a serious crisis. The bones of horses, rats, dogs, cats, musk turtles, and poisonous snakes, all with butcher marks on them, are strong evidence to the suffering of the colonists. Additionally, the colonists’ significantly weakened condition led to outbreaks of dysentery, typhoid, and other epidemics brought on by malnutrition. [2]

It is evident that the settlers, failing to plant for themselves, depend heavily on the Indians for food. The Indians can finish them off at any time simply by leaving the area. And the Indians know it. One of them tells the English flatly that “we can plant anywhere . . . and we know that you cannot live if you want (i.e., lack) our harvest, and that relief we bring you.” If the English drive out the Indians, they will starve. [9]

The early Virginians successfully grew many kinds of crops: grains (wheat, Indian corn, barley, oats, and rye), vegetables (peas, beans, turnips, parsley, onions, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, parsnips, lettuce, and others), and fruits (apples, peaches, apricots, quince, figs, grapes, and melons) [8]

Attempts were made by the early colonists to grow other crops which, for various reasons, did not thrive at Jamestown. Some plants, like bananas, pineapple, citrus fruits, and pomegranates, could not withstand the cold Virginia winters. Other plants, including rice, cotton, indigo, sugarcane, flax, hemp, and olives, did not grow vigorously for one reason or another, and repeated efforts to cultivate them usually resulted in failure. Mulberry trees grew well at Jamestown (the leaves were used to feed silk worms), but attempts to make silk were not successful commercially. [8]

The colonists planted Indian corn as early as 1609, and cultivated many other Indian foods, including pumpkins, beans, and squash. They cultivated tobacco (an Indian plant) as early as 1612, and during the remainder of the century it was the most profitable crop grown. For many years it was the economic salvation of the struggling colony. [8]

The first colonists sent to Jamestown were not farmers by any stretch of the imagination, and the nature of the intended settlement did not require them to be. The inception of the colony resembled a military expedition more than anything. Agriculture would have started eventually once the colony was more firmly established. However, even if the initial batch of colonists had desired to attempt any kind of agricultural subsistence right away, it was already too late to try because they had missed the planting season. [2]

Adding to the initial lack of supplies and inability to begin farming was the fact that the mother country did not keep the budding colony well provisioned. During the early years at Jamestown, the colonists depended heavily on goods shipped from England because trade with the natives became so unreliable. As the financial situation of the Virginia Company gradually deteriorated, many investors withdrew their backing as the value of their stock decreased; this made it increasingly more expensive to keep the colony well supplied. [2]

When the first settlers planted their small colony at Jamestown, the tidewater rivers and bays and the Atlantic Ocean bordering the Virginia coast teemed with many kinds of fish and shellfish which were both edible and palatable. Varieties which the colonists soon learned to eat included sheepshead, shad, sturgeon, herring, sole, white salmon, bass, flounder, pike, bream, perch, rock, and drum, as well as oysters, crabs, and mussels. Seafood was an important source of food for the colonists, and at times, especially during the early years of the settlement, it was the main source. Those in England who planned to go to Virginia were always advised to provide themselves (among other items) with nets, fishhooks, and lines. [8]

As the colonists bitterly came to realize that Virginia had no gold and that the Indians weren’t going to selflessly provide them with all the food they needed, they began to mold the land to their needs. Unable to adapt to this foreign landscape, they transformed it into a place they could understand. [1]

8)      Conclusion

The first colonists faced a number of challenges after reaching the New World. Some challenges, like the location itself, was solved after number of years, when the capitol moved to Williamsburg. It is surprising, that even more vital problems, like solid source of food and water, were also solved after a few years. In the beginning, colonists thought that trading with the Indians would solve all their food problems, but the reality was different

By analysing the way how the colonists overcame some of the problems, it is quite clear, that the first settlers owe much to the Indian tribes. Without the Powhatans, the first settlers wouldn’t have survived. Their contribution to the survival of the colonists during the early years and especially the Starving Time was very big. The colonists learned also from the Indians, which crops were suitable for that kind of land and what were not, thus saving themselves from over relying on Indian trading.

9)      References:

1.      Mann, C. (2007). America, Found & Lost. National Geographic. 211. (NO. 5), May 2007, 32.

2.      McBee, Sarah, The History of the Jamestown Colony: Seventeenth-Century and Modern Interpretations. https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/1811/37243/1/Sarah_McBee_thesis.pdf 23.05.2010

3.      Blanton, Dennis. Jamestown’s Environment. http://www.virtualjamestown.org/essays/blanton_essay.html 23.05.2010

4.      Tobacco.org. A Brief History of Jamestown, Virginia. http://www.tobacco.org/History/Jamestown.html#aa5 23.05.2010

5.      Kupperman, K., (2008).The Jamestown Project. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

6.      Historyisfun.org. Life at Jamestown. http://www.historyisfun.org/pdf/Life-at-Jamestown-Lesson-Plans/LifeatJamestown.pdf 23.05.2010

7.      Divine, R., Breen, T.H., Fredrickson, G., Williams, R., (1991).America-Past and Present, Third Edition. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

8.      Cotter, J., Hudson J., (1957). New Discoveries at Jamestown: site of the first successful English settlement in America. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office

9.      Morgan, S., Edmund. The Jamestown Fiasco. http://faculty.nwacc.edu/abrown/WesternCiv/Articles/jamestownfiasco.pdf. 23.05.2010

10.  Kupperman, O., Karen. Indians and English Meet on the James. http://www.virtualjamestown.org/essays/kupperman_essay.html 23.05.2010

The education system has been changing during last twenty-five years. It is a natural result of the society evaluation because it is not a secret that education changes according to new conditions of life which pose new demands and force educationists as well as the government to adapt curriculum, school management, financing to these demands. It is particularly important if a technological and scientific progress is very fast and so rapid as we observe in last years. Now it is evident that old-fashioned ways of education are not acceptable and had to be changed in order people to be able to acquire new knowledge as long as life endures. Education shouldn’t be discriminating and abusive because nowadays everybody must have equal chances to receive good education regardless one’s social position or physical abilities. Otherwise, unfair conditions and selective access to some education establishments will lead to the growth of social tension and to deterioration of the situation in the whole country. Moreover, it won’t correspond to any democratic norms of any civilized society. That is why the education system could not be static and rigid. On the contrary, it must be flexible and take into consideration all recent trends in the society.

But these are just general ideas why the education system should be constantly changing, now I want to find the reasons which has caused really great changes in British education in last twenty-five years. To do this I have to analyze the historical background that forced the government to reform the education system of the UK. For I am going to focus my attention on education acts since 1981, then it is necessary to take into consideration social, economical and even political situation at that period of time. Actually, this time is characterized by a great shift in favour of equality of all people and as a result children with health problems were often in the centre of these reforms. It was necessary to make them an integral part of the society because earlier they were considered to be unable to get the same education or achieve the same results as other children could. Certainly, such situation created a definite tension in the society and caused political, social and economical embarrassment. Consequently, the government realized the necessity to implement the education acts that would improve the position of children with ‘problems’. Namely, three acts were dedicated to the solution of this problem, they were education acts of 1981, 1993, and 2001.

 As for the act of 1981, it mainly followed the Warnock report of 1978 which was dedicated to the problems in education of disabled children and the author underlined that “as far as is humanly possible, handicapped people should share the opportunities for self-fulfilment enjoyed by other people” (Warnock Report, 1978, p.99). So the education act of 1981 was, probably, the first education act that concerned so much children with special educational needs. By the way, the term ‘special educational needs’ appeared exactly at this time and replaced another term that existed before – ‘handicapped’. As for the content of the act among the principal ideas I would point out the idea of ‘mainstreaming’ of children with special educational needs. It means that the authorities had to provide for them ample opportunities to attend ordinary schools like other children. Also this act made LEAs responsible for defining what is necessary for children with ‘problems’. Finally, it gave parents of such children more rights and possibilities to receive all necessary consultation concerning their children’s rights and they also had more possibilities to have a juridical protection of their children from any discriminating decisions.

But it wasn’t the last document dealing with the problem of special educational needs children. Part 3 of the education act of 1993 is a logical continuation of the education act of 1981. In this act we can find the following definition of special educational needs: “A child has special educational needs if he or she has a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her” (section 156, 1993 Education Act). Thus, this act aimed at improvement of educational situation for disabled children. One of the means of such improvement was the Code of Practice, which was a practical guidance on assessment of special education needs children. But this act also aimed at limiting the power of LEAs and increasing the power of the central government. According to this act the Funding Agency for Schools was created and it dealt with financing grant maintained schools and at the same time it limited some powers of LEAs. And one more important innovation of this act was the creation of a single School Curriculum and Assessment Authority instead of National Curriculum Council and School Examination and Assessment Council as the white paper “Choice and Diversity” suggested (Choice and Diversity, 1992). In this respect, the education act of 1993 is subsequent to the education act of 1988 that I will analyse a bit later.

Finally, the last act concerning the special educational needs children is the education act of 2001. As the previous acts of 1993 and 1981, which have already been mentioned in my work, the education act of 2001 also aims at improvement of conditions for disabled children. It gives them better opportunity to study without discrimination because of their special needs. In general, this act absolutely forbidden any discrimination of disabled children as well as students and adult learners. Moreover, according to this act, the authorities are under the duty to increase the accessibility of ordinary schools for children with special educational needs.

Now, it is important to dwell upon the act which is said to be the most important since 1944. Certainly, what is meant here is the education act of 1988. Unlike the acts of 1981 and 2001 it was not so special educational needs children oriented but it produced a great impact on the act of 1993 in the part of limitation of LEAs’ power and giving more autonomy to schools. In general, this act caused a long-term political discussion because two opposing views of two political counterparts were in the centre of attention because LEAs, supported by the Labour party, traditionally opposed to the central government where the Conservative party dominated while the latter tended to centralize the power (Garner, 2001). Finally, the Conservative party managed to cope with the opposition of LEAs and implemented the education act of 1988. Why, then the act caused such a discussion? First of all, this act gave parents a possibility to choose freely what school their children could attend. Secondly, this freedom of choice was reinforced by the permission to create grant maintained schools which had more financial freedom then ever before and, consequently, they were more self-governing and independent from LEAs. Even not grant maintained schools had more autonomy because Local Management of Schools had more financial freedom and, in addition, it could hire and fire the schools’ staff. Also, due to the act, mechanisms for establishing of City Technology Colleges (CTCs) were worked out that, in its turn, provoked the discussion about their effectiveness. For example, Whitty estimated that “strong competition for places that is already developing in some CTCs makes it difficult to predict what form selection will take in the future and the effects this will have on disadvantaged groups” (1993, p.46). Finally, the National Curriculum Council was created in order to control the content and assessment of the national curriculum. Thus, the act of 1988 was underpinning the development of the policy of the conservative government at large and parents free choice of schools for their children, schools’ autonomy, national curriculum and grant maintained schools in particular. But still it was quite controversial because according to Garner “the paradox of granting more power to individual schools (decentralization) with the desire to assume a more centralized control of education was more apparent than real. In giving more schools day-to-day control over their own affairs, the government was, at the same time, stripping power from LEAs, thereby largely ridding itself of what had become a major source of dissent and criticism of central government action” (2001, p.101). It is also noteworthy that in the act of 1993 practically all curriculum proposals of the act of 1988 were improved.

Finally, on comparing all education acts that I analysed in my work I have to say that the general impression is quite dualistic because on the one hand, all of them are logical and related to each other. But on the other hand some of them, particularly the act of 1988, seems to be controversial because, being revolutionary for its time, very soon (within five years) a new act was implemented that was the result of necessity of its improvement. However, I cannot deny that all acts are vitally important and all of them were supposed to improve the condition of education, particularly for children with special educational needs and, consequently, they were necessary. Otherwise, I think any progress would be impossible because these education acts were the result of the demand of time, since it is evident that disabled people must have equal opportunities to realize their right for education as well as the education system must be as effective as possible and these education acts contributed, more or less successfully, to the realization of these conditions.

One major study on the economic status of lone parents in UK was done by J. Millar and Karen Rowlingson (2001). Millar and Rowlingson (2001, pp.180) have found that the majority of lone-parent families in Britain are White but some ethnic minority groups are over-represented among lone-parent families (such as Afro-carrebian women). Another study (Giddens &Griffiths,  2006, pp.215) has also substantiated this as a fact by noting that “there are far fewer black women aged between twenty and forty four living with a husband than there are white women in the same age group.”

Millar and Rowlingson (2001, pp.183) have observed, “the link between high rates of lone parenthood and lack of labour demand causes problems for lone parents for seeking paid work.”These researchers (Millar & Rowlingson, 2001, pp.183) have inferred that one reason for the high rate of lone parenthood in certain areas is owing to the deficiency of decent paid jobs for men in the locality, which detracts them from becoming “husband-father-breadwinners.” Hence they (Millar & Rowlingson, 2001, pp.183) have suggested that “improving employment opportunities in deprived areas for both men and women could therefore increase the labour market participation of lone parents, while at the same time reduce the number of lone parent families.”

It was when New Labour came to power in UK that the policies on lone parents underwent a drastic change. Millar and Rowlingson (2001, pp.15) have noted that many additional benefits paid to lone parents, both in and out of work, were abolished saying that this was a drain on public expenditure and also a threat to traditional two-parent family.  In response to the huge outcry raised against this measure, later some benefits were replaced in an altered form of child welfare measures. (Millar & Rowlingson, 2001, Forward, pp.15).

The New Deal for Lone Parents, a new scheme introduced by British government in 1997 was a real break through in relation to the problems of lone parents. A research report by Kandy Woodfield and Helen Finch (1999, pp.7), namely, New Deal for Lone Parents: evaluation of innovative schemes, Research Report No. 89, has scrutinized this scheme in detail and made some valid observations.  This research was carried out by Social and Community Planning Research on behalf of the Department of Social Security, UK.The report has stated that the new deal programme had offered:

“a tailored package of help and advice on jobs, benefits, training and child care, through the provision of advisers (or caseworkers) who work on a one-to-one basis with participants. Lone parents with school age children (aged 5 years 3 months and above) are invited to participate in the programme; lone parents whose youngest child is below school-age may ‘opt in’ to the programme by requesting to participate.”

Thus the new policy expects lone parents having children of school age to seek work. But the question that remains is whether it is a politically correct approach to impose work on lone mothers.

  Millar and Rowlingson (2001) have made an indepth analysis of the employment pattern of lone parents in UK. The employment rate of lone parents has been found to be low as compared to other developed nations. One such finding is that only 70% of the lone parents are employed as compared to 80% in France. (Millar & Rowlingson, 2001, pp.2). Since the New Deal for Lone Parents introduced by the government in 1997, according to Walker and Wiseman (2003, pp.127) 42% of ethnic minority groups have left the programme. This is serious information, which needs further enquiries to identify the causes.

Studies on child poverty in Britain have often stumbled upon the connection of this issue to the problem of lone parenthood. Karen Rowlingson has observed that (2001, pp.170) children in “lone parent families or in families on means-tested benefits, such as income support, are very likely to suffer poverty…” Majority of African and Afro-Carribbean lone parents migrated to the  and often they lack the skills for better employment and also cannot afford the cost of childcare facilities, in case they have to work outside leaving their children behind. The study conducted by Millar &Rowlingson (2001, pp.181) has with clarity observed, “only one in ten Afro-Carribbean women with degree-level qualifications had become single lone mothers compared with almost half who had no qualifications” (p.181).

Millar and Rowlingson (2001, pp.5) also have drawn attention to the fact that British laws do not give many benefits to unemployed lone parents. This becomes evident from their findings that US and UK have the highest rate of poverty among lone parents (Millar& Rowlingson, 2001, pp.5). According toMillar and Rowlingson (2001, pp.11-12), British welfare-to-work policy provides support in four forms to lone parents, which are “wage supplementation through working Families’ Tax Credit.., National Minimum Wage…, active case management, child support payments and a national child care strategy including cash additions to wage supplements.” A lone parent is often not in a position to seek employment far away from home as he/she has to take care of the child/children. Walker and Wiseman (2003, p.130) have listed the constraints faced by lone parents as “barriers arising from personal attributes (health, work experience and skills) and from location (the lack of suitable jobs in the vicinity, transport)”.and also financial risks andconsequences of working” and “difficulties of finding and managing childcare.”

Nine in ten lone parents in UK are women (Walker&Wiseman, 2003, pp.117). This fact demands a gender analysis of the lone parent crises. Coming back to Millar and Rowlingson (2001, pp.6) again, it is crucial to note that they have pointed out; the gendered division of labour inside the family has always affected the policy decisions in many countries. So, in UK, a shift of policy towards making it compulsory for lone parents to work in order to get lone parent benefits has adversely affected Afro-Caribbean lone parent women.

The lack of affordable and convenient transportation facilities” along with “low labour demand in particular geographical areas  are the two reasons cited by researchers for the terrible employment situation of Afro-Caribbean lone parents.

Scholars (Scott et. al, 2004, pp.275) have said that the special situation faced by Afro-Caribbean lone mothers can be attributed to an extent to the traditions of Afro-Caribbean community. Studies (Scott et. al, 2004, pp.275) have shown that the Afro-Caribbean family pattern is very special and comprising of varied household structures. Even households with two or three generations of women and absent men are very common. (Scott et al, 2004, p.275) So obviously, the mother will be the major bread winner. Millar and Rowlingson (2001, pp.182) have also dealt with this aspect of  African and Afro-Caribbean lone parenthood by observing that “visiting relationships between fathers and families and strong matriarchal lineages are considered to be one among many causes of high rate of single lone parenthood among Afro-Carribbean women.”

Another aspect of Afro-Caribbean lone parenthood in relation with employment opportunities is that this category is least expected to get family support in child rearing. A study conducted by Chamba et. al (1999) has shown that “Black African/Caribbean and Indian families were most vulnerable to low levels of support from the extended family.” The study (Chamba et al, 1999) has cited the reason as arising out of no family member living nearby.  This particular study (Chamba et al, 1999) has also found out that “half of the Bangladeshi and Black African/Caribbean parents said they did not have family living nearby.”

Millar and Rowlington (2001, pp.182) have further argued, “There is a link between the ethnic background of lone parents and their employment rates.” Walker and Wiseman (2003, pp.117) have traced the percentage of employed Afro-Caribbean lone mothers from 1970s to 1990s and showed that there is a decline from 47% in mid-1970s to 42% in 1990s. A  lower employment rate inevitably means more poverty.

Even if employed, often black women are considered as cheap labour as there is the prevalent discriminatory notion that they are, “docile, tolerant and satisfied with sub-standard wages” (Alexander & Mohanthy, 1997, pp.19).  It is in view of all these barriers that the problems and difficulties of African and Afro-Caribbean lone parent demands scrutiny. 

They can’t point themselves out to the public therefore, even if they’re good workers and professionals, they remain on a lower level in the hierarchy, respectively their salaries are much lower. People who are too modest can remain on the same position for a very long time with no perspective of career growth. Such people are always very appreciated for the lack of conflicts with others but are rarely respected.

Sometimes modesty can manifest even in pathological forms. People with pathological modesty aren’t able to contradict if publicly insulted; they don’t do anything to oppose when their bill is overwritten in the restaurant, for example, or in any similar situation. In situation where a decisive step needs to be taken such people become “numb” and are ready to run away any second, but never to enter a conflict and defend their own rights.

The real cause for such surplus modesty lies in the low self esteem. Self esteem means a person to believe in oneself and one’s personal strength. Due to a good self esteem one can be confident that there’s no task or obstacle that can’t be overcome. The real self esteem gives one a sense of dignity, certainty in one’s rightfulness and right to be happy. The most important issue is to be objective, though. A person not pleased with oneself is a person with complexes. There is a saying to illustrate this: “The way a person treats oneself, the same way other people with treat this person.”

Also people whose modesty is too much must realize that there are no perfect people. Anyone can make a mistake simply because they’re living human beings, all with their values and flaws. Advantages must be pointed out and flaws need to be fought without concentrating on them only. Therefore, if a person too shy wants to have a happier and more successful life, must get rid of the surplus modesty they have.

How can this be done?

If you are a person as described above, stand up in front of the mirror. Describe what you see, and try to be maximum well-wishing. Think about what you need to change. Ask someone you trust to give you an advice. However, your most important task is to find out what good features you have and to memorize them.

Face your problems. Talk to strangers. Watch other people do that. Observe the behavior of people you admire and who are successful. Learn their gestures and copy them.

Study the basics of communication. Smile without covering your mouth, look people in the eyes, touch your interlocutor in any emotional moment of your dialogue. Be interested in the person you’re talking to. Let the people you talk to tell you about themselves. You must be a good listener, but a good interlocutor as well. Behave naturally and you will soon see the result – other people will simply accept you also in such natural way.

Hemanth Devasathali is teacher professionally, he is residing at Pune, his wife died 3 years back in a road accident at the age of 55, from that time  Hemanth is alone in the home, with in three months of time he know that life is sapless for him without out companion, he decided to start “Anand Yatra” for persons who are living lonely, it is better to live with happiness presently without thinking about the past loneliness, he said that after death of his wife, the  neighbors visits to his home are reduced and also with the relatives , then he feels loneliness, then I have decided to be away from the the loneliness, I have searched a stage for these lonely people, but he could not find any such organization in Pune city, then he himself wish to start a stage for lonely people, so he started his ‘Anand Yatra” in March of  2008.

The lonely people who have crossed more than 45 years living in Pune can join in this society, widowers, divorcees, unmarried , lonely people who are away from the family due to the job/work will also join in this society, presently there are more than 200 members in this Anand Yatra society, in this 60 persons are women.

By paying nominal fees any one can join in Anand Yatra, the members will meet once in week on Sunday and share their experiences, and their difficulties also, the Anand Yatra was divided in to four groups  according to the regions ,to facilitate the members availability  to the members all days, if any difficulty will arise to any member, all the members will participate and try to settle the problem. They are arranging excursions for the members once in three months, they try to celebrate the festivals, ceremonies jointly, they are arranging conferences with the people who have successed in their fields lonely, they are also arranging counseling with the doctors  the difficulties arising  due to loneliness, they are arranging facilitations to the people who are achieved the victories in business and jobs.

The loneliness due to death or separation of the spouse, know only to the people those who have  experienced  only  the difficulty, they cannot share these with the children and other relatives, so she opted this society to share her experience says by Manjusri sathe ,aged 59. She is the first person to react with the the add of “Anand Yatra”, her husband was dead and her children are settled at abroad, she spent 8 years lonely, “Anand Yatra” kicked  loneliness away from  her. Now the society is her family, and she got 12 close friends in the society now she can share her difficulties ,experiences with these people, she is going to the movies and dramas with these people , once she broke her arm while on the trip and was extremely touched by the group members went out of their way to help her, ’no body ate food up to 4 pm’ because they are trying for an orthopedic surgeon to fix her broker arm,, then Manjusree experienced  about their affection towards her.

They are maintaining good friendship not only that ,some of the members in the  society are becoming life partners, till now 5 couples are married . Mandakini started her new life after three months from the Joining of “Anand Yatra”, she got a friend there and it turns affection ,after they liked each other ,he agreed to marry her and they have married finally, though they have married they are visiting “Anand Yatra” occasionally to meet the old friends . “Anand Yatra” are receiving lot of response from all parts of the country ,so they wish to make  the “Anand Yatra” as an voluntary organization in future to help more lonely people

Fly, fly, our little bird
You know the duty of your birth
You fear not the deadly shot
You’ll receive what you’d have got

One day,
You will beautify the flowers
giving your weak mom power.

Oh, our little bird, can you see the sun’s light_
That comes after the dark dark dark night

Locked indoor but never cried,
Cleverly killed but never died,
Well heated but never dry_
But surely, one day, the bird will fly.

Dyslexia includes the inability to: 
* Name cards 
* Read words or phrases 
* Recognize words directly (even if the individual can fathom) 

The different forms of dyslexia are most likely related to different brain regions are affected, most theories focus on non-primary area are located in the frontal lobe and temporal lobe of the brain. symptoms of dyslexia vary widely in the area of the brain that is affected, but symptoms that lead to complications with the above disabilities should be taken seriously. Originally, dyslexia is defined as “a difficulty with reading and writing could not be explained by general intelligence.” One way to screen comparison of dyslexia is reading and writing skills of an individual in relation to their general intelligence and then take the data and compared with the general population. 

For a brief note above, there is a growing list of notables who have been diagnosed with dyslexia. To name a few: 
Orlando Bloom (actor), Tom Cruise (actor), Walt Disney (producer), Albert Einstein (scientist), and even the beautiful Salma Hayek actresss. Check out what these people have done and not let dyslexia hold the key!

Unknown.

There have been so many times in my life that I kept thinking, will the difficulties never stop? Why is it that so many times whenever you think something may be going good that you come against this massive block. It’s like someone just watching and waiting for you to walk in that direction, only to build a brick wall infront of you, one that you don’t know how to get around. Then when you think you have just knocked enough of the wall down, all of a sudden another one appears, and another, and another, until you think that you will always be fighting a losing battle – and yet you keep on fighting!

The one thing I have realised is at the end of every battle there is victory, and there is this feeling of relief and happiness, and I don’t believe that you can truly appreciate happiness until you have faced some sort of difficulty. You often find that people who have not had to fight for anything in life sometimes create their own type of difficulties, whether it be with drugs, alcohol, gambling, whatever! They will find something that will cause them unhappiness, and something that will cause them to struggle for a while. These people have never had to face any sort of difficulty in their life so can not appreciate the fact that they had it so easy, they cannot appreciate happiness.

Even though you may feel as if the battle will never finish, you must remember that when it is over, you will know the true meaning of happiness, and you will feel it more than you ever had before.

Further reading that you may be interested in:

One of my favourite quotes about life and why it is my favourite – Karl Marx!!

One of my favourite quotes about life and why it is my favourite – Quote number three – Albert Einsein!

One of my favourite quotes about life and why it is my favourite – Quote number four – Helen Keller

One of my favourite quotes about life and why it is my favourite – Quote number five – Eleanor Roosevelt

One of my favourite quotes about life and why it is my favourite – Quote number six – Art Buchwald!!

One of my favourite quotes about life and why it is my favourite – Quote number seven