The Families Assessment in Nursing Essay Example

The Families Assessment in Nursing Essay Example The Families Assessment in Nursing Paper The Families Assessment in Nursing Paper Increasingly nursing is recognizing the significance of the family to the health and well being of individual family members (wright Leahey, 2000). Hatrick (1998) suggests family nursing in undergraduate nursing education will provide nurses with theoretical and practical skills to work effectively with families. This paper will demonstrate the assessment of one family using the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) as well as the Calgary Family Intervention Model (CFIM). The CFAM will provide information on the structural, developmental and functional components of the family. The familys strengths and weaknesses are identified, and the role of a community resource in this familys life is described. This discussion will demonstrate the relationship these concepts have on health and nursing in the family. All member of the family interviewed for this assignment agreed to participate but their names have been changed to ensure confidentiality. The Calgary Family Assessment Model The CFAM is an integrated conceptual framework developed by Wright and Leahey for use when interviewing and making assessment of families. The CFAM consists of three major categories: structural, developmental and functional. Each category contains its own subcategories that may be relevant or appropriate depending on the family being assessed. This assessment focuses on the interaction among all of the individuals withing a family. Structural Category Structural assessment aims to identify who is in the family, relationships among family member and those outside the family, and the familys context. (Wright and Leahey, 2000). The Smith family is a white single parent family consisting of Heather and her two year old daughter Brianna. Briannas father has not lived with them for a year and a half and currently lives two hours away, as do Heathers family. Brianna has weekly contact on the phone with her father and stays with him one weekend a month. Heathers parents divorced when she was thirteen. Her father has remarried and has three daughters from his second marriage. There is no rivalry between Heather and her half-sisters. Heathers mother and elderly grand-parents have weekly contact with the Smiths and are readily available to them both. Support may be financial, emotional or help with childcare. Heather described the relationship with her grandparents as very special. Heather sets the family boundaries at present and feels confident they both have support thru friends and family to discuss any problems that may occur. Heather and Brianna belong to many subsystems within their own family. They both belong to an only child subsystem, a female subsystem and a parent child subsystem. There are larger systems this family has meaningful contact with. These include Heathers work, Briannas daycare, the local health center and the gym. These subsystems all contribute in some way to the health and well being of this family (Wright and Leahey, 2000). As a single mother Heather encompasses the traditional gender roles of both male and female. This involves child-rearing and nurturing as well as financial and disciplining roles. The Smiths moved to the city a year ago hoping to improve choices and opportunities for themselves. Heather works 20 hours a week in a hotel and Brianna is in subsidized daycare 25 hours a week. They live in a large renter house and have a large dog for security. With one income and increased cost of living in the city, the Smiths remain in a lower socioeconomic class. Heather hopes to attend university in the future, but accepts it will be a struggle to meet the rising costs of housing, education and travel for herself and Brianna as a single parent family. Heather expressed no religious or spiritual beliefs that she and Brianna maintain. Developmental Category The focus of this category is on the developmental life cycle stages of the family including the emotional process and changes within family roles (Wright and Leahey, 2000). The Smiths are presently in stage three of the family life cycle, which focuses on families with young children (Santrock, 1997). However, this is relevant to a middle class North American family and assumes there are two parents. The CFAM does not clearly define a life cycle for a single parent family. This model fails to consider differing lifestyles, cultures, population and economics that may affect a family. This highlights a possible need for an updated model that can be adapted to any family situation. There are six stages in this developmental framework. Theses include leaving home, marriage, families with young children, families with adolescents, entries and exits from family system and families in later life. Within each stage there are specific tasks the family undertakes. At stage three these are, making space for children, joining in household tasks and activities and involving extended family in parenting and grand parenting roles (Wright and Leahey, 2000). Heathers life changed considerably after the birth of her daughter. She adjusted her life to meet the responsibilities and needs of parenthood. Briannas father found the adjustment in lifestyle difficult resulting in their separation. Heather continues to provide for Brianna thru parenting, financial support and performing household tasks. Briannas father pays weekly payments that are included in Heathers income. Both parents, contribute to Briannas development as a person. Extended family members provide emotional support and some financial support to Heather and Brianna. Heather feels she has a closer bond with her parents and grandparents now. She encourages Briannas involvement with her father. This has involved a realignment of Heathers relationship with him to provide healthy role models for Brianna. Brianna spends more time with her mother, thus they have a stronger relationship then she does with her father who is under involved with Brianna at present. Heather hopes this will improve. Functional Category Functional assessment focuses on interaction and communication among family members. Two main aspects are instrumental and expressive functioning. Instrumental functioning refers to the routine activities of daily living (Wright and Leahey, 2000). Much of this is attended to by Heather. As Briannas main care giver she is responsible for ensuring her own and her daughters food, hygiene and sleep requirements are met. If Heather is working or unwell she ensures Briannas instrumental needs are met by a friend or extended family member. She encourages Briannas independence with her own self care such as brushing her teeth with a little help, to remove some pressures of being a solo parent. Expressive functioning focuses on patterns of interaction among family members through various means of communication (Wright and Leahey,2000). Heather stated she feels able to express her feelings with Brianna. This was helped by a parenting course and anger management where Heather learnt new ways of expressing her emotions. They showed Heather the impact of circular communication patterns and how they influence relationships. She now uses therapeutic communication skills such as time out and eye contact with Brianna. Use of nonverbal communication was evident throughout the interview. Brianna would watch her mothers body language and facial cues for approval. If Brianna wanted attention she used a combination of touch, speech and eye contact with Heather. The Smiths expressed effective problem solving techniques. Heather discusses any problems with a close friend. For further support or advise she approaches teachers at Briannas daycare, her family, doctor or public health nurse. A possible cause is identified and a plan of action implemented. Heather and her friend later evaluate the situation and seek more help if necessary. Heather stated she finds this effective and this removes some of the pressure of being a the main care giver and a first time parent. As a single parent Heathers role extends beyond being a mother. She appreciates the influence her role may have on Brianna and encourages the relationship with her father and extended family so she can experience a variety of social influences. Since third move to the city, Heather feels the parent child bond with Brianna has strengthened. This is expressed through showing affection, verbally and non verbally as well as with praise for each other. This bond is likely to be stronger as they share a mother child bond and live together away from extended family. Heather uses mostly traditional medicine and trusts the advice of her doctor and public health nurse. Having community Based services and easy access to health services for Brianna and herself makes this the perfect option. Heather occasionally uses alternatives from a health shop for herself, but finds this way to expensive and as a result her choice is limited. Family Strengths Support Systems Supportive relationships and adequate social networks are beneficial to health and well being. This is highly relevant to the Smiths who have a wide network of friends, extended family and social agencies. Friends and family provide emotional and sometimes financial support. Briannas daycare encourages her educational development and gives Heather the opportunity to work. They also help Heather with parenting education and nutritional advice. The local medical center attends to the Smiths physical needs and offers education and advice on health issues such as smoking. All of these support systems contribute to the health and well being of the Smith family. Communication It was evident from the expressive functioning category of the CFAm that the smiths use a variety of communication skills. This is important due to the developmental age of Brianna who may express feelings and emotions in different ways to a grown child or adult. Heather attended a parenting course that aided communication skills to improve their relationship. These skills assisted Heather in completing and anger management course. Heather is now more able and confident in expressing her familys health needs and requirements to benefit them both. Nutrition Eating habits based on moderation and variety can help maintain and improve a persons health. Heather values the importance of nutrition through er own reading, information from Briannas daycare and the public health nurse. She ensures Brianna has protein and calcium to assist her growth and carbohydrates for fibre and energy. They eat regular servings of fresh fruits and vegetable. Heather is aware of the high incidence of osteoporosis and iron deficiency in women and has increased her intake of calcium and red meat to account for this. It is hoped healthy eating in childhood will help Brianna make healthy choices when she grows up and is living on her own. Weaknesses Smoking Heather has smoked for seven years. She finds it comforting and it helps to relieve stress. Studies have shown people in lower socioeconomic groups are more likely to smoke then those of high social class. Heather is aware of the financial and health consequences of smoking and hopes to give it up in the near future with the help of the nicotine patches available at a reduced cost due to her insurance plan from work. Knowing the harmful effects of passive smoking on Brianna and her own health, Heather is determined to give up this unhealthy and expensive habit. Financial The smiths are in a lower socioeconomic class due to their reliance on social services for help with living costs. Although Heather works part time she loses some of her accommodation supplement as a result and has to pay part of Briannas daycare costs. Their move to the city has meant increased housing costs and the cost of education for Brianna greater, making their choices limited. Community Resource The Elspeth Reid Family Resource Center (ERFRC) is an important community resource for the smith family. The center offers, parenting classes, 2 hours of free day care and a thrift store and many other services for families of all different types. They provide family support, early childhood education and care, family counseling and parenting education. Brianna attends daycare five days a week while Heather is at work. This is run by two registered teachers and to teaching assistants. This community resource contributes to the health and well being of the Smiths by providing education that encourages a healthy lifestyle, incorporating physical, mental and social aspects of health. Critical Social Theory Critical social theory was developed in the 1920s by a number of philosophers, at the Frankfurt School in Germany (Boychuck Duchscher, 1999). This theory provides a philosophical framework that aims to liberate individuals to see the conditions in society that constrain their participation in social interaction. It has been identified that there are three practical elements of critical social theory, which are enlightenment, empowerment and emancipation. These elements are useful for nursing practice as a pragmatic approach is required. The theory suggests critical social theory can only be achieved when all three elements are completed. Enlightenment involves encouraging individuals to recognize social conditions and constraints that can influence their social reality (Boychuck Duchscher, 1999). The Smiths have utilized the information on nutrition, parenting and safety. This education has encouraged them to acknowledge the importance of physical, emotional and social factors on their health and well being. Accessing and analyzing this information is the first step towards empowerment. Through critical examination of their reality the Smiths can empower themselves to make lifestyle changes that influence their health outcomes. Heather recognized the need for enlightenment on parenting and communication. Now she has the information and support, she is able to make changes that benefit her family and can move towards emancipation. Emancipation is aimed at freedom from oppression that influences peoples lives. Through the process of enlightenment and empowerment the responsibility in relation to their health needs. They have actively made changes to improve their nutrition and communication, thus influencing their health and well being. Calgary Family Intervention Model The CFAMs counterpart, CFIM provides a model for intervention after the family assessment has occurred. In this model, an intervention is described as action or activity a health car provider performs for or with a patent of family with the intent of causing a change (Wright and Leahey, 2000). Change in this respect, mans an alteration or support of behavior that promotes the ability to provide care for a family member. Each intervention in the model is used to produce changes in the family in the way they think, feel and respond (Wright and Leahey, 2000). Types of interventions used in working with families include: 1. Commending strengths of the family or individual members. 2. Providing information and education. 3. Validating emotions. 4. Allowing them to share the experience of the illness. 5. Encouraging family support. 6. Encouraging members to provide care for the patient. 7. Encouraging respite or relief from car responsibilities when needed and 8. Maintaining family rituals (Wright and Leahey, 2000). Nursing Diagnosis 1. Potential for Social Isolation Related to Care giver stress as evidenced by decreased financial ability to arrange for alternate childcare and distance from family. 2. Increasing utilization of family and community resources. Interventions This family seems to function more in the Behavioral domain of family functioning because Heather likes to do things and get out and acquire information that may help her in one way or another There are many possible interventions for the nursing diagnosis of Potential for social Isolation. Some interventions include informing Heather of some community activities such as the WIN program where she can meet other parents and child care is provided for the duration of the meeting this could also help with financial aspect too because the WIN program offers a small monthly allowance for groceries or what ever its needed for. Encourage Heather to socialize with coworkers at work and arrange a night out every couple of weeks or so. Encourage family visitations and participation in childcare more often. There are also several interventions for the diagnosis of Increasing utilization of family and community resources. They include suggesting ways to conserve resources or to expand resources through sharing with other families or bartering time and resources. Also by discussing community resources with family to help them know what is available and how to use them, the WIN program could also come into play here. Interceptive Questions How you ask questions during the interview are extremely important because you dont want to lead the person on, so using a variety of questions to help you get the information you need is usual a good way of getting accurate information. So examples of different types of questions are as follows: Difference Question 1. Whos the best in your family to come to your aid when you need it? 2. When you were first divorced and a now a single parent what did members of you family do to help make things easier on you. Behavioral Effect Question 1. What do you do when your ex-husband is either late picking up or dropping off Brianna? 2. How often do you go out with friends and who watches Brianna? Hypothetical/future-oriented Question 1. When do you think Brianna will start asking questions about your divorce? And what will you tell her? 2. Do you think that Brianna will blame herself for the divorce? If yes how will you deal with it? Triadic Question 1. If Briannas father were willing to take her more often then once a month do you think Brianna would want that? 2. What do you think Briannas father needs to do, in order to be more involved in Briannas life? Conclusion. The increasing importance of family nursing incorporating the use of an assessment and intervention framework has been identified. The Calgary Family Assessment Model and the Calgary Family Intervention Model was used to describe all the different components of the Smith Family. These components acknowledged the extended family, subsystems, larger systems this family has contact with as well as interventions aimed at helping the family improve the quality of their lives if even only a little. Their lower socioeconomic status and struggles as a single parent family were described in relation to their developmental life cycle stage, although the CFAM does not clearly define an appropriate cycle for this family. The Smiths used a variety of communication skills to interact with each other and these skills assist in the expression of feelings and problem solving withing the family. The Smiths support systems, communication skills and nutrition were identified as strengths in relation to meeting their health needs. Smoking and finances were noted as possible weaknesses and interventions were addressed at these problems. Briannas daycare was recognized as an important community resource for this family through its provision of support and education for Heather. The nursess role is relevant in family assessment to identify the need for educator, support and enlightenment on the effects of social influences on health. As identified with the Smiths, critical social theory is an important tool for nurses in recognizing, supporting and improving the health of families. Bibliography : References Boychuk Duchscher, J. E. (1999). Catching the wave: Understanding the concept of critical thinking. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 29(3), 577-583 Hatrick, G. (1998). A critical pedagogy for family nursing, Journal of Nursing Education, 37(2), 80-84. Martin-Arafeh, J. M. , Watson, C. L, Mcmurtry Baird, S. (1999). Promoting Family-Centered Care in High Risk Pregnancy The Journal of Perinatal Neonatal Nursing 13(1), 27-42 Santrock, J. W. (1997). Life-span development (6th ed. ). USA: Brown Benchmark. World Health Organization. (1986). Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Canada: World Health Organization. Wright, L. , Leahey, M. (2000). Nurses and families: A guide to family assessment and interventions (3rd ed. ). Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Co.

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Diversity in Early Childhood Programs Essay This essay is going to look at the various ways in which you can identify and promote learning opportunities for children of all ages. It will describe how the early education frameworks assist in supporting the learning of early year’s children. This essay will also explain how to plan activities in order to meet all the children’s needs. Finally it will describe how to monitor and assess the children’s learning through a variety of assessment techniques. Within early learning provisions it is important for them to support the children’s learning by following the guidelines set out for them by the early education framework in this country. There are two parts to the curriculum framework in England; Early Years Foundation Stages (EYFS) and the National Curriculum. The EYFS sets the statutory standards that all early years providers must meet. 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Discrimination comes from many sources and not everyone will know what they are saying, this is why it is vital to tackle any remarks or actions immediately, in a sensitive manner, so everyone knows how important this issue is. At my placement which is age range 5-8 there are children with speech difficulties, the teachers must ensure that they treat all the children as individuals and treat them fairly. They always include them in class discussions and give them the chance to answer just as like any other children. In my experience of working with 0-3 they ensure anti-discriminatory practise is maintained by providing ramps for push chairs and they also welcomed children from different cultures. Within an early years setting it is important to plan effectively so all areas of learning are covered and a wide range of activities are presented. Planning can be long, medium or short term and it will need to consider the curriculum as well as the individual needs of the children. The length of long term planning varies from setting to setting, most settings will see a long term plan as anything over six weeks, commonly in schools long term plans are for a whole academic year. Long term plans tend to include ‘an outline of how the curriculum is to be delivered, a consideration of the themes that are used over the period.’ CCLD Long term plans mean that you plan activities and observations in advance, you follow the curriculum when planning these and you have to be able to change and adapt your activities to suit different situations. The length of a medium term plan or curriculum plan depends mainly up on the length of the long term plan. In the majority of schools the medium term plan shows coverage for a half term. The main features of a medium term plan include details of the types of activities of which are to offer, how the activities link to the EYFS or NC and the order the activities will be carried out. Medium term plans will include learning outcomes and will include themes and topics. Short term plans show what is to happen each week or session; these plans may be referred to as ‘session planners’ or ‘weekly planners’. This sort of plan includes details such as staffing and resources, it also shows the order the activities will be carried out. Moreover it will display details of how activities will be adapted to provide opportunities for particular children. It will also set out the learning outcomes and show which activities will be assessed. Finally the short term plan will demonstrate how the adult can support specific children through the activities and outside of these. At my placement 5-8 they have a whole week of working with money and understanding the different denominations; at the end of the week the children have the golden box whereby the children who received the most gems for their work through-out the week are rewarded with prizes. 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Within the classroom there should also be equipment for all children to use scissors which are left and righ t handed, paper which is suitable for all, big pencils and small ones. Changes should take place to make all the children feel ‘the same’ none of them should stand out for being different. Through-out early year’s settings observations must be used this is to ensure you find out what stage of development the children are at. Once you know and understand which level each child is at you can match your activities to their ability and organise the activities to meet their needs. Within my placement 5-8 my teacher plans activities to coordinate with her observations that she has made throughout the year. The activities are differentiated according to ability. For literacy the children had to match up homes of different animals to the animal that lives there, for the less abled children they had to cut out the pictures and stick them together for the more abled children they had to write the sentences out below the pictures. Once observations have been completed on the children the teacher can use her data to effectively plan her lessons to cover the curriculum and meet the children’s needs. Within early years settings it is important that children take part in a variety of play. As all types of play provide learning opportunities for children it is essential that the day is varied to incorporate as many play activities as possible. Children should take part in activities which promote all areas of development. Within my placement 3-5 we had a role play area whereby the children could use their minds to create imaginative play. The soft play castle also gave the children a chance to use their imagination and develop their own play ideas. The various play activities can be categorized as imaginative play; role play and home corners can come under this category. Art activities and DT activities can be categorized as creative play. Within my placement 5-8 we did mendi patterns outside in the playground using chalk, as well as this developing their creative play it also promoted their physical motor development. Physical activities such as PE and play time can promote their gross physical development. Walking through fields and exploring the various animals and plants that you can  find can develop physical motor skills as well as the children’s exploratory skills. In my experience 0-3 a child discovers and promotes their development through sensory play, when outside the children played with sand, water, foam and jelly. The children were sat playing in it with hard toys, they could discover how the different materials felt. It is important for children to also use ICT as this can support their learning. There are a wide variety of programmes that children can use to promote all areas of their learning. Within my placement we use a program which the children can control themselves, on this site there are activities for numeracy, literacy and art as well as most of the national curriculum. This site is accessible for key stage 1 and 2. Parent involvement tends to be encouraged within schools and early year’s settings as often parents and children can provide the skills and knowledge to introduce new ideas. For example a parent from another culture may be able to go in and show the children what their diet is like. Within my placement 5-8 a parent helper will come in every Tuesday afternoon to help with the activities that are on that day. The parent may help with reading and creative activities. There is also a parent who comes into placement and teaches athletics, she is a marathon runner herself so she often helps at sporting events and at athletics club. Within early years settings there are also occasions when professionals and agencies may get involved in providing learning opportunities for the children. Within my placement 5-8 a speech therapist will come in once a week to visit two children who have speech impairments, she will take them to one side for an hour to support them through their speech programme. Another professional who also comes into school is the sports teacher from the local leisure centre who teaches one PE lesson a week to each class. As part of the adult role within an early years setting you must ensure that all the correct resources are available for the children to use and that there are enough materials for any situation. The resources need to be sorted out in advance of an activity or situation either by the teacher or the school, depending on who provides them. The resources must be age appropriate, fit for purpose and all the children who are participating  should be able to learn from the experience. Early years settings also need to consider whether the use of ICT would assist with the children’s learning. Within my placement 3-5 the staff would organise their activities at least a week in advance and would pass on a list of anything they needed to the managers who would be able to buy the materials and resources. They could then discuss in advance how much of anything they needed and if for any reason something wasn’t available they had time to change their activity. It is important for the adults within the setting to monitor the children’s learning. During activities the children should be monitored to make sure they are learning from these experiences. If the activity has been planned with aims and objectives, you should be able to determine whether the outcomes have been met; this can be observed by discussion or observation. Participation levels should also be monitored to see how long children stay at the activities which have been set out and which ones are the most popular. Activities should grasp the children’s imagination and should stimulate their learning. The more captivating an activity is the longer a child will want to be at it. At all my placements over the three age ranges I have evaluated the activities that I have carried out. Within my evaluations I have written about how long the children stayed there and whether they enjoyed it, I can use the information I found here to plan my activities for the future. Formative assessments are ongoing assessments that monitor the children’s strengths and weaknesses. This information can then be used to form informal parts of activities. Assistance can be provided to give children the opportunity to gain confidence in developing new skills and plenty of opportunities are provided to enable the child to practise and master them. Summative assessments draw together all the information gathered about the children and it is often used to compile a written report. It is seen as a ‘summing up’ of a child’s progress to date. It is very difficult for practitioners to be completely objective when carrying out observations as they are used to working so close with the children; this known as observer  bias. The danger of observer bias is that the observer may bring in behaviours or skills of the child that confirm their current view. One way of determining that this does not happen is to set clear aims for observations. It is important for adults to try and incorporate observations on skills into planned play activities, many children will not ‘perform’ well if they know they are being watched. While at placement 5-7 the teacher will set out activities that enable her to observe the child carrying out the skills whilst in a ‘normal’ play environment. If she would like to see their social development she may set up games that requires teamwork, or if she feels some of the children need to work on their fine motor development she may set up an area which get the children to put pegs in boards or use scissors to cut out pictures. When observing babies and young children it is important to remember that there play and interests change within a few days. As they discover more things within their world they will move from one interest to another. Once a child has been observed or assessed this information can be used to inform the future planning of activities which will help promote development for the individual child. Planning will only be effective if the information that is gained from observation is used to structure activities, and fulfil the child’s developmental needs. For example if a child cannot use scissors do not provide them with an activity whereby they have to cut round a picture; this may lower their self-confidence and self-esteem. Most evaluation criteria’s involve checking whether children have reached the intended learning outcomes, however this can be difficult to measure unless an assessment takes place during or after the activity. A child may have appeared to understand something or enjoyed playing with materials but they may not have necessarily learnt anything new. By building in assessments to activities practitioners can see what the child has understood and learnt. It is important that assessments are not seen in any way as a test. Within my placement 3-5 a member of staff would often be in charge of observing activities and evaluating what they believe the children have gained from it. The staff member would also be able to ask questions and work alongside the children at the activity to see how much they have  learnt and understood. Reference Snaith, M. , Tassoni, P. , Squire, G. , (2007). , Children’s Care Learning and Development. , 2nd Ed. , Oxford. , Heinemann. IntegratedApproach. , Available at www.sagepub.com/upm-data/9679_010979.pdf. , Accessed on 29/04/14 Curriculum. , Available at http://www.schoolzone.co.uk/schools/NCres/docs/MASTER_final_national_curriculum_11_9_13_2.pdf . , Accessed on 29/04/14 EarlyYears. , Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/improving-the-quality-and-range-of-education-and-childcare-from-birth-to-5-years/supporting-pages/early-years-foundation-stage. , Accessed on 29/04/14

Is Anything Certain? Essay -- Philosophy, Unger, Hitherto

Peter Unger maintains that all knowledge requires certainty. Moreover, since he insists that nothing can be known for certain, Unger concludes that â€Å"nobody ever knows anything to be so† (Unger, 42). This is Unger’s argument: 1. â€Å"If someone knows something to be so, then it is all right for the person to be absolutely certain that it is so† (42). 2. â€Å"It is never all right for anyone to be absolutely certain that anything is so† (43). 3. Therefore, â€Å"[n]obody ever knows that anything is so† (43). Succinctly, nobody can know anything. As â€Å"anything† makes explicit, Unger suggests that we cannot have knowledge of our own existence, external objects, past or present experiences or even that 1+1=2. He also insists that knowing anything with certainty is inherently dogmatic. Being certain involves a negative attitude; it implies that nothing (new information, evidence or experience) â€Å"will be seriously considered to be at all relevant to any possible change in one’s thinking in the matter† (44). Unger defines this as the attitude of certainty. This is why it is wrong â€Å"for anyone to be absolutely certain†. I agree with Unger and concede that (2) is correct. However, Unger’s rejection to the attitude of certainty leads to the rejection of all knowledge. This is where Unger is an error. I intend to argue that premise (1) is dubious and that knowledge requires justified true belief but never certainty itself. Before continuing, I must clarify Unger’s notion of certainty. Hitherto, I have used Unger’s notion of certainty (denoted in italics) without explanation. Certain is an absolute adjective analogous to the concept of flat. An absolute adjective is or is not. A board, for example, is flat iff it lacks any changes in gradi... ...nger’s first premise). 2. Knowledge is justified belief with confidence. 3. Being confident, but not certain, allows for changes in opinion/belief in the face of new information and experiences (avoiding Unger’s attitude of certainty). 4. Knowledge with confidence, but being susceptible to new information is not dogmatic. 5. People can know things with confidence without being dogmatic. 6. Therefore, people can justifiably and confidently know that some things are so. The above argument allows for things to be known but in a non-dogmatic manner. Although, knowledge with confidence (but not certainty) can be considered a weak sense of knowledge, it avoids the skeptical conclusion while also avoiding Unger’s attitude of certainty. With the ability to amend and modify justified beliefs (knowledge), certainty is inherently absent from this notion of knowledge.

Benefits of Returning to School

The many benefits to returning to school and some of the obstacles I had and have to overcome to see my dream come alive. What I want to see happen and by faith it’s going to happen. | I have many reasons for returning to school. I had the chance to get a job in television station, and have never done television before and wanted to at least have a general idea of what would be expected to do this job. First thing that came to my mind about going back to school I didn’t know if I would be able to do the work. I had been out of school so long would I remember the simple things, was scared and didn’t know if or how I would be able to maintain, but with the grace of God I’m doing it. The first couple classes to me was like a refresher, because I had been out of school for so long once I saw the work it all came flooding back. Plus, I wanted to start my own business and what better way to have a successful business than to know everything there is to know before you jump in to deep. I would have to say the benefits of my degree would be seeing single parents like me with goals and dreams and no one to help them fulfill them. With no one to even watch their children, while they try to attempt to start the process. Seeing single parents smile when they have the help that is needed to gain a better life is enough for me. If I just gave up and let the Devil win I wouldn’t be able to help those in need. Everything from computer problem to no lights, and I still made a way. I live by faith and there is nothing better that knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ got my back through it all, and willing to make a way for me to see my dream come alive. Helping other people is what I want to do in life. Single parents will be my main focus, helping them find the benefits they will need to assure their families are stable. I have always been kindhearted, and wanted to help people. What other way than to keep someone from going through what I had to alone. My life style has changed so much I’m more spiritual, open minded, and more aware of the many road blocks along the way. If I can help at least one family it would warm my heart and that would be enough for me. I have been where a lot of people are and at the same time not knowing that the next person may be going through something more serious than I. So what’s more fulfilling than to help ones that feels like me, over come some of the obstacles I had to, to make a better life for their children. The many obstacles I had to overcome just to start my degree were very overwhelming early in the process. First day class started my computer crashed, had to get another one since it was early on in the process I was able to start over. Next, my internet service stops working. Then in to the program once everything was back on track second class my new computer wants to stop working, couldn’t access the portable document formats. If it wasn’t one thing it was something else. I was determined to get my degree, by any means necessary, neighbors house, friends houses, libraries, anywhere where there was an internet connection I was trying to get there. My number one strategy for overcoming the many obstacles is prayer and that’s how I plan to get through the rest of my degree. A wise man once said, â€Å"No weapons formed against me shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me, Says the Lord† (Isaiah 54:17 KJB). Plus I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13 KJB). I also know that whatever God does it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it (Ecclesiastes 3:14 KJB). Everything I do in life these days I pray and ask the Lord to show me his way. Like with this paper, I really don’t know how to write a good paper. When I sat down after I wrote the first draft and started typing it parts of it changed. I worked hard and hope it shows and pray it’s the way it was suppose to be done. I don’t see any more obstacles that are too much for me not to get my degree. I feel that if it took this much hard work to get something I really want then it will be will worth the fight. I fight everyday, willing and ready for what else the devil has to put in my way. I can honestly say that the hard work that comes alone with my degree will be well worth it once I have that piece of paper with my name on it.